Irreducibility of unitary principal series for covering groups of SL(2,k) (Q1118049)

The author analyses the principal series representations of a metaplectic cover of SL(2,k) of order n where k is a non-archimedean local field of odd residual characteristic. Under the assumption that the character from which the induction is carried out is unitary those cases are determined in which the representation is reducible; there are three such characters if n is odd and none if n is even. The analysis is carried out by using a Bessel model of the representation and in fact the method yields considerably more information about these representations than that which is discussed here. The analogues of the complementary series are not discussed here.