Laguerre polynomials, restriction principle, and holomorphic representations of SL\((2\mathbb R)\) (Q1610253)

For \(\alpha>0\), let \(H_\alpha\) be the Bergman space of holomorphic functions in the upper half-plane \(\mathcal H\) square-integrable with respect to the measure \((\text{Im} z)^{\alpha-1} dz\), where \(dz\) is the Lebesgue measure; the spaces \(H_\alpha\) can, in~fact, be ``analytically continued'' to all \(\alpha>-1\). The Cayley transform induces an isomorphism \(c:H_\alpha(\mathcal D)\to H_\alpha\), \(cf(z):=f(\frac{z-i}{z+i})(z+i)^ {-\alpha-1}\), between \(H_\alpha\) and the similar Bergman space on the unit disc \(\mathcal D\) with respect to the measure const\(\cdot(1-|z|^2)^ {\alpha-1}\). The authors consider the restriction map \(R\) on \(H_\alpha\) given by \(Rf(t):=f(it)\), \(t>0\). It~turns out that \(R\) is a densely defined, closed, and injective operator from \(H_\alpha\) into \(L^2(\mathbb R^+,t^\alpha dt)\) with dense range; hence, the partial isometry component \(U\) in the polar decomposition \(R^*=U\sqrt{RR^*}\) is unitary. They identify \(U\) explicitly, and show that \(U^* c (z^n)=\text{const}\cdot e^{-t} L^\alpha_n(2t)\), where \(L^\alpha_n\) are the Laguerre polynomials. This fact can then be used to obtain various recurrence formulas for \(L^\alpha_n\). The main idea underlying all these developments is the so-called ``restriction principle'' of B.Ørsted and the third author. For more information and other applications of this principle, see the papers of \textit{B. Ørsted} and \textit{G. Zhang} [Indiana Univ. Math. J. 43, 551-583 (1994; Zbl 0805.46053)] and \textit{G. Ólafsson} and \textit{B. Ørsted} [in: Lie theory and its applications in physics (Clausthal, 1995; Zbl 0916.22006)].