Quantum zonal spherical functions and Macdonald polynomials (Q1887448)

This paper belongs an ongoing series in which the author is developing a unified theory of quantum symmetric spaces and their zonal spherical functions. Previous papers are [J. Algebra 220, No. 2, 729--767 (1999; Zbl 0956.17007); Math. Sci. Res. Inst. Publ. 43, 117--165 (2002; Zbl 1025.17005); Transform. Groups 8, No. 3, 261--292 (2003; Zbl 1107.17010)]. This unified approach is based on the construction of appropriate left coideal subalgebras in the quantized enveloping algebra of a complex Lie algebra. In the present paper, this theory is applied to the determination of the zonal spherical functions. The main result is a description of those functions in terms of Macdonald polynomials, for all quantum symmetric pairs with reduced restricted root systems. This description was conjectured by Macdonald and Koornwinder, and several results in this direction were obtained by Noumi, Dijkhuizen, Stokman and others, in cases in which the underlying algebra is of classical type. Here, these results are generalized up to the inclusion of exceptional Lie algebras. Moreover, the methods used do not rely on case-by-case computations, but on the previously developed general theory of quantum symmetric pairs. In particular, the author obtains simple and uniform formulas for the parameters that appear in the Macdonald polynomials used to describe the quantum spherical functions.