Eisenstein Quasimodes and QUE

Abstract

We consider the question of quantum unique ergodicity (QUE) for quasimodes on surfaces of constant negative curvature, and conjecture the order of quasimodes that should satisfy QUE. We then show that this conjecture holds for Eisenstein series on \({SL(2,\mathbb{Z})\backslash\mathbb{H}}\) , extending results of Luo–Sarnak and Jakobson. Moreover, we observe that the equidistribution results of Luo–Sarnak and Jakobson extend to quasimodes of much weaker order—for which QUE is known to fail on compact surfaces—though in this scenario the total mass of the limit measures will decrease. We interpret this stronger equidistribution property in the context of arithmetic QUE, in light of recent joint work with Lindenstrauss (Invent Math 198(1), 219–259, 2014) on joint quasimodes.