Local average in the hyperbolic sphere problem

We consider a local average in the hyperbolic lattice point counting problem for the Picard group <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="normal upper Gamma"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal"> Γ </mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">\Gamma</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> acting on the three-dimensional hyperbolic space. Compared to the pointwise case, we improve the bounds on the remainder in the counting, conditionally on a quantum variance estimate for Maass cusp forms attached to <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="normal upper Gamma"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal"> Γ </mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">\Gamma</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> . We also use bounds on a spectral exponential sum over the Laplace eigenvalues for <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="normal upper Gamma"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal"> Γ </mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">\Gamma</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> , which has been studied in the context of the prime geodesic theorem and for which unconditional bounds are known.