The Explicit Formula and the conductor operator

Abstract

I give a new derivation of the Explicit Formula for an arbitrary number field and abelian Dirichlet-Hecke character, which treats all primes in exactly the same way, whether they are discrete or archimedean, and also ramified or not. This is followed with a local study of a Hilbert space operator, the ``conductor operator'', which is expressed as H = log(|x|) + log(|y|) (where x and y are Fourier dual variables on a nu-adic completion of the number field). I also study the commutator operator K = i[log(|y|),log(|x|)] (which shares with H the property of complete dilation invariance, and turns out to be bounded), as well as the higher commutator operators. The generalized eigenvalues of these operators are given by the derivatives on the critical line of the Tate-Gel'fand-Graev Gamma function, which itself is in fact closely related to the additive Fourier Transform viewed in multiplicative terms. This spectral analysis is thus a natural continuation to Tate's Thesis in its local aspects. (combines my earlier papers math/9809119, math/9811040, math/9812012, one result added, new references)