Harmonically induced representations of solvable Lie groups (Q1081708)

Let G be a Lie group, \({\mathfrak g}\) be its Lie algebra and \({\mathfrak g}^*\) the dual of \({\mathfrak g}\). Roughly speaking, the ''orbit method'' associates to each orbit of G in \({\mathfrak g}^*\) a representation of G. The construction is based on a certain induction and requires the use of certain subalgebras of \({\mathfrak g}\) (or \({\mathfrak g}_{{\mathbb{C}}}\), the complexification of \({\mathfrak g}\), called polarizations for the orbit. The representation is realized on a \(L^ 2\) space of harmonic forms with values in an associated bundle. Some of the main problems are: (i) when is the representation space nonzero ? (ii) if the representation space is nonzero, is the representation irreducible ? (iii) if the representation is reducible, ''decompose'' it into irreducible representations. These questions were satisfactorily answered for nilpotent and semisimple Lie groups and, more generally, for extensions of a nilpotent group by a reductive one. It is the aim of the paper under review to study the theory of harmonic induction in a different situation, namely that of non-unimodular groups. The authors show that new phenomena occur, making the calculations much more difficult. However, if the structure of the group is not to complicated, these representations are computable and in the case of \(N_{2n+1}\rtimes {\mathbb{R}}_+^{\times}\), the semidirect product of the Heisenberg group \(N_{2n+1}\) by a one-parameter group of dilations, they are studied in detail. The paper also contains some useful vanishing and non-vanishing results and a discussion concerning connections with the theory of discrete series for semisimple Lie groups.