Coherent states, holomorphic extensions, and highest weight representations (Q2365031)

The author considers the problem of extending irreducible unitary representations on a Lie group \(G\) to holomorphic representations on certain complex manifold semigroups containing \(G\) in the boundary. It is shown that a necessary and sufficient condition for such extendability is that the original unitary representation be a highest weight representation. This result leads naturally to the study of coadjoint orbits in the dual \({\mathbf g}^*\) of the Lie algebra. The moment map associated naturally to a unitary representation maps the orbit of the highest weight ray (the coherent state orbit) to a coadjoint orbit in \({\mathbf g}^*\) which is shown to admit an invariant complex structure and have important convexity properties. This interplay between the orbit structure and representation theory is used to obtain a classification of unitary highest weight representations of a rather general class of Lie groups. The groups and semigroups admitting sufficiently many highest weight representations to separate points are also characterized.