Abstract

We verify the Selberg eigenvalue conjecture for congruence groups of small squarefree conductor, improving on a result of Huxley [M. N. Huxley, Introduction to Kloostermania, in: Elementary and analytic theory of numbers, Banach Center Publ. 17, Warsaw (1985), 217–306.]. The main tool is the Selberg trace formula which, unlike previous geometric methods, allows for treatment of cases where the eigenvalue 1/4 is present. We present a few other sample applications, including the classification of even 2-dimensional Galois representations of small squarefree conductor.