On the classification of reflective modular forms

Abstract

A modular form on an even lattice $M$ of signature $(l,2)$ is called reflective if it vanishes only on quadratic divisors orthogonal to roots of $M$. In this paper we show that every reflective modular form on a lattice of type $2U\oplus L$ induces a root system satisfying certain constrains. As applications, (1) we prove that there is no lattice of signature $(21,2)$ with a reflective modular form and that $2U\oplus D_{20}$ is the unique lattice of signature $(22,2)$ and type $U\oplus K$ which has a reflective Borcherds product; (2) we give an automorphic proof of Shvartsman and Vinberg's theorem, asserting that the algebra of modular forms for an arithmetic subgroup of $\mathrm{O}(l,2)$ is never freely generated when $l\geq 11$. We also prove several results on the finiteness of lattices with reflective modular forms.