On sign changes for almost prime coefficients of half-integral weight modular forms

For a half-integral weight modular form $f = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} a_f(n)n^{\frac{k-1}{2}} q^n$ of weight $k = l +\frac{1}{2}$ on $\Gamma_0(4)$ such that $a_f(n)$ ($n$ $\in$ $\mathbb{N}$) are real, we prove for a fixed suitable natural number $r$ that $a_f(n)$ changes sign infinitely often as $n$ varies over numbers having at most $r$ prime factors, assuming the analog of the Ramanujan conjecture for half-integral weight forms.Comment: To appear in Mathematik

Special values of derivatives of LL-series and generalized Stieltjes constants

The connection between derivatives of $L(s,f)$ for periodic arithmetical functions $f$ at $s=1$ and generalized Stieltjes constants has been noted earlier. In this paper, we utilize this link to throw light on the arithmetic nature of $L'(1,f)$ and certain Stieltjes constants. In particular, if $p$ is an odd prime greater than $7$, then we deduce the transcendence of at least $(p-7)/2$ of the generalized Stieltjes constants, $\{ \gamma_1(a,p) : 1 \leq a < p \}$, conditional on a conjecture of S. Gun, M. R. Murty and P. Rath.Comment: 11 page