On relative trace formulae: the case of Jacquet-Rallis (Q2000813)

Let \(H\subset G\) be locally compact groups such that \(X:=H\backslash G\) carries a \(G\)-invariant measure. The group \(G\) acts via right translations \(R\) on the Hilbert space \(L^2(H\backslash G)\). One would like to decompose the unitary representation \(L^2(H\backslash G)\) into irreducible \(G\)-representations. Irreducible representations of \(G\) are described by Langlands parameters and a conjecture of Sakellaridis and Venkatesh describe the decomposition of \(L^2(X)\) when \(X\) is a spherical variety. Consider the case when \(G={\mathbb G}(F)\) and \(H={\mathbb H}(F)\) where \(F\) is a \(p\)-adic field. For \(f\) a compactly supported smooth function on \(G\), there is the convolution operator \(R(f)\varphi(x)=\int_X K_f(x,y)\varphi(y)dy\) on \(L^2(X)\) where \(K_f(x,y)=\int_H f(x^{-1}hy)dh\). When the unitary representation \(L^2(X)\) admits a discrete decomposition \(L^2(X)=\widehat{\bigoplus}_\pi m(\pi)\pi\), then the operator is trace-class and computing its trace in two different ways (geometrically via orbital integrals, and spectrally via characters), one gets: \[ \sum_\pi m(\pi)\operatorname{trace}\pi(f)=\int_X K_f(x,x)dx=\int_{H/\text{conj}}\int_{Z_G(h)\backslash G}f(g^{-1}hg)dgdh \] When \(R(f)\) is not trace-class, Arthur suggested a ``truncated'' trace \[ J^T(f)=\int_X K_f(x,x)u(x,T)dx \] where \(u(\cdot,T)\) is the characteristic function of a compact set \(\Omega_T\subset X\) covering \(X\) as \(T\rightarrow \infty\). The paper under review provides a thorough survey of recent developments on the trace formula, in particular the Jacquet-Rallis relative trace formula and its connection with Gan-Gross-Prasad conjectures. The survey contains precise statements, proofs, examples and a large list of references.