Eichler integrals and generalized second order Eisenstein series

Abstract: We show that all Eichler integrals, and more generally all "generalized second order modular forms" can be expressed as linear combinations of corresponding generalized second order Eisenstein series with coefficients in classical modular forms. We determine the Fourier series expansions of generalized second order Eisenstein series in level one, and provide tail estimates via convexity bounds for additively twisted $\mathrm{L}$-functions. As an application, we illustrate a bootstrapping procedure that yields numerical evaluations of, for instance, Eichler integrals from merely the associated cocycle. The proof of our main results rests on a filtration argument that is largely rooted in previous work on vector-valued modular forms, which we here formulate in classical terms.