The Lerch zeta function III. Polylogarithms and special values

Abstract: This paper studies algebraic and analytic structures associated with the Lerch zeta function, extending the complex variables viewpoint taken in part II. The Lerch transcendent $\Phi(s, z, c)$ is obtained from the Lerch zeta function $\zeta(s, a, c)$ by the change of variable $z=e^{2 \pi i a}$. We show that it analytically continues to a maximal domain of holomorphy in three complex variables $(s, z, c)$ as a multivalued function defined over the base manifold ${\bf C} \times P^1({\bf C} \smallsetminus {0, 1, \infty}) \times ({\bf C}\smallsetminus {\bf Z})$. and compute the monodromy functions defining the multivaluedness. For positive integer values s=m and c=1 this function is closely related to the classical m-th order polylogarithm $Li_m(z)$ We study its behavior as a function of two variables $(z, c)$ for special values where s=m is an integer. For $m \ge 1$ it gives a one-parameter deformation of the polylogarithm, and satisfies a linear ODE with coefficients depending on c, of order m+1 of Fuchsian type. We determine its (m+1)-dimensional monodromy representation, which is a non-algebraic deformation of the monodromy of $Li_m(z).$