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# On the distribution of matrix elements for the quantum cat map

## 1. Introduction

A fundamental feature of quantum wave functions of classically chaotic systems is that the matrix elements of smooth observables tend to the phase space average of the observable, at least in the sense of convergence in the mean  or in the mean square . In many systems it is believed that in fact all matrix elements converge to the micro-canonical average, however this has only been demonstrated for a couple of arithmetic systems: For “quantum cat maps” , and conditional on the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis111An unconditional proof was recently announced by Elon Lindenstrauss. also for the modular domain , in both cases assuming that the systems are desymmetrized by taking into account the action of “Hecke operators”.

As for the approach to the limit, it is expected that the fluctuations of the matrix elements about their limit are Gaussian with variance given by classical correlations of the observable . In this note we study these fluctuations for the quantum cat map. Our finding is that for this system, the picture is very different.

We recall the basic setup  (see section 2 for further background and any unexplained notation): The classical mechanical system is the iteration of a linear hyperbolic map $`ASL(2,𝐙)`$ of the torus $`𝐓^2=𝐑^2/𝐙^2`$ (a “cat map”). The quantum system is given by specifying an integer $`N`$, which plays the role of the inverse Planck constant. In what follows, $`N`$ will be restricted to be a prime. The space of quantum states of the system is $`_N=L^2(𝐙/N𝐙)`$. Let $`fC^{\mathrm{}}(𝐓^2)`$ be a smooth, real valued observable and $`\mathrm{Op}_N(f):_N_N`$ its quantization. The quantization of the classical map $`A`$ is a unitary map $`U_N(A)`$ of $`_N`$.

In  we introduced Hecke operators, a group of commuting unitary maps of $`_N`$, which commute with $`U_N(A)`$. The space $`_N`$ has an orthonormal basis consisting of joint eigenvectors $`\{\psi _j\}_{j=1}^N`$ of $`U_N(A)`$, which we call Hecke eigenfunctions. The matrix elements $`\mathrm{Op}_N(f)\psi _j,\psi _j`$ converge222For arbitrary eigenfunctions, that is ones which are not Hecke eigenfunctions, this need not hold, see . to the phase-space average $`_{𝐓^2}f(x)𝑑x`$ . Our goal is to understand their fluctuations around their limiting value.

Our main result is to present a conjecture for the limiting distribution of the normalized matrix elements

$$F_j^{(N)}:=\sqrt{N}\left(\mathrm{Op}_N(f)\psi _j,\psi _j_{𝐓^2}f(x)𝑑x\right).$$

For this purpose, define a binary quadratic form associated to $`A`$ by

$$Q(x,y)=cx^2+(da)xyby^2,A=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)$$

For an observable $`fC^{\mathrm{}}(𝐓^2)`$ and an integer $`\nu `$, set

$$f^\mathrm{\#}(\nu ):=\underset{\begin{array}{c}n=(n_1,n_2)𝐙^2\\ Q(n)=\nu \end{array}}{}(1)^{n_1n_2}\widehat{f}(n)$$

where $`\widehat{f}(n)`$ are the Fourier coefficients of $`f`$.

###### Conjecture 1.

As $`N\mathrm{}`$ through primes, the limiting distribution of the normalized matrix elements $`F_j^{(N)}`$ is that of the random variable

$$X_f:=\underset{\nu 0}{}f^\mathrm{\#}(\nu )\mathrm{tr}(U_\nu )$$

where $`U_\nu `$ are independently chosen random matrices in $`SU(2)`$ endowed with Haar probability measure.

This conjecture predicts a radical departure from the Gaussian fluctuations expected to hold for generic systems . Our first result confirms this conjecture for the variance of these normalized matrix elements.

###### Theorem 2.

As $`N\mathrm{}`$ through primes, the variance of the normalized matrix elements $`F_j^{(N)}`$ is given by

(1.1)
$$\frac{1}{N}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}|F_j^{(N)}|^2𝐄(X_f^2)=\underset{\nu 0}{}|f^\mathrm{\#}(\nu )|^2.$$

For a comparison with the variance expected for the case of generic systems, see Section 6.1. A similar departure from this behaviour of the variance was observed recently by Luo and Sarnak  for the modular domain. For another analogy with that case, see section 6.2.

We also compute the fourth moment of $`F_j^{(N)}`$ and find agreement with Conjecture 1:

###### Theorem 3.

The fourth moment of the normalized matrix elements is given by

$$\frac{1}{N}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}|F_j^{(N)}|^4𝐄(|X_f|^4)=2\underset{\nu 0}{}|f^\mathrm{\#}(\nu )|^4$$

as $`N\mathrm{}`$ through primes.

Acknowledgements: We thank Peter Sarnak for discussions on his work with Wenzhi Luo .

## 2. Background

The full details on the cat map and its quantization can be found in . For the reader’s convenience we briefly recall the setup: The classical dynamics are given by a hyperbolic linear map $`ASL(2,𝐙)`$ so that $`x=(\begin{array}{c}p\\ q\end{array})𝐓^2Ax`$ is a symplectic map of the torus. Given an observable $`fC^{\mathrm{}}(𝐓^2)`$, the classical evolution defined by $`A`$ is $`ffA`$, where $`(fA)(x)=f(Ax)`$.

For doing quantum mechanics on the torus, one takes Planck’s constant to be $`1/N`$ and as the Hilbert space of states one takes $`_N:=L^2(𝐙/N𝐙)`$, where the inner product is given by

$$\varphi ,\psi =\frac{1}{N}\underset{QmodN}{}\varphi (Q)\overline{\psi }(Q).$$

The basic observables are given by the operators $`T_N(n)`$, $`n𝐙^2`$, acting on $`\psi L^2(𝐙/N𝐙)`$ via:

(2.1)
$$\left(T_N(n_1,n_2)\psi \right)(Q)=e^{\frac{i\pi n_1n_2}{N}}e(\frac{n_2Q}{N})\psi (Q+n_1).$$

where $`e(x)=e^{2\pi ix}`$.

For any smooth classical observable $`fC^{\mathrm{}}(𝐓^2)`$ with Fourier expansion $`f(x)=_{n𝐙^2}\widehat{f}(n)e(nx)`$, its quantization is given by

$$\mathrm{Op}_N(f):=\underset{n𝐙^2}{}\widehat{f}(n)T_N(n).$$

### 2.1. Quantum Dynamics:

For $`A`$ which satisfies a certain parity condition, we can assign unitary operators $`U_N(A)`$, acting on $`L^2(𝐙/N𝐙)`$, having the following important properties:

* “Exact Egorov”: For all observables $`fC^{\mathrm{}}(𝐓^2)`$

$$U_N(A)^1\mathrm{Op}_N(f)U_N(A)=\mathrm{Op}_N(fA).$$
* The quantization depends only on $`A`$ modulo $`2N`$: If $`ABmod2N`$ then $`U_N(A)=U_N(B)`$.
* The quantization is multiplicative: if $`A,B`$ are congruent to the identity matrix modulo $`4`$ (resp., $`2`$) if $`N`$ is even (resp., odd), then

$$U_N(AB)=U_N(A)U_N(B)$$

### 2.2. Hecke eigenfunctions

Let $`\alpha `$, $`\alpha ^1`$ be the eigenvalues of $`A`$. Since $`A`$ is hyperbolic, $`\alpha `$ is a unit in the real quadratic field $`K=𝐐(\alpha )`$. Let $`𝔒=𝐙[\alpha ]`$, which is an order of $`K`$. Let $`v=(v_1,v_2)𝔒^2`$ be a vector such that $`vA=\alpha v`$. If $`A=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)`$, we may take $`v=(c,\alpha a)`$. Let $`I:=𝐙[v_1,v_2]=𝐙[c,\alpha a]𝔒`$. Then $`I`$ is an $`𝔒`$-ideal, and the matrix of $`\alpha `$ acting on $`I`$ by multiplication in the basis $`v_1,v_2`$ is precisely $`A`$. The choice of basis of $`I`$ gives an identification $`I𝐙^2`$ and the action of $`𝔒`$ on the ideal $`I`$ by multiplication gives a ring homomorphism

$$\iota :𝔒\mathrm{Mat}_2(𝐙)$$

with the property that $`det(\iota (\beta ))=𝒩(\beta )`$, where $`𝒩:𝐐(\alpha )𝐐`$ is the norm map.

Let $`C(2N)`$ be the elements of $`𝔒/2N𝔒`$ with norm congruent to $`1mod2N`$, and which congruent to $`1`$ modulo $`4𝔒`$ (resp., $`2𝔒`$) if $`N`$ is even (resp.,odd). Reducing $`\iota `$ modulo $`2N`$ gives a map

$$\iota _{2N}:C(2N)SL_2(𝐙/2N𝐙).$$

Since $`C(2N)`$ is commutative, the multiplicativity of our quantization implies that

$$\{U_N(\iota _{2N}(\beta )):\beta C\}$$

forms a family of commuting operators. Analogously with modular forms, we call these Hecke operators, and functions $`\psi _N`$ that are simultaneous eigenfunctions of all the Hecke operators are denoted Hecke eigenfunctions. Note that a Hecke eigenfunction is an eigenfunction of $`U_N(\iota _{2N}(\alpha ))=U_N(A)`$.

The matrix elements are invariant under the Hecke operators:

$$\mathrm{Op}_N(f)\psi _j,\psi _j=\mathrm{Op}_N(fB)\psi _j,\psi _j,BC(2N)$$

This follows from $`\psi _j`$ being eigenfunctions of the Hecke operators $`C(2N)`$. In particular, taking $`f(x)=e(nx)`$ we see that

(2.2)
$$T_N(n)\psi _j,\psi _j=T_N(nB)\psi _j,\psi _j.$$

### 2.3. The quadratic form associated to $`A`$:

We define a binary quadratic form associated to $`A=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)`$ by

$$Q(x,y)=cx^2+(da)xyby^2$$

This, up to sign, is the quadratic form $`𝒩(xc+y(\alpha a))/𝒩(I)`$ induced by the norm form on the ideal $`I=𝐙[c,\alpha a]`$ described in Section 2.2, where $`𝒩(I)=\mathrm{\#}𝔒/I`$. Indeed, since $`I=𝐙[c,\alpha a]`$ and $`𝔒=𝐙[1,\alpha ]`$ we have $`𝒩(I)=|c|`$. A computation shows that the norm form is then $`\mathrm{sign}(c)Q(x,y)`$.

By virtue of the definition of $`Q`$ as a norm form, we see that $`A`$ and the Hecke operators are isometries of $`Q`$, and since they have unit norm they actually land in the special orthogonal group of $`Q`$. That is we find that under the above identifications, $`C(2N)`$ is identified with $`\{BSO(Q,𝐙/2N𝐙):BImod2\}`$.

### 2.4. A rewriting of the matrix elements

We now show that when $`\psi `$ is a Hecke eigenfunction, the matrix elements $`\mathrm{Op}_N(f)\psi ,\psi `$ have a modified Fourier series expansion which incorporates some extra invariance properties.

###### Lemma 4.

If $`m,n𝐙^2`$ are such that $`Q(m)=Q(n)`$, then for all sufficiently large primes $`N`$ we have $`mnBmodN`$ for some $`BSO(Q,𝐙/N𝐙)`$.

###### Proof.

We may clearly assume $`Q(m)0`$ because otherwise $`m=n=0`$ since $`Q`$ is anisotropic over the rationals. We take $`N`$ a sufficiently large odd prime so that $`Q`$ is non-degenerate over the field $`𝐙/N𝐙`$. If $`N>|Q(m)|`$ then $`Q(m)0modN`$ and then the assertion reduces to the fact that if $`Q`$ is a non-degenerate binary quadratic form over the finite field $`𝐙/N𝐙`$ ($`N2`$ prime) then the special orthogonal group $`SO(Q,𝐙/N𝐙)`$ acts transitively on the hyperbolas $`\{Q(n)=\nu \}`$, $`\nu 0modN`$. ∎

###### Lemma 5.

Fix $`m,n𝐙^2`$ such that $`Q(m)=Q(n)`$. If $`N`$ is a sufficiently large odd prime and $`\psi `$ a Hecke eigenfunction, then

$$(1)^{n_1n_2}T_N(n)\psi ,\psi =(1)^{m_1m_2}T_N(m)\psi ,\psi $$

###### Proof.

For ease of notation, set $`ϵ(n):=(1)^{n_1n_2}`$. By Lemma 4 it suffices to show that if $`mnBmodN`$ for some $`BSO(Q,𝐙/N𝐙)`$ then $`ϵ(n)T_N(n)\psi ,\psi =ϵ(m)T_N(m)\psi ,\psi `$.

By the Chinese Remainder Theorem,

$$SO(Q,𝐙/2N𝐙)SO(Q,𝐙/N𝐙)\times SO(Q,𝐙/2𝐙)$$

(recall $`N`$ is odd) and so

$$C(2N)\{BSO(Q𝐙/2N𝐙):BImod2\}SO(Q,𝐙/N𝐙)\times \{I\}$$

Thus if $`mnBmodN`$ for $`BSO(Q,𝐙/N𝐙)`$ then there is a unique $`\stackrel{~}{B}C(2N)`$ so that $`mn\stackrel{~}{B}modN`$.

We note that $`ϵ(n)T_N(n)`$ has period $`N`$, rather than merely $`2N`$ for $`T_N(n)`$ as would follow from (2.1). Then since $`m=n\stackrel{~}{B}modN`$,

$$ϵ(m)T_N(m)=ϵ(n\stackrel{~}{B})T_N(n\stackrel{~}{B})=ϵ(n)T_N(n\stackrel{~}{B})$$

(recall that $`\stackrel{~}{B}C(2N)`$ preserves parity: $`n\stackrel{~}{B}nmod2`$, so $`ϵ(n\stackrel{~}{B})=ϵ(n)`$). Thus for $`\psi `$ a Hecke eigenfunction,

$$ϵ(m)T_N(m)\psi ,\psi =ϵ(n)T_N(n\stackrel{~}{B})\psi ,\psi =ϵ(n)T_N(n)\psi ,\psi $$

the last equality by (2.2). ∎

Define for $`\nu 𝐙`$

$$f^\mathrm{\#}(\nu ):=\underset{n𝐙^2:Q(n)=\nu }{}(1)^{n_1n_2}\widehat{f}(n)$$

and

(2.3)
$$V_\nu (\psi ):=\sqrt{N}(1)^{n_1n_2}T_N(n)\psi ,\psi $$

where $`n𝐙^2`$ is a vector with $`Q(n)=\nu `$ (if it exists) and set $`V_\nu (\psi )=0`$ otherwise. By Lemma 5 this is well-defined, that is independent of the choice of $`n`$. Then we have

###### Proposition 6.

If $`\psi `$ is a Hecke eigenfunction, $`f`$ a trigonometric polynomial, and $`NN_0(f)`$, then

$$\sqrt{N}\mathrm{Op}_N(f)\psi ,\psi =\underset{\nu 𝐙}{}f^\mathrm{\#}(\nu )V_\nu (\psi )$$

To simplify the arguments, in what follows we will restrict ourself to dealing with observables that are trigonometric polynomials.

## 3. Ergodic averaging

We relate mixed moments of matrix coefficients to traces of certain averages of the observables: Let

(3.1)
$$D(n)=\frac{1}{|C(2N)|}\underset{BC(2N)}{}T_N(nB)$$

The following shows that $`D(n)`$ is essentially diagonal when expressed in the Hecke eigenbasis.

###### Lemma 7.

Let $`\stackrel{~}{D}`$ be the matrix obtained when expressing $`D(n)`$ in terms of the Hecke eigenbasis $`\{\psi _i\}_{i=1}^N`$. If $`N`$ is inert in $`K`$, then $`\stackrel{~}{D}`$ is diagonal. If $`N`$ splits in $`K`$, then $`\stackrel{~}{D}`$ has the form

$$\stackrel{~}{D}=\left(\begin{array}{cccccc}D_{11}& D_{12}& 0& 0& \mathrm{}& 0\\ D_{21}& D_{22}& 0& 0& \mathrm{}& 0\\ 0& 0& D_{33}& 0& \mathrm{}& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& D_{44}& \mathrm{}& 0\\ \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}\\ 0& 0& 0& 0& \mathrm{}& D_{NN}\end{array}\right)$$

where $`\psi _1,\psi _2`$ correspond to the quadratic character of $`C(2N)`$. Moreover, in the split case, we have

$$|D_{ij}|N^{1/2}$$

for $`1i,j2`$.

###### Proof.

If $`N`$ is inert, then the Weil representation is multiplicity free when restricted to $`C(2N)`$ (see Lemma 4 in .) If $`N`$ is split, then $`C(2N)`$ is isomorphic to $`(𝐙/N𝐙)^{}`$ and the trivial character occurs with multiplicity one, the quadratic character occurs with multiplicity two, and all other characters occur with multiplicity one (see , section 4.1). This explains the shape of $`\stackrel{~}{D}`$.

As for the bound on in the split case, it suffices to take $`f(x,y)=e(\frac{n_1x+n_2y}{N})`$ for some $`n_1,n_2𝐙`$. We may give an explicit construction of the Hecke eigenfunctions as follows (see , section 4 for more details): there exists $`MSL_2(𝐙/2N𝐙)`$ such that the eigenfunctions $`\psi _1,\psi _2`$ can be written as

$$\psi _1=\sqrt{N}U_N(M)\delta _0,\psi _2=\sqrt{\frac{N}{N1}}U_N(M)(1\delta _0)$$

where $`\delta _0(x)=1`$ if $`x0modN`$, and $`\delta _0(x)=0`$ otherwise. Setting $`\varphi _1=\sqrt{N}\delta _0`$ and $`\varphi _2=\sqrt{\frac{N}{N1}}(1\delta _0)`$, exact Egorov gives

$$D_{ij}=T_N((n_1,n_2))\psi _i,\psi _j=T_N((n_1^{},n_2^{}))\varphi _i,\varphi _j$$

where $`(n_1^{},n_2^{})(n_1,n_2)MmodN`$. Since we may assume $`n`$ not to be an eigenvector of $`A`$ modulo $`N`$, we have $`n_1^{}0modN`$ and $`n_2^{}0modN`$. Hence

$$D_{11}=T_N((n_1^{},n_2^{}))\varphi _1,\varphi _1=e(\frac{n_1^{}n_2^{}}{2N})\delta _0(0+n_1^{})=0$$

since $`n_1^{}0modN`$. The other estimates are analogous. ∎

Remark: In the split case, it is still true that $`D_{ij}N^{1/2}`$ for all $`i,j`$, but this requires the Riemann hypothesis for curves, whereas the above is elementary.

###### Lemma 8.

Let $`\{\psi _i\}_{i=1}^N`$ be a Hecke basis of $`_N`$, and let $`k,l,m,n𝐙^2`$. Then

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}T_N(m)\psi _i,\psi _i\overline{T_N(n)\psi _i,\psi _i}=\mathrm{tr}\left(D(m)D^{}(n)\right)+O(N^1)$$

Moreover,

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}T_N(k)\psi _i,\psi _i\overline{T_N(l)\psi _i,\psi _i}T_N(m)\psi _i,\psi _i\overline{T_N(n)\psi _i,\psi _i}$$

$$=\mathrm{tr}\left(D(k)D^{}(l)D(m)D^{}(n)\right)+O(N^2)$$

###### Proof.

By definition

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}T_N(m)\psi _i,\psi _i\overline{T_N(n)\psi _i,\psi _i}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}D(m)_{ii}\overline{D(n)_{ii}}$$

On the other hand, by lemma 7,

$$\mathrm{tr}\left(D(m)D(n)^{}\right)=D_{12}(m)\overline{D_{21}(n)}+D_{21}(m)\overline{D_{12}(n)}+\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}D_{ii}(m)\overline{D_{ii}(n)}$$

where $`D_{12}(m),D_{21}(m),D_{12}(n)`$ and $`D_{21}(n)`$ are all $`O(N^{1/2})`$. Thus

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}T_N(m)\psi _i,\psi _i\overline{T_N(n)\psi _i,\psi _i}=\mathrm{tr}\left(D(m)D(n)^{}\right)+O(N^1)$$

The proof of the second assertion is similar. ∎

## 4. Proof of Theorem 2

In order to prove Theorem 2 it suffices, by Proposition 6, to show that as $`N\mathrm{}`$,

$$\frac{1}{N}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}V_\nu (\psi _j)\overline{V_\mu (\psi _j)}𝐄\left(\mathrm{tr}U_\nu \mathrm{tr}U_\mu \right)=\{\begin{array}{cc}1\hfill & \text{ if }\mu =\nu ,\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{ if }\mu \nu ,\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`U_\mu ,U_\nu SU_2`$ are random matrices in $`SU_2`$, independent if $`\nu \mu `$.

###### Proposition 9.

Let $`\{\psi _i\}_{i=1}^N`$ be a Hecke basis of $`_N`$. If $`NN_0(\mu ,\nu )`$ is prime and $`\mu ,\nu 0modN`$, then

$$\frac{1}{N}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}V_\nu (\psi _j)\overline{V_\mu (\psi _j)}=\{\begin{array}{cc}1+O(N^1)\hfill & \text{if }\mu =\nu \text{,}\hfill \\ O(N^1)\hfill & \text{otherwise.}\hfill \end{array}$$

###### Proof.

Choose $`m,n𝐙^2`$ such that $`Q(m)=\mu `$ and $`Q(n)=\nu `$. By (2.3) and Lemma 8 we find that

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \frac{1}{N}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}V_\nu (\psi _j)\overline{V_\mu (\psi _j)}& =(1)^{m_1m_2+n_1n_2}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}T_N(n)\psi _j,\psi _j\overline{T_N(m)\psi _j,\psi _j}\hfill \\ & =(1)^{m_1m_2+n_1n_2}\mathrm{tr}\left(D(n)D(m)^{}\right)+O(N^1)\hfill \end{array}$$

By definition of $`D(n)`$ we have

$$D(n)D(m)^{}=\frac{1}{|C(2N)|^2}\underset{B_1,B_2C(2N)}{}T_N(nB_1)T_N(mB_2)^{}.$$

We now take the trace of both sides and apply the following easily checked identity (see (2.1)), valid for odd $`N`$ and $`B_1,B_2C(2N)`$:

$$\mathrm{tr}(T_N(nB_1)T_N(mB_2)^{})=\{\begin{array}{cc}(1)^{m_1m_2+n_1n_2}N\hfill & \text{if }nB_1mB_2modN\text{,}\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{otherwise.}\hfill \end{array}$$

We get

(4.1)
$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{1}{N}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}V_\nu (\psi _j)\overline{V_\mu (\psi _j)}=\hfill \\ \hfill =\frac{(1)^{m_1m_2+n_1n_2}}{|C(2N)|^2}\underset{\begin{array}{c}B_1,B_2C(2N)\\ nB_1mB_2modN\end{array}}{}(1)^{m_1m_2+n_1n_2}N+O(N^1)\\ \hfill =\frac{N}{|C(2N)|}|\{BC(2N):nmBmodN\}|+O(N^1)\end{array}$$

which, since $`|C(2N)|=N\pm 1`$, equals $`1+O(N^1)`$ if there exists $`BC(2N)`$ such that $`nmBmodN`$, and $`O(N^1)`$ otherwise. Finally, for $`N`$ sufficiently large (i.e., $`NN_0(\mu ,\nu )`$), Lemma 4 gives that $`nmBmodN`$ for some $`BC(2N)`$ is equivalent to $`\mu =\nu `$. ∎

## 5. Proof of theorem 3

### 5.1. Reduction

In order to prove Theorem 3 it suffices to show that

(5.1)
$$\frac{1}{N}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}V_\kappa (\psi _j)\overline{V_\lambda (\psi _j)}V_\mu (\psi _j)\overline{V_\nu (\psi _j)}𝐄\left(\mathrm{tr}U_\kappa \mathrm{tr}U_\lambda \mathrm{tr}U_\mu \mathrm{tr}U_\nu \right)$$

where $`U_\kappa ,U_\lambda ,U_\mu `$ and $`U_\nu `$ are independent random matrices in $`SU_2`$.

Let $`S𝐙^4`$ be the set of four-tuples $`(\kappa ,\lambda ,\mu ,\nu )`$ such that $`\kappa =\lambda ,\mu =\nu `$, or $`\kappa =\mu ,\lambda =\nu `$, or $`\kappa =\nu ,\lambda =\mu `$, but not $`\kappa =\lambda =\mu =\nu `$.

###### Proposition 10.

Let $`\{\psi _i\}_{i=1}^N`$ be a Hecke basis of $`_N`$ and let $`\kappa ,\lambda ,\mu ,\nu 𝐙`$. If $`N`$ is a sufficiently large prime, then

$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{1}{N}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}V_\kappa (\psi _j)\overline{V_\lambda (\psi _j)}V_\mu (\psi _j)\overline{V_\nu (\psi _j)}=\{\begin{array}{cc}2+O(N^1)\hfill & \text{if }\kappa =\lambda =\mu =\nu \text{,}\hfill \\ 1+O(N^1)\hfill & \text{if }(\kappa ,\lambda ,\mu ,\nu )S\text{,}\hfill \\ O(N^{1/2})\hfill & \text{otherwise.}\hfill \end{array}\hfill \end{array}$$

Given Proposition 10 it is straightforward to deduce (5.1), we need only to note that $`𝐄\left((\mathrm{tr}U)^4\right)=2`$, $`𝐄\left((\mathrm{tr}U)^2\right)=1`$, and $`𝐄\left(\mathrm{tr}U\right)=0`$.

The proof of Proposition 10 will occupy the remainder of this section. For the reader’s convenience, here is a brief outline:

1. Express the left hand side of (5.1) an exponential sum.
2. Show that the exponential sum is quite small unless pairwise equality of $`\kappa ,\lambda ,\mu ,\nu `$ occurs, in which case the exponential sum is given by the number of solutions (modulo $`N`$) of a certain equation.
3. Determine the number of solutions.

### 5.2. Ergodic averaging

###### Lemma 11.

Choose $`k,l,m,n𝐙^2`$ such that $`Q(k)=\kappa ,Q(l)=\lambda ,Q(m)=\mu `$, and $`Q(n)=\nu `$. Then

(5.2)
$$\begin{array}{c}\frac{1}{N}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}V_\kappa (\psi _j)\overline{V_\lambda (\psi _j)}V_\mu (\psi _j)\overline{V_\nu (\psi _j)}=\frac{N^2}{|C(2N)|^4}\hfill \\ \hfill \underset{\begin{array}{c}B_1,B_2,B_3,B_4C(N)\\ kB_1lB_2+mB_3nB_40modN\end{array}}{}e\left(\frac{t(\omega (kB_1,lB_2)+\omega (mB_3,nB_4))}{N}\right)\end{array}$$

The proof of Lemma 11 is an extension of the arguments proving the analogous (4.1) in the proof of Proposition 9 and is left to the reader.

### 5.3. Exponential sums over curves

In order to show that there is quite a bit of cancellation in (5.2) when pairwise equality of norms do not hold, we will need some results on exponential sums over curves. Let $`X`$ be a projective curve of degree $`d_1`$ defined over the finite field $`𝔽_p`$, embedded in $`n`$-dimensional projective space $`^n`$ over $`𝔽_p`$. Further, let $`R(X_1,\mathrm{},X_{n+1})`$ be a homogeneous rational function in $`^n`$, defined over $`𝔽_p`$, and let $`d_2`$ be the degree of its numerator. Define

$$S_m(R,X)=\underset{xX(𝔽_{p^m})}{\overset{}{}}e\left(\frac{\sigma (R(x))}{p}\right)$$

where $`\sigma `$ is the trace from $`𝔽_{p^m}`$ to $`𝔽_p`$, and the accent in the summation means that the poles of $`R(x)`$ are excluded.

###### Theorem 12 (Bombieri , Theorem 6).

If $`d_1d_2<p`$ and $`R`$ is not constant on any component $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ of $`X`$ then

$$|S_m(R,X)|(d_1^2+2d_1d_23d_1)p^{m/2}+d_1^2$$

In order to apply Bombieri’s Theorem we need to show that the components of a certain algebraic set are at most one dimensional, and in order to do this we show that the number of points defined over $`𝔽_N`$ is $`O(N)`$. (Such a bound can not hold for all $`N`$ if there are components of dimension two or higher.)

###### Lemma 13.

Let $`a,b𝔽_N[\alpha ]`$. If $`a0`$ and the equation

$$\gamma _1=a\gamma _2+b,\gamma _1,\gamma _2C(N)$$

is satisfied for more than two values of $`\gamma _2`$, then $`b=0`$ and $`𝒩(a)=1`$.

###### Proof.

Taking norms, we obtain $`1=𝒩(a)+𝒩(b)+\mathrm{tr}(\overline{a}b\gamma _2)`$ and hence $`\mathrm{tr}(\overline{a}b\gamma _2)`$ is constant. If $`\overline{a}b0`$, this means that the coordinates $`(x,y)`$ of $`\gamma _2`$, when regarding $`\gamma _2`$ as an element of $`𝔽_N^2`$, lies on some line. On the other hand, $`𝒩(\gamma _2)=1`$ corresponds to $`\gamma _2`$ satisfying some quadratic equation, hence the intersection can be at most two points. (In fact, we may identify $`C(N)`$ with the solutions to $`x^2Dy^2=1`$ for $`x,y𝔽_N`$, and some fixed $`D𝔽_N`$.) ∎

###### Lemma 14.

Fix $`k,l,m,n𝐙^2`$ and let $`X`$ be the set of solutions to

$$klB_2+mB_3nB_40modN,B_2,B_3,B_4C(N)$$

If $`Q(k),Q(l),Q(m),Q(n)0modN`$, then $`|X|3(N+1)`$ for $`N`$ sufficiently large.

###### Proof.

We use the identification of the action of $`C(N)`$ on $`𝔽_N^2`$ with the action of $`C(N)`$ on $`𝔽_N[\alpha ]`$. The equation

$$klB_2+mB_3nB_40modN$$

is then equivalent to

$$\kappa \lambda \beta _2+\mu \beta _3\nu \beta _4=0$$

where $`\beta _iC(N)`$ and $`\kappa ,\lambda ,\mu ,\nu 𝔽_N[\alpha ]`$. We may rewrite this as

$$\kappa \lambda \beta _2=\nu \beta _4\mu \beta _3=\beta _4(\nu \mu \beta _3/\beta _4)$$

and letting $`\beta ^{}=\beta _3/\beta _4`$, we obtain

$$\kappa \lambda \beta _2=\beta _4(\nu \mu \beta ^{})$$

If $`\nu \mu \beta ^{}=0`$ then $`\kappa \lambda \beta _2=0`$, and since $`Q(l),Q(m)0modN`$ implies that $`\lambda ,\mu `$ are nonzero333Recall that $`Q`$, up to a scalar multiple, is given by the norm., we find that $`\beta _2`$ and $`\beta ^{}`$ are uniquely determined, whereas $`\beta _4`$ can be chosen arbitrarily. Thus there are at most $`|C(N)|`$ solutions for which $`\nu \mu \beta ^{}=0`$.

Let us now bound the number of solutions when $`\nu \mu \beta ^{}0`$: after writing

$$\kappa \lambda \beta _2=\beta _4(\nu \mu \beta ^{})$$

as

$$\frac{\kappa }{\nu \mu \beta ^{}}+\frac{\lambda }{\nu \mu \beta ^{}}\beta _2=\beta _4,$$

Lemma 13 gives (note that $`\kappa 0`$ since $`Q(k)0modN`$) that there can be at most two possible values of $`\beta _2,\beta _4`$ for each $`\beta ^{}`$, and hence there are at most $`2|C(N)|`$ solutions for which $`\nu \mu \beta ^{}0`$. Thus, in total, $`X`$ can have at most $`|C(N)|+2|C(N)|3(N+1)`$ solutions. ∎

### 5.4. Counting solutions

We now determine the components of $`X`$ on which $`e\left(\frac{t(\omega (kB_1,lB_2)+\omega (mB_3,nB_4))}{N}\right)`$ is constant.

###### Lemma 15.

Assume that $`Q(k),Q(l),Q(m),Q(n)0modN`$, and let $`\mathrm{Sol}(k,l,m,n)`$ be the number of solutions to the equations

(5.3) $`kB_1lB_2+mB_3nB_4`$ $`0modN`$
(5.4) $`\omega (kB_1,lB_2)+\omega (mB_3,nB_4)`$ $`CmodN`$
where $`B_iC(N)`$. If $`C0modN`$ and $`N`$ is sufficiently large, then

(5.5)
$$\mathrm{Sol}(k,l,m,n)=\{\begin{array}{cc}2|C(N)|^2\hfill & \text{if }Q(k)=Q(l)=Q(m)=Q(n)\text{,}\hfill \\ |C(N)|^2+O(|C(N)|)\hfill & \text{if }(Q(k),Q(l),Q(m),Q(n))S\text{,}\hfill \\ O(|C(N)|)\hfill & \text{otherwise.}\hfill \end{array}$$

On the other hand, if $`C0modN`$ then

$$\mathrm{Sol}(k,l,m,n)=O(|C(N)|).$$

###### Proof.

For simplicity444 The split case is similar except for possibility of zero divisors, but these do not occur when $`k,l,m,n`$ are fixed and $`N`$ is large enough., we will assume that $`N`$ is inert. It will be convenient to use the language of algebraic number theory; we identify $`(𝐙/N𝐙)^2`$ with the finite field $`𝔽_{N^2}=𝔽_N(\sqrt{D})`$ by letting $`m=(x,y)`$ correspond to $`\mu =x+y\sqrt{D}`$. First we note that if $`n=(z,w)`$ corresponds to $`\nu `$ then

$$\omega (m,n)=xwzy=\mathrm{Im}(\overline{(x+y\sqrt{D})}(z+w\sqrt{D}))$$

where $`\mathrm{Im}(a+b\sqrt{D})=b`$, and hence $`\omega (m,n)=\mathrm{Im}(\overline{\mu }\nu )`$.

Thus, with $`(k,l,m,n)`$ corresponding to $`(\nu _1,\nu _2,\nu _3,\nu _4)`$, the values of $`Q(k),Q(l),Q(m),Q(n)`$ modulo $`N`$ are (up to a scalar multiple) given by $`𝒩(\nu _1),𝒩(\nu _2),𝒩(\nu _3),𝒩(\nu _4)`$. Putting $`\mu _i=\nu _i\beta _i`$ for $`\beta _iC(N)`$, we find that $`\omega (kB_1,lB_2)+\omega (mB_3,nB_4)=C`$ can be written as

$$\mathrm{Im}(\overline{\mu _1}\mu _2+\overline{\mu _3}\mu _4)=C.$$

Now, $`kB_1lB_2+mB_3nB_40modN`$ is equivalent to $`\mu _1\mu _2=\mu _4\mu _3`$. Taking norms, we obtain

$$𝒩(\mu _1)+𝒩(\mu _2)\mathrm{tr}(\overline{\mu _1}\mu _2)=𝒩(\mu _4)+𝒩(\mu _3)\mathrm{tr}(\overline{\mu _4}\mu _3)$$

and hence

$$\mathrm{tr}(\overline{\mu _4}\mu _3)=\mathrm{tr}(\overline{\mu _1}\mu _2)+N_4+N_3N_1N_2$$

if we let $`N_i=𝒩(\nu _i)`$. Since $`\mathrm{tr}(\mu )=2\mathrm{Re}(\mu )=2\mathrm{Re}(\overline{\mu })`$, we find that

$$2\mathrm{Re}(\overline{\mu _3}\mu _4)=2\mathrm{Re}(\mu _1\overline{\mu _2})+N_4+N_3N_1N_2$$

On the other hand, $`\mathrm{Im}(\overline{\mu _1}\mu _2+\overline{\mu _3}\mu _4)=C`$ implies that

$$\mathrm{Im}(\overline{\mu _3}\mu _4)=\mathrm{Im}(\overline{\mu _1}\mu _2)+C=\mathrm{Im}(\mu _1\overline{\mu _2})+C$$

and thus

$$\overline{\mu _3}\mu _4=\mu _1\overline{\mu _2}+K$$

where $`K=(N_4+N_3N_1N_2)/2+C\sqrt{D}`$. Hence we can rewrite (5.3) and (5.4) as

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}\overline{\mu _3}\mu _4=\mu _1\overline{\mu _2}+K\hfill & \\ \mu _1+\mu _3=\mu _2+\mu _4\hfill & \\ \mu _i=\nu _i\beta _i,\beta _iC(N)\text{ for }i=1,2,3,4\text{.}\hfill & \end{array}$$

### Case 1 ($`K0`$)

Since $`\mu _i=\nu _i\beta _i`$ with $`\beta _iC(N)`$, we can rewrite

$$\overline{\mu _3}\mu _4=\mu _1\overline{\mu _2}+K$$

as

$$\overline{\nu _3}\nu _4\beta _4/\beta _3=\nu _1\overline{\nu _2}\beta _1/\beta _2+K,$$

and hence

$$\beta _4/\beta _3=\frac{1}{\overline{\nu _3}\nu _4}(\nu _1\overline{\nu _2}\beta _1/\beta _2+K).$$

Applying lemma 13 with $`\gamma _1=\beta _4/\beta _3`$ and $`\gamma _2=\beta _1/\beta _2`$ gives that $`\beta _1/\beta _2`$, and hence $`\mu _1\overline{\mu _2}`$, must take one of two values, say $`C_1`$ or $`C_2`$. But $`\mu _1\overline{\mu _2}=C_1`$ implies that $`\mu _1=\mu _2\frac{C_1}{N_2}`$ and hence $`\mu _4=\mu _3\frac{C_1+K}{N_3}`$. We thus obtain

$$\mu _2(1\frac{C_1}{N_2})=\mu _1\mu _2=\mu _4\mu _3=\mu _3(1\frac{C_1+K}{N_3})$$

Now, if $`\mu _1\mu _2`$ then both $`1\frac{C_1}{N_2}`$ and $`1\frac{C_1+K}{N_3}`$ are nonzero. Thus $`\mu _2`$ is determined by $`\mu _3`$, which in turn gives that $`\mu _1`$ as well as $`\mu _4`$ are determined by $`\mu _3`$. Hence, there can be at most $`C(N)`$ solutions for which $`\mu _1\mu _2`$. (The case $`\mu _1\overline{\mu _2}=C_2`$ is handled in the same way.)

On the other hand, for $`\mu _1=\mu _2`$ we have the family of solutions

(5.6)
$$\mu _1=\mu _2,\mu _4=\mu _3$$

(note that this implies that $`C=\mathrm{Im}(\overline{\mu _1}\mu _2+\overline{\mu _3}\mu _4)=0`$.)

### Case 2 ($`K=0`$)

Since $`K=0`$ and $`\mu _1=\mu _2+\mu _4\mu _3`$ we have

$$\overline{\mu _3}\mu _4=\mu _1\overline{\mu _2}+K=(\mu _2+\mu _4\mu _3)\overline{\mu _2}$$

and hence

$$\mu _4(\overline{\mu _3}\overline{\mu _2})=(\mu _2\mu _3)\overline{\mu _2}$$

If $`\mu _2\mu _3=0`$, we must have $`\mu _1=\mu _4`$, and we obtain the family of solutions

(5.7)
$$\mu _2=\mu _3,\mu _1=\mu _4$$

On the other hand, if $`\mu _2\mu _30`$, we can express $`\mu _4`$ in terms of $`\mu _2`$ and $`\mu _3`$:

$$\mu _4=\frac{\mu _2\mu _3}{\overline{\mu _3}\overline{\mu _2}}\overline{\mu _2}=\frac{N_2\overline{\mu _2}\mu _3}{N_3\overline{\mu _2}\mu _3}\mu _3,$$

which in turn gives that

(5.8)
$$\begin{array}{c}\mu _1=\mu _2+\mu _4\mu _3=\mu _2+\frac{\mu _2\mu _3}{\overline{\mu _3}\overline{\mu _2}}\overline{\mu _2}\mu _3\hfill \\ \hfill =\frac{\mu _2\mu _3}{\overline{\mu _3}\overline{\mu _2}}(\overline{\mu _3}\overline{\mu _2})+\frac{\mu _2\mu _3}{\overline{\mu _3}\overline{\mu _2}}\overline{\mu _2}=\frac{\mu _2\mu _3}{\overline{\mu _3}\overline{\mu _2}}\overline{\mu _3}=\frac{\mu _2\overline{\mu _3}N_3}{\mu _2\overline{\mu _3}N_2}\mu _2\end{array}$$

### Summary

If $`K0`$ there can be at most $`2|C(N)|`$ “spurious” solutions for which $`\mu _1\mu _2`$; other than that, we must have

$$\mu _1=\mu _2,\mu _3=\mu _4.$$

On the other hand, if $`K=0`$, then either

$$\mu _2=\mu _3,\mu _1=\mu _4.$$

or

$$\mu _4=\frac{\mu _2\mu _3}{\overline{\mu _3}\overline{\mu _2}}\overline{\mu _2}=\frac{N_2\overline{\mu _2}\mu _3}{N_3\overline{\mu _2}\mu _3}\mu _3,\mu _1=\frac{\mu _2\mu _3}{\overline{\mu _3}\overline{\mu _2}}\overline{\mu _3}=\frac{\mu _2\overline{\mu _3}N_3}{\mu _2\overline{\mu _3}N_2}\mu _2$$

We note that the first case can only happen if $`N_1=N_2`$ and $`N_3=N_4`$, the second only if $`N_2=N_3`$ and $`N_1=N_4`$, and the third only if $`N_2=N_4`$ and $`N_1=N_3`$. Moreover, in all three cases, $`C=\mathrm{Im}(K)=\mathrm{Im}(\overline{\mu _1}\mu _2+\overline{\mu _3}\mu _4)=0`$. We also note that if $`N_2=N_3`$, then the third case simplifies to $`\mu _1=\mu _2`$ and $`\mu _3=\mu _4`$. We thus obtain the following:

If $`C0`$ then $`K0`$ and there can be at most $`O(N)`$ “spurious solutions”.

If $`C=0`$ and $`N_1=N_2=N_3=N_4`$ then $`K=0`$ and the solutions are given by the two families

$$\mu _2=\mu _3,\mu _1=\mu _4$$

and

$$\mu _4=\frac{N_2\overline{\mu _2}\mu _3}{N_3\overline{\mu _2}\mu _3}\mu _3=\mu _3,\mu _1=\frac{\mu _2\overline{\mu _3}N_3}{\mu _2\overline{\mu _3}N_2}\mu _2=\mu _2$$

If $`C=0`$ and $`N_1=N_4N_2=N_3`$ then $`K=0`$ and there is a family of solutions given by

$$\mu _2=\mu _3,\mu _1=\mu _4.$$

Similarly, if $`C=0`$ and $`N_1=N_3N_2=N_4`$ then $`K=0`$ and there is a family of solutions given by

$$\mu _4=\frac{\mu _2\mu _3}{\overline{\mu _3}\overline{\mu _2}}\overline{\mu _2},\mu _1=\frac{\mu _2\mu _3}{\overline{\mu _3}\overline{\mu _2}}\overline{\mu _3}$$

If $`C=0`$ and $`N_1=N_2N_3=N_4`$ then $`K0`$, in which case we have a family of solutions given by

$$\mu _1=\mu _2,\mu _3=\mu _4$$

as well as $`O(N)`$ “spurious” solutions.

Finally, if $`C=0`$ and pairwise equality of norms do not hold, then we must have $`K0`$ (if $`K=0`$ then $`\overline{\mu _3}\mu _4=\mu _1\overline{\mu _2}+K`$ implies that $`N_3N_4=N_1N_2`$, which together with $`N_1+N_2=N_3+N_4`$ gives that either $`N_1=N_3,N_2=N_4`$ or $`N_1=N_4,N_2=N_3`$) and in this case there can be at most $`O(N)`$ “spurious” solutions.

Now Lemma 4 gives that pairwise equality of norms modulo $`N`$ implies pairwise equality of $`Q(k),Q(l),Q(m),Q(n)`$. ∎

### 5.5. Conclusion

We may now evaluate the exponential sum in (5.2)

###### Proposition 16.

If $`Q(k),Q(l),Q(m),Q(n)0modN`$ then, for $`N`$ sufficiently large, we have

(5.9)
$$\begin{array}{c}\underset{\begin{array}{c}B_1,B_2,B_3,B_4C(N)\\ kB_1lB_2+mB_3nB_40modN\end{array}}{}e\left(\frac{t(\omega (kB_1,lB_2)+\omega (mB_3,nB_4))}{N}\right)\hfill \\ \hfill =\{\begin{array}{cc}2|C(N)|^2+O(|C(N)|)\hfill & \text{if }Q(k)=Q(l)=Q(m)=Q(n)\text{}\hfill \\ |C(N)|^2+O(|C(N)|)\hfill & \text{if }(Q(k),Q(l),Q(m),Q(n))S\text{,}\hfill \\ O(|C(N)|^{3/2})\hfill & \text{otherwise.}\hfill \end{array}\end{array}$$

###### Proof.

Since both $`\omega (kB_1,lB_2)+\omega (mB_3,nB_4)`$ and $`kB_1lB_2+mB_3nB_4`$ are invariant under the substitution $`(B_1,B_2,B_3,B_4)(B^{}B_1,B^{}B_2,B^{}B_3,B^{}B_4)`$ for $`B^{}C(N)`$, we may rewrite the left hand side of (5.9) as $`|C(N)|`$ times

(5.10)
$$\underset{\begin{array}{c}B_2,B_3,B_4C(N)\\ klB_2+mB_3nB_40modN\end{array}}{}e\left(\frac{t(\omega (k,lB_2)+\omega (mB_3,nB_4))}{N}\right).$$

Let $`X`$ be the set of solutions to

$$klB_2+mB_3nB_40modN,B_2,B_3,B_4C(N).$$

By Lemma 14, the dimension of any irreducible component of $`X`$ is at most $`1`$. The contribution from the zero dimensional components of $`X`$ is at most $`O(|C(N)|)`$. As for the one dimensional components, Lemma 15 gives that $`\omega (k,lB_2)+\omega (mB_3,nB_4)`$ cannot be constant on any component unless pairwise equality of norms holds. Thus, if pairwise equality of norms does not hold, Bombieri’s Theorem gives that (5.10) is $`O(N^{1/2})=O(|C(N)|^{1/2})`$.

On the other hand, if $`\omega (kB_1,lB_2)+\omega (mB_3,nB_4)`$ equals some constant $`C`$ modulo $`N`$ on some one dimensional component, then Lemma 15 gives the following: $`C0modN`$, and (5.10) equals $`\mathrm{Sol}(k,l,m,n)`$, which in turn equals $`|C(N)|^2`$ or $`2|C(N)|^2`$ depending on whether $`Q(k)Q(l)Q(m)Q(n)modN`$ or not. ∎

Proposition 10 now follows from Lemma 11 and Proposition 16 on recalling that $`|C(N)|=|C(2N)|=N\pm 1`$.

## 6. Discussion

### 6.1. Comparison with generic systems

It is interesting to compare our result for the variance with the predicted answer for generic systems (see ), which is

(6.1)
$$\underset{t=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}_{𝐓^2}f_0(x)\overline{f_0(A^tx)}𝑑x$$

where $`f_0=f_{𝐓^2}f(y)𝑑y`$. Using the Fourier expansion and collecting together frequencies $`n`$ lying in the same $`A`$-orbit this equals

$$\underset{t=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{0n𝐙^2}{}\widehat{f}(n)\overline{\widehat{f}(nA^t)}=\underset{m(𝐙^20)/A}{}\left|\underset{nmA}{}\widehat{f}(n)\right|^2$$

where $`A`$ denotes the group generated by $`A`$. We can further rewrite this expression into a form closer to our formula (1.1) by noticing that the expression $`ϵ(n):=(1)^{n_1n_2}`$ is an invariant of the $`A`$-orbit: $`ϵ(n)=ϵ(nA)`$, because we assume that $`AImod2`$. Thus we can write the generic variance (6.1) as

(6.2)
$$\underset{m(𝐙^20)/A}{}\left|\underset{nmA}{}(1)^{n_1n_2}\widehat{f}(n)\right|^2.$$

The comparison with with our answer $`_{\nu 0}\left|_{Q(n)=\nu }(1)^{n_1n_2}\widehat{f}(n)\right|^2`$ in (1.1), is now clear: Both expressions would coincide if each hyperbola $`\{n𝐙^2:Q(n)=\nu \}`$ consisted of a single $`A`$-orbit. It is true that each hyperbola consists of a finite number of $`A`$-orbits for $`\nu 0`$, but that number varies with $`\nu `$.

### 6.2. A differential operator

There is yet another analogy with the modular domain, pointed out to us by Peter Sarnak: We define a differential operator $`L`$ on $`C^{\mathrm{}}(𝐓^2)`$ by

$$L=\frac{1}{4\pi ^2}Q(\frac{}{p},\frac{}{q})$$

so that $`\widehat{Lf}(n)=Q(n)\widehat{f}(n)`$.

Given observables $`f,g`$, we define a bilinear form $`B(f,g)`$ by

$$B(f,g)=\underset{\nu 0}{}f^\mathrm{\#}(\nu )g^\mathrm{\#}(\nu )$$

so that (cf. Conjecture 1) $`B(f,g)=𝐄(X_fX_g)`$ and by Theorem 2, $`B(f,f)`$ is the variance of the normalized matrix elements.

It is easy to check that $`L`$ is self adjoint with respect to $`B`$, i.e., $`B(Lf,g)=B(f,Lg)`$. Note that $`L`$ is also self-adjoint with respect to the bilinear form derived from the expected variance for generic systems (6.1), (6.2). This feature was first observed for the modular domain, where the role of $`L`$ is played by the Casimir operator  (c.f. Appendix 5 of Sarnak’s survey ).

### 6.3. Connection with character sums

Conjecture 1 is related to the value distributions of certain character sums, at least in the case of split primes, that is primes $`N`$ for which the cat map $`A`$ is diagonalizable modulo $`N`$. Let $`MSL_2(𝐙/2N𝐙)`$ be such that $`A=MDM^1mod2N`$. In  we explained that in that case, all but one of the normalized Hecke eigenfunctions are given in terms of the Dirichlet characters $`\chi `$ modulo $`N`$ as $`\psi _\chi :=\sqrt{\frac{N}{N1}}U_N(M)\chi `$. We can then write the matrix elements $`T_N(n)\psi _\chi ,\psi _\chi `$ as characters sums: Setting $`(m_1,m_2)=nM`$, we have

$$T_N(n)\psi _\chi ,\psi _\chi =e^{\pi im_1m_2/N}\frac{1}{N1}\underset{QmodN}{}e(\frac{m_2Q}{N})\chi (Q+m_1)\overline{\chi (Q)},$$

and Conjecture 1 gives a prediction for the value distribution of these sums as $`\chi `$ varies.