In this paper we study square integrable representations and $L$-functions for quasisplit general spin groups over a $p$-adic field. In the first part, the holomorphy of $L$-functions in a half plane is proved by using a variant form of Casselman's square integrability criterion and the Langlands--Shahidi method. The remaining part focuses on the proof of the standard module conjecture. We generalize Mui\'c's idea via the Langlands--Shahidi method towards a proof of the conjecture. It is used in the work of M. Asgari and F. Shahidi on generic transfer for general spin groups.

We give a constructive proof, in the special case of ${\rm GL}_3$, of a theorem of Ash and Stevens which compares overconvergent cohomology to classical cohomology. Namely, we show that every ordinary classical Hecke-eigenclass can be lifted uniquely to a rigid analytic eigenclass. Our basic method builds on the ideas of M. Greenberg; we first form an arbitrary lift of the classical eigenclass to a distribution-valued cochain. Then, by appropriately iterating the $U_p$-operator, we produce a cocycle whose image in cohomology is the desired eigenclass. The constructive nature of this proof makes it possible to perform computer computations to approximate these interesting overconvergent eigenclasses.

The Casselman--Shalika method is a way to compute explicit formulas for periods of irreducible unramified representations of $p$-adic groups that are associated to unique models (i.e., multiplicity-free induced representations). We apply this method to the case of the Shalika model of $GL_n$, which is known to distinguish lifts from odd orthogonal groups. In the course of our proof, we further develop a variant of the method, that was introduced by Y. Hironaka, and in effect reduce many such problems to straightforward calculations on the group.

The fundamental lemma in the theory of automorphic forms is proven for the (quasi-split) unitary group $U(3)$ in three variables associated with a quadratic extension of $p$-adic fields, and its endoscopic group $U(2)$, by means of a new, elementary technique. This lemma is a prerequisite for an application of the trace formula to classify the automorphic and admissible representations of $U(3)$ in terms of those of $U(2)$ and base change to $\GL(3)$. It compares the (unstable) orbital integral of the characteristic function of the standard maximal compact subgroup $K$ of $U(3)$ at a regular element (whose centralizer $T$ is a torus), with an analogous (stable) orbital integral on the endoscopic group $U(2)$. The technique is based on computing the sum over the double coset space $T\bs G/K$ which describes the integral, by means of an intermediate double coset space $H\bs G/K$ for a subgroup $H$ of $G=U(3)$ containing $T$. Such an argument originates from Weissauer's work on the symplectic group. The lemma is proven for both ramified and unramified regular elements, for which endoscopy occurs (the stable conjugacy class is not a single orbit).