Coefficients of the n-fold Theta Function and Weyl Group Multiple Dirichlet Series

We establish a link between certain Whittaker coefficients of the generalized metaplectic theta functions, first studied by Kazhdan and Patterson [15], and the coefficients of the stable Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series defined in [3]. The generalized theta functions are the residues of Eisenstein series on a metaplectic n-fold cover of the general linear group. For n sufficiently large, we consider different Whittaker coefficients for such a theta function which lie in the orbit of Hecke operators at a given prime p. These are shown to be equal (up to an explicit constant) to the p-power supported coefficients of a Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series (MDS). These MDS coefficients are described in terms of the underlying root system; they have also recently been identified as the values of a p-adic Whittaker function attached to an unramified principal series representation on the metaplectic cover of the general linear group.