Invariant mean-value property and \(\mathcal M\)-harmonicity in the unit ball of \(\mathbb{R}^n\) (Q1566039)

In 1993, \textit{P. Ahern, M. Flores} and \textit{W. Rudin} [J. Funct. Anal. 111, 380-397 (1993; Zbl 0771.32006)] showed that, if \(f\) is integrable over the unit ball of \(\mathbb{C}^n\) and has the invariant mean-value property, then \(f\) is \(\mathcal{M}\)-harmonic if and only if \(n<12\). The present paper is about an analogous question in the context of the unit ball \(B_n\) of \(\mathbb{R}^n\) as well as in the weighted setting. Let \(\nu\) be the Lebesgue measure on \(\mathbb{R}^n\), normalized so that \(\nu(B_n)=1\), and for a fixed non-negative integer \(m\), \(d\mu_m=(1-|x|^2)^m d\nu(x)\), \(x\in B_n\). The invariant Laplacian \(\widetilde\Delta\) (which is frequently referred to as Laplace-Beltrami operator) is defined for \(f\in C^2(B_n)\) by \[ (\widetilde \Delta f)(x)=\frac{(1-|x|^2)^2}4\left\{\Delta f(x)+\frac{2(n-2)}{1-|x|^2} \sum\limits_{i=1}^nx_i\frac{\partial f}{\partial x_i}(x)\right\} , \] where \(\Delta\) is the ordinary Laplacian. A solution \(\widetilde \Delta f=0\) on \(B_n\) is called \(\mathcal{M}\)-harmonic. The main result of the paper is the following statement: (i) If \(f\in L^\infty(d\mu_m)\) and \(T_mf=f\) then \(\widetilde \Delta f=0\) (\(T_m\) is defined in the paper); (ii) If \(f\in L^1(d\mu_m)\), \(m\) is a non-negative even integer, \(n+2m\leq 12\), and \(T_mf=f\), then \(\widetilde \Delta f=0\); this fails for all \((n,m)\)-pairs so that \(n+2m\geq 13\). In particular, for \(f\in L_1(d\nu)\), the invariant volume-mean-value property implies that \(\widetilde \Delta f=0\) if and only if \(n\leq 12\).