An orthogonality relation for spherical characters of supercuspidal representations (Q2363595)

Let \(F\) finite extension of a \(\mathbb Q_p\) and \(E\) a quadratic extension over \(F\). Let \(G\) be a reductive group over \(F\) and consider the scalar Weil restriction \(\mathbf G = R_{E/F} G\). The Galois group Gal\((E/F)\) has only a nontrivial element \(\sigma\), which induces an involution \(\theta\) on \(\mathbf G\); with this involution the pair \((\mathbf G, G)\) forms a Galois pair. Let \(\pi\) be an irreducible admissible unitariy representation of \(G(E)\). For each element \(\ell\) in the space \(\text{Hom}_{G(F)}(\pi, \mathbb C)\), the authors define a spherical character \(\Phi_{\pi, \ell}\) as \[ \Phi_{\pi, \ell}(f):= \sum_{v \in \text{ob} (\pi)} \ell (\pi(f)v) \overline{\ell(v)}, \quad f\in C_c^\infty(G(E)), \] where the sum runs over an orthonormal basis of the representation space \(V_\pi\). In this paper, the authors show that these spherical characters satisfy some orthogonality relation in the case that \(\pi\) is unitary supercuspidal. From a result from \textit{J. Hakim} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 455, 1--19 (1994; Zbl 0802.22004)] it is known that the spherical character \(\Phi_{\pi, \ell}\) is a locally integrable function on \(G(E)\) and locally constant on the subset of \(\theta\)-regular elements of \(G(E)\). This result is an analogous to a \textit{Harish-Chandra}'s classical result on admissible invariant distributions on connected reductive \(p\)-adic groups [Admissible invariant distributions on reductive \(p\)-adic groups. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (1999; Zbl 0928.22017)]. The author's main result states the following. Theorem. {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)] Let \(\pi\) be a unitary supercuspidal representation such that the space \(\text{Hom}_{G(F)}(\pi, \mathbb C)\) is nontrivial. For an element \(0 \neq \ell \in \text{Hom}_{G(F)}(\pi, \mathbb C)\). Then \[ \sum_{T \in \mathcal T_{\mathrm{ell}}} \frac{1}{w_T} \int\limits_T | D_{G(E)}(s(t))|_E \cdot |\phi_{\pi, \ell}(t)|^2\mathrm{d}t \neq 0. \] In this notation \(\phi_{\pi, \ell}(t)\) is the locally integrable function on \(G(E)\) representing the distribution \(\Phi_{\pi, \ell}\), \(D_{G(E)}\) is the usual Weyl discriminant function on \(G(E)\), \(w_T\) is some positive constant (depending on \(T\)) appearing in the Weyl integration formula, and \(T\) runs over representatives of elliptic Cartan subsets. \item[(2)] Let \(\pi\) and \(\pi'\) be two non-isomorphic unitary supercuspidal representations of \(G(E)\). Then for \(\ell \in \text{Hom}_{G(F)}(\pi, \mathbb C)\) and \(\ell' \in \text{Hom}_{G(F)}(\pi', \mathbb C)\), we have the following orthogonality relation \[ \sum_{T \in \mathcal T_{\mathrm{ell}}} \frac{1}{w_T} \int\limits_T | D_{G(E)}(s(t))|_E \cdot \phi_{\pi, \ell}(t) \cdot \overline{\phi_{\pi', \ell'}(t)} \mathrm{d}t = 0. \] \end{itemize}} Note that this theorem is an analog of a classical orthogonality relation for characters of discrete series (see [\textit{L. Clozel}, Prog. Math. 101, 101--121 (1991; Zbl 0760.22023); \textit{D. Kazhdan}, J. Anal. Math. 47, 1--36 (1986; Zbl 0634.22009)]). As a corollary, the author obtains, in particular, that the spherical character \(\Phi_{\pi, \ell}\) is not identically zero on the subset \(G(E)_{\mathrm{ell}}\). For proving the theorem, the author uses the fact that the orbital integral of matrix coefficients of a unitary supercuspidal \(G\)-distinguished representation (\(\text{Hom}_{G(F)}(\pi, \mathbb C) \neq \{0\}\)) vanishes on \(G(E)_{\mathrm{reg}}\) unless \(g\) is \(\theta\)-elliptic. Another ingredient of the proof is a particular expression for the spherical character obtained by the author [J. Funct. Anal. 271, No. 6, 1525--1543 (2016; Zbl 1353.22010)] and the use of Weyl integration.