Equidistribution of holonomy about closed geodesics (Q1974958)

The paper under review establishes the equidistribution of holonomy for any rank\(-1\) locally symmetric space of finite volume. The methods are based on harmonic analysis on groups and their symmetric spaces. First, the authors recall fundamental facts on the structure and representations of Lie groups and Lie algebras and they give a brief account of the theory of Eisenstein series and its constant terms attached to certain finite-dimensional representations. After recalling some notions concerning harmonic analysis on groups, the Selberg trace formula is reviewed, which \textit{G. Warner} [Adv. Math. Suppl. Stud. 6, 1-142, Academic Press, New York (1979; Zbl 0466.10018)] developed for \(K\)-finite, \(L^p\)-Schwartz functions for \(0<p<1\). In particular, the authors develop an explicit treatment of some Gaussian-type functions which is applicable to the trace formula. A multiplicity formula of discrete series together with information about its various embeddings into a nonunitary principal series representation is studied. It is important to know when these multiplicity formulas are true because these algebraic relations are related to the geometry of manifolds, more precisely, to the equidistribution property of holonomy. Afterwards, the authors determine the values of an infinitesimal character on each irreducible unitary representation to control the multiplicities of those contributing to the spectrum of the semisimple Lie group \(G\) of real rank \(1\). Combining the previous results, the embedding parameter of discrete series which has an exact multiplicity formula of Langlands's type is specified. The authors give the desired explicit formula attached to each irreducible unitary representation. They show that the trace formula can be extended to a certain large class of functions on \(G\). Using the analogy between closed geodesics (especially primitive ones) on Riemannian manifolds \(X\) of dimension \(d\) of negative curvature and primes, for \(x>0\), let \[ E(x)=\{C;\;C\text{ is a closed geodesic on }X,\;l(C)\leq x\}, \] where \(l(C)\) is the length of \(C\). Let \(E_P(x)\) be the set defined in the same way, but restricting \(C\) to be primitive. If \(X\) is compact, then there is a positive constant \(h=h(X)\) such that the analogue of the prime-number theorem holds: \[ |E(x)|\sim |E_P(x)|\sim \frac{e^{hx}}{hx}\text{ as }x\to\infty. \] Each closed geodesic \(C\) on \(X\) gives rise to a conjugacy class \(F_C\) in \(SO(d-1)\) (assuming \(X\) is orientable) obtained by parallel translation of vectors about \(C\) (called the holonomy class attached to \(C\)). Also, any locally symmetric manifold \(X\) is of the form \(\Gamma \backslash G/K\), where \(G\) is a real semisimple Lie group of rank \(1\), \(K\) a maximal compact subgroup of \(G\) and \(\Gamma\) a lattice in \(G\). The holonomy group of \(X\) at a base point \(x_0\in X\) is the group generated by parallel translation about loops at \(x_0\) and is isomorphic to \(K\). One denotes by \(M\) the subgroup of \(K\) that stabilizes a nonzero vector at \(x_0\). Finally, the main result is proved: the Chebotarev-type equidistribution theorem which is a quantitative version of the equidistribution of \(F_C\) in \(M\) as \(l(C)\rightarrow \infty \). Theorem 1. Let \(X\) be a \(d\)-dimensional locally symmetric space of negative curvature and of finite volume. For any smooth class function \(f\) on \(M\), \[ \frac 1{|E(x)|}\sum_{C\in E(x)}f(F_C)=\frac 1{\nu (M)}\int_M f(m)d\nu (m)+ O_{f,\Gamma}(|E(x)|^{-\frac 1{2d}})\text{ as }x\rightarrow \infty, \] where \(d\nu \) is the Haar measure on \(M\) and the implied constant depends on \(f\) and \(\Gamma\). The proof of the above theorem is based on the Selberg-trace formula, which was developed in the compact quotient case by \textit{N. Wallach} [Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 82, 171-195 (1976; Zbl 0351.22008)] and in the noncompact case by \textit{M. Scott Osborne} and \textit{G. Warner} [J. Funct. Anal. 30, 287-310 (1978; Zbl 0397.22002)]. In an appendix, the authors give an estimate of Weyl's type for counting the number of spectra (attached to a representation of \(M\)).