Supersymmetry, differential operators of infinite order and theta functions

Abstract: In 1972, M. Sato proposed an approach to proving modularity of forms like Thetanullwerte by characterizing them via certain differential operators of infinite order (DOI) in the modular variable(s) alone. A DOI is an infinite series in derivatives decreasing so fast that it acts on holomorphic functions by a sheaf morphism. This approach was developed by several authors including Kashiwara, Kawai, Takei and Yoshida. We give an interpretation of this approach using supersymmetry which provides a natural source of DOIs: the naive exponential of any odd supersymmetry generator is a DOI. The case of the Riemann theta function of genus n is governed by the supergroup OSp(1|2n) (and its metaplectic cover) acting on a natural super-thickening of the Siegel plane. For n=2 this is the 3-dimensional N=1 superconformal group and the structure at hand is precisely the free massless scalar supermultiplet (combining the Laplace and Dirac equations). For n>2 we get a super-extension of the generalized conformal structure existing on the Lagrangian Grassmannian as on any Hermitian symmetric space. An additional interesting feature here is that the odd supersymmetry generators acting ``on-shell'' (i.e., in the space of solutions of the equations of motion) satisfy even-style Heisenberg commutation relations. These equations of motion upgrade to a complex of differential operators corresponding to a natural BGG-type resolution of the super-Weil representation of osp(1|2n).