Schertz conjectured that every finite abelian extension of imaginary quadratic fields can be generated by the norm of the Siegel–Ramachandra invariants. We present a conditional proof of his conjecture by means of the characters on class groups and the second Kronecker limit formula.

We generate ray-class fields over imaginary quadratic fields in terms of Siegel–Ramachandra invariants, which are an extension of a result of Schertz. By making use of quotients of Siegel–Ramachandra invariants we also construct ray-class invariants over imaginary quadratic fields whose minimal polynomials have relatively small coefficients, from which we are able to solve certain quadratic Diophantine equations.

We provide a concrete example of a normal basis for a finite Galois extension which is not abelian. More precisely, let $\mathbb{C}(X(N))$ be the field of meromorphic functions on the modular curve $X(N)$ of level $N$. We construct a completely free element in the extension $\mathbb{C}(X(N))/\mathbb{C}(X(1))$ by means of Siegel functions.

It is well known that every elliptic curve over the rationals admits a parametrization by means of modular functions. In this short note, we show that only finitely many elliptic curves over $\mathbf{Q}$ can be parametrized by modular units. This answers a question raised by W. Zudilin in a recent work on Mahler measures. Further, we give the list of all elliptic curves $E$ of conductor up to 1000 parametrized by modular units supported in the rational torsion subgroup of $E$. Finally, we raise several open questions.

We show that a weakly holomorphic modular function can be written as a sum of modular units of higher level. Furthermore, we find a necessary and sufficient condition for a meromorphic Siegel modular function of degree g to have neither a zero nor a pole on a certain subset of the Siegel upper half-space .

The discriminant function $\Delta$ is a certain rigid analytic modular form defined on Drinfeld's upper half-plane $\Omega$. Its absolute value $\vert \Delta\vert$ may be considered as a function on the associated Bruhat–Tits tree ${\cal T}$. We compare $\log \vert \Delta\vert$ with the conditionally convergent complex-valued Eisenstein series $E$ defined on ${\cal T}$ and thereby obtain results about the growth of $\vert \Delta$ and of some related modular forms. We further determine to what extent roots may be extracted of $\Delta(z)/\Delta(nz)$, regarded as a holomorphic function on $\Omega$. In some cases, this enables us to calculate cuspidal divisor class groups of modular curves.