On the Vanishing and Cuspidality of $D_4$ Modular Forms

Abstract

We develop vanishing and cuspidality criteria for quaternionic modular forms on $G=\mathrm{Spin}(4,4)$ using a theory of scalar Fourier coefficients. By analyzing a Fourier-Jacobi expansion for these forms, we prove that a level one quaternionic modular form on $G$ vanishes if and only if its primitive Fourier coefficients are zero. Using this criterion, we characterize Pollack's quaternionic Saito-Kurokawa subspace by imposing a system of linear relation among certain primitive Fourier coefficients. This characterization strengthens earlier work of the author with Johnson-Leung, Negrini, Pollack, and Roy. We also study quaternionic modular forms in the more general setting of a group $G_J$ associated to a cubic norm structure $J$. Here we establish a new relationship between the degenerate Fourier coefficients of quaternionic modular forms, and the Fourier coefficients of the holomorphic modular forms associated to their constant terms. As a consequence, we prove that in weights $\ell\geq 5$, a level one quaternionic modular form on $G$ is cuspidal if and only if its non-degenerate Fourier coefficients satisfy a polynomial growth condition.