The Eichler--Selberg trace formula for Hilbert cusp forms, the class numbers of quartic CM fields, and their distributions

Abstract

Motivated by Su's construction of Cohen-type Eisenstein series of half-integral weight over totally real number fields \cite{Su16}, we introduce a generalization of Hurwitz class numbers to totally real number fields. Using these generalized Hurwitz class numbers, we establish an Eichler--Selberg trace formula for the space of holomorphic Hilbert cusp forms over real quadratic fields of narrow class number one. While the classical Hurwitz class numbers are defined in terms of class numbers of imaginary quadratic fields, the generalized Hurwitz class numbers appearing in our Eichler--Selberg trace formula are defined in terms of class numbers of quartic CM fields. For applications of this Eichler--Selberg trace formula, we study the distribution of the generalized Hurwitz class numbers, prove class number relations, and carry out numerical computations of traces of Hecke operators for $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{5})$ and $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{29})$.