The first negative Fourier coefficient of an Eisenstein series newform

Abstract

There have been a number of papers on statistical questions concerning the sign changes of Fourier coefficients of newforms. In one such paper, Linowitz and Thompson gave a conjecture describing when, on average, the first negative sign of the Fourier coefficients of an Eisenstein series newform occurs. In this paper, we correct their conjecture and prove the corrected version.