The classical generalizations (already investigated in the second half of last century) of the modular group SL(2, ℤ) are the groups ГK = SL(2, o)(o the principal order of a totally real number field K, [K:ℚ]=n), operating, originally, on a product
of n upper half-planes or, for n=2, on the product
1×
− of an upper and a lower half-plane by
![](//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0017089500006078/resource/name/S0017089500006078_eqn1.gif?pub-status=live)
(where v(i), for v∈K, denotes the jth conjugate of v), and Гn = Sp(n, ℤ), operating on
n={Z∣Z=X+iY∈ℂ(n,n),tZ=Z, Y>0} by
![](//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0017089500006078/resource/name/S0017089500006078_eqn2.gif?pub-status=live)
Nowadays ГK is called Hilbert's modular group of K and Гn Siegel's modular group of degree (or genus) n. For n=1 we have Гℚ=Г1= SL(2, ℤ). The functions corresponding to modular forms and modular functions for SL(2, ℤ) and its subgroups are holomorphic (or meromorphic) functions with an invariance property of the form
![](//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0017089500006078/resource/name/S0017089500006078_eqn3.gif?pub-status=live)
J(L, t) for fixed L (or J(M, Z) for fixed M) denoting a holomorphic function without zeros on
) (or on
n). A function J;, defined on ℤK×
or ℤn×
n to be able to appear in (1.3) with f≢0, has to satisfy certain functional equations (see below, (2.3)–(2.5) for ГK, (5.7)–(5.9) for Гn) and is called an automorphic factor (AF) then. In close analogy to the case n=1, mainly AFs of the following kind have been used:
![](//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0017089500006078/resource/name/S0017089500006078_eqn4.gif?pub-status=live)
![](//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0017089500006078/resource/name/S0017089500006078_eqn5.gif?pub-status=live)
with a complex number r, the weight of J, and complex numbers v(L), v(M). AFs of this kind are called classical automorphic factors (CAP) in the sequel. If r∉ℤ, the values of the function v on ГK (or Гn) depend on the branch of (…)r. For a fixed choice of the branch (for each L∈ГK or M∈Гn) the functional equations for J, by (1.4), (1.5), correspond to functional equations for v. A function v satisfying those equations is called a multiplier system (MS) of weight r for ГK (or Гn).