Whittaker Coefficients of Metaplectic Eisenstein Series

Abstract

We study Whittaker coefficients for maximal parabolic Eisenstein series on metaplectic covers of split reductive groups. By the theory of Eisenstein series these coefficients have meromorphic continuation and functional equation. However they are not Eulerian and the standard methods to compute them in the reductive case do not apply to covers. For "cominuscule" maximal parabolics, we give an explicit description of the coefficients as Dirichlet series whose arithmetic content is expressed in an exponential sum. The exponential sum is then shown to satisfy a twisted multiplicativity, reducing its determination to prime power contributions. These, in turn, are connected to Lusztig data for canonical bases on the dual group using a result of Kamnitzer. The exponential sum at prime powers is then evaluated for generic Lusztig data. To handle the remaining degenerate cases, the evaluation of the exponential sum appears best expressed in terms of string data for canonical bases, as shown in a detailed example in $GL_4$. Thus we demonstrate that the arithmetic part of metaplectic Whittaker coefficients is intimately connected to the relations between these two expressions for canonical bases.