Certified Newton schemes for the evaluation of low-genus theta functions

Abstract

Theta functions and theta constants in low genus, especially genus 1 and 2, can be evaluated at any given point in quasi-linear time in the required precision using Newton schemes based on Borchardt sequences. Our goal in this paper is to provide the necessary tools to implement these algorithms in a provably correct way. In particular, we obtain uniform and explicit convergence results in the case of theta constants in genus 1 and 2, and theta functions in genus 1: the associated Newton schemes will converge starting from approximations to N bits of precision for N = 60, 300, and 1600 respectively, for all suitably reduced arguments. We also describe a uniform quasi-linear time algorithm to evaluate genus 2 theta constants on the Siegel fundamental domain. Our main tool is a detailed study of Borchardt means as multivariate analytic functions.