Branching rules for unitary groups and spectra of invariant differential operators on complex Grassmannians (Q2470356)

For a compact connected Lie group \(G\) and its closed connected subgroup \(K\), a branching rule is a description of the \(K\)-irreducible representations and their multiplicities which occur in the decomposition of any irreducible representation of \(G\) upon restriction to \(K\). In the paper under review the author proves a combinatorial rule describing the restriction of any irreducible representation of \(U(n+m)\) to the subgroup \(U(n)\times U(m)\). In the case of polynomial representations, this is the Mickelsson rule which, in the original work of Mickelsson, was stated for any \(n\geq m\geq 2\) but proved for \(n=m=2\) only. Similar rules are derived for the reductions from \(SU(n+m)\) to \(S(U(n)\times U(m))\), and from \(SU(n+m)\) to \(SU(n)\times SU(m)\). As applications, the author computes the spectra of the Bochner--Laplacian on powers of the determinant bundle over the complex Grassmannian \(Gr_n({\mathbb C}^{n+m})\) and partially computes the spectrum of the Dirac operator acting on the spin Grassmannian \(Gr_n({\mathbb C}^{n+m})\). Finally, the author determines the spectrum of the Hodge--Laplacian acting on the space of smooth functions on the unit determinant bundle over \(Gr_n({\mathbb C}^{n+m})\).