Généralisation sous forme covariante des polynômes de Gegenbauer (Q2266150)

The paper is a comprehensive account of a subject which the author has treated in four recent notes in C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. A 287, 67-69 (1978; Zbl 0391.33010), C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 292, 653- 655 (1981; Zbl 0464.33010), ibid. 292, 855-857 (1981; Zbl 0512.33010), and ibid. 294, 549-552 (1982; Zbl 0489.33010). The contents of the three chapters is as follows. (1) Definitions and properties of the zonal spherical functions; (2) canonical decomposition of homogeneous polynomials and, by isotropy, canonical decomposition of symmetric tensors; (3) construction of the Gegenbauer polynomials, in covariant form, for a metric with signature (1,...,1,-1,...,-1).