On the multiplicities of the discrete series of semisimple Lie groups (Q1816474)

Let \(G\) be a real linear connected semisimple Lie group which admits discrete series representations, i.e., \(\text{rank} G= \text{rank} K\), where \(K\) is a maximal compact subgroup of \(G\). A left and right \(K\)-finite smooth function \(\varphi: G\to\mathbb{C}\) with compact support is called a pseudocoefficient for a discrete series representation \(\sigma\) if the character \(\Theta_\sigma\) of \(\sigma\) gives \(\Theta_\sigma (\varphi)=1\), whereas the characters of the other induced representations showing up in the Langlands classification all annihilate \(\varphi\). The main point of the paper is to evaluate the trace formula of the right regular representation of \(G\) on \(L^2(\Gamma \backslash G)\) for a cocompact discrete subgroup \(\Gamma\) of \(G\) at a pseudocoefficient \(\varphi\): \[ \sum_\pi m_\pi \Theta_\pi (\varphi)= \sum_{\{\gamma\}_\Gamma} \text{Vol} (\Gamma_\gamma \backslash G_\gamma) \int_{G_\gamma \backslash G} \varphi (g^{-1}\gamma g)dg. \] In the case of \(G=Sl (2,\mathbb{R})\) this in particular gives a representation theoretic explanation of the dimension formula for the spaces of modular forms \(S_k (\Gamma)\). A crucial observation on the way is that the orbital integrals \(\int_{G_\gamma \backslash G} \varphi(g^{-1} \gamma g)dg\) are non-zero only if \(\gamma\) is contained in a compact Cartan subgroup, in which case it is possible to calculate it following methods of Harish-Chandra. On the spectral side the author uses results of Vogan to characterize the representations whose characters do not vanish on \(\varphi\) and to calculate their contribution explicitly.