Some small unipotent representations of indefinite orthogonal groups (Q1883593)

In a recent paper, \textit{A. Knapp} [J. Funct. Anal. 209, 36--100 (2004; Zbl 1082.22009)] studied a family \(\pi'_s\) (parametrized by integers) of small unitary representations of the indefinite orthogonal groups. In the paper under review, the author extends this analysis by proving that the representations are irreducible. The representations \(\pi'_s\) considered arise in the analytic continuation of the nonholomorphic discrete series, and include unitary representations with very small and singular infinitesimal character. Let \(G\) be the universal cover of the identity component \(SO_0(2m,2l-2m)\) of \(SO(2m,2l-2m)\) with \(m\leq\frac l2\), \(\mathfrak g_0=\mathfrak {so}(2m,2l-2m)\) the Lie algebra of \(G\), and \(\mathfrak g\) its complexification. Let \(\mathfrak q=\mathfrak l\oplus\mathfrak u\) be a theta stable parabolic subalgebra of \(\mathfrak g\) with \(\mathfrak l_0=\mathfrak l\cap\mathfrak g_0\cong \mathfrak u(m)\oplus\mathfrak {so}(2l-2m)\). The representations \(\pi'_s\) are certain quotients of the cohomologically induced modules \(\pi_s=A_{\mathfrak q}(\lambda_s)\) of \(G\). Here \(\lambda_s\) is the differential of a one-dimensional representation of \(L\), the analytic subgroup of \(G\) with Lie algebra \(\mathfrak l_0\). Large values of \(s\) correspond to regular, smaller values to singular infinitesimal character. In particular, if \(s>2l-2\) then \(\pi_s=\pi'_s\) is in the discrete series, and if \(s\geq m+1\) then \(\lambda_s\) is in the weakly fair range in the sense of \textit{A. Knapp} and \textit{D. Vogan} [Cohomological induction and unitary representations (Princeton Math. Ser. 45, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ) (1995; Zbl 0863.22011)]. Knapp's main results include the unitarity of the representations \(\pi'_s\) if and only if \(s\geq 0\), and explicit information about the \(K\)-structure. However, he leaves open the question of reducibility for the singular cases. In the paper under review, the author proves that the representations \(\pi'_s\) are irreducible for \(s\geq 0\). For the weakly fair case, he uses a general result of \textit{D. Vogan} [Adv. Stud. Pure Math. 14, 191--221 (1988; Zbl 0733.22008)]. For the representations outside of this range, he explicitly computes the associated varieties and shows they are irreducible and have multiplicity one in the associated cycles. Then he computes the annihilator of each \(\pi'_s\) and shows that it is a maximal primitive ideal. These facts together yield the irreducibility of the representations. In addition, he concludes that \(\pi'_s\) is special unipotent or weakly unipotent, depending on whether \(s\) is even or odd. Finally, he outlines a similar argument for the corresponding representations of the odd orthogonal groups \(SO(2m,2l+1-2m)\).