Geometric interpretations of two branching theorems of D.E. Littlewood. (Q1421794)

Let \(\tau_\lambda\) denote an irreducible representation of \(\text{U}(n)\) with highest weight \(\lambda= (\lambda_1,\dots, \lambda_n)\). The depth of \(\lambda\) is defined as the largest index \(i\) such that \(\lambda_i> 0\). The weight \(\lambda\) is called nonnegative if \(\lambda_n\geq 0\). It is called even if all the \(\lambda_i\)'s are even integers. Suppose \(\lambda\) is nonnegative and has depth not greater than \(n/2\). Let \(\sigma_\nu\) denote the irreducible representation of \(\text{SO}(n)\) with highest weight \(\nu\). Littlewood's branching theorem states that the multiplicity of \(\sigma_\nu\) in the restriction of \(\tau_\lambda\) to \(\text{SO}(n)\) is equal to the sum \(\sum_\mu c^\lambda_{\nu\mu}\), where \(c^\lambda_{\nu\mu}\) is the Littlewood-Richardson coefficient and the sum is taken over all nonnegative even highest weights \(\mu\) of \(\text{U}(n)\). In this paper, the author gives a geometric explanation to the above formula in the following way. First we set up some notations. Let \(m\leq n/2\). Let \(S_{mn}\) denote the algebra of symmetric tensors of the \(m\) by \(n\) complex matrices. The group \(\text{U}(m)\) acts on the left and the group \(\text{SO}(n)\) acts on the right. Let \(\nu\) denote a highest weight of \(\text{U}(m)\) and let \(V^{\lambda,\nu}\) denote the subspace of \(S_{mn}\) where \(\text{U}(m)\times \text{SO}(n)\) acts by \(\tau_\lambda\boxtimes \sigma_\nu\). Let \({\mathcal M}: S_{mn}\otimes S_{mn}\to S_{mn}\) denote the usual multiplication. Suppose the depths of \(\lambda\) and \(\nu\) are not greater than \(m\). The main theorem of this paper states that the multiplication map gives a bijection between the following subspaces \[ {\mathcal M}: \sum_{\mu} (V^{\nu,\nu}\otimes V^{\mu,0})^\lambda\to V^{\lambda, \nu}. \] Here the superscript \(\lambda\) denotes the subspace where \(\text{U}(m)\) acts by \(\tau_\lambda\) and the sum is as in Littlewood's theorem. In the language of classical invariant theory, \(V^{\nu,\nu}\) is a subspace of the harmonic polynomials and \(V^{\mu,0}\) is a subspace of the \(\text{SO}(n)\)-invariants, and the above theorem is a result on their products. If \(n\) is even, the author states and proves a similar theorem for the restriction of \(\tau_\lambda\) to the symplectic group \(\text{Sp}(n/2)\).