Harmonic analysis on a class of spherical homogeneous spaces (Q2435860)

Consider a connected semisimple complex algebraic group \(G\) and any algebraic subgroup \(H\subset G\). It is natural to state the general problem of studying the spectrum of representations of the group \(G\) in sections of homogeneous (i.e., endowed with an action of the group \(G\)) linear bundles over \(G/H\). Such bundles are in one-to-one correspondence with the characters of the group \(H\); namely, each character \(\chi\) corresponds to the bundle \(G_{\ast H}\mathbb C_\chi\) over \(G/H\) with the fiber \(\mathbb C_\chi\) over the point \(eH\), where \(\mathbb C_\chi\) is a one-dimensional vector space on which \(H\) acts by the character \(\chi\). The space \(\Gamma(G_{\ast H}\mathbb C_\chi)\) of sections of such a bundle is isomorphic as a \(G\)-module to the subspace \(\mathbb C[G]_{-\chi}^{(H)}\subset\mathbb C[G]\) of \(H\)-weight functions on \(G\) with weight \(-\chi\) for the action of \(H\) on \(\mathbb C[G]\) by right translations of the argument on which \(G\) acts by left translations. In particular, in the case of the trivial character \(\chi\), we obtain \[ \Gamma(G_{\ast H}\mathbb C_\chi)\simeq\mathbb C[G]^H\simeq\mathbb C[G/H]. \] Irreducible \(G\)-submodules encountered in the spaces of sections of such bundles can be described by using the semigroup of weights of \((B\times H)\)-semi-invariant functions on \(G\) (here \(B\) acts on \(\mathbb C[G]\) by left translations of the argument, and \(H\) acts by right translations). This semigroup, denoted by \(\widehat{\mathfrak X}(G/H)\), is called the extended weight semigroup of the homogeneous space \(G/H\). The highest weights of the irreducible \(G\)-submodules in the space \(\Gamma(G_{\ast H}\mathbb C_\chi)\) are those weights \(\lambda\) of the group \(B\) for which \((\lambda,-\chi)\in\widehat{\mathfrak X}(G/H)\). In particular, in the case where \(G/H\) is spherical, i.e., a Borel subgroup has open orbit in \(G/H\), or, equivalently, the spectrum of the representation of \(G\) in each of the spaces \(\Gamma(G_{\ast H}\mathbb C_\chi)\) is simple, this spectrum can be uniquely reconstructed from the weight semigroup \(\widehat{\mathfrak X}(G/H)\). Thus, for a Borel subgroup \(B\) of a simply connected group \(G\), the semigroup \(\widehat{\mathfrak X}(G/B)\) is generated by all pairs \((\omega^\ast_i,\omega_i)\), \(i=1,\dots,n\), where \(\omega_1,\dots,\omega_n\) are the fundamental weights of the group \(G\) and \(n\) is the rank of this group. Here \(\lambda^\ast\) denotes the highest weight of the irreducible representation dual to the irreducible representation with highest weight \(\lambda\). For each dominant weight \(\chi\), the representation of \(G\) in the space \(\Gamma(G_{\ast B}\mathbb C_{-\chi})\) is isomorphic to the irreducible representation of highest weight \(\chi^\ast\). Take the maximal torus \(T\) and the maximal unipotent subgroup \(U\) for which \(B=T\rightthreetimes U\). Let \(U'\) be the commutative subgroup in the group \(U\) and \(H=TU'\). This paper studies some properties of the space \(X=G/H\). This space is spherical, and \(\mathbb C[G/H]=\mathbb C\) (except in the case where \(G\) contains \(SL_2(\mathbb C)\) or \(SL_3(\mathbb C)\) as a simple factor); among the spherical homogeneous spaces, \(X\) is interesting in that its dimension and rank are maximal for such spaces. Under the assumption that \(G\) is simply connected, the following theorem is proved. Theorem 1. The semigroup \(\widehat{\mathfrak X}(G/H)\) is freely generated by the pairs \((\omega^\ast_i,\omega_i)\) and \((\omega^\ast_i,\omega_i-\alpha_i)\), \(i=1,\dots,n\), where \(\alpha_1,\dots,\alpha_n\) are the simple roots of the simply connected covering of the group \(G\). Denote the Lie algebras of the groups \(G\) and \(H\) by \(\mathfrak g\) and \(\mathfrak h\), respectively. The annihilator \(\mathfrak h^0\subset\mathfrak g^\ast\) of the algebra \(\mathfrak h\) in \(\mathfrak g^\ast\) can be embedded in the algebra \(\mathfrak g\) by using the Cartan inner product. Consider the cotangent bundle \(T^\ast X\) of the homogeneous space \(X=G/H\). Theorem 2. The following relations hold: \(\mathbb C[T^\ast X]^G\simeq\mathbb C[\mathfrak h^0]^H=\mathbb C[\mathfrak g]^G|_{\mathfrak h^0}.\) Let \(D(X)\) denote the algebra of differential operators on the homogeneous space \(X=G/H\). The action \(G:X\) induces a natural action \(G:D(X)\). Denote the algebra of invariant differential operators with respect to this action by \(D(X)^G\). Let \(\mathfrak U(\mathfrak g)\) be the universal enveloping algebra of the Lie algebra \(\mathfrak g\), and let \(\mathfrak Z(\mathfrak g)\) be the center of the universal enveloping algebra. Theorem 3. The natural homomorphism of the algebra \(\mathfrak Z(\mathfrak g)\) to the algebra \(D(X)^G\) is an isomorphism. The results obtained in this paper are closely related to general results of F.~Knop on the equivariant symplectic geometry of cotangent bundles of smooth \(G\)-manifolds. It is shown by Knop that the moment map \(\Phi:T^\ast Y\longrightarrow \mathfrak g^\ast\) of the cotangent bundle \(T^\ast Y\) of a smooth \(G\)-manifold \(Y\) has a canonical factorization \(T^\ast Y\longrightarrow M_Y\longrightarrow\mathfrak g^\ast\), where the generic fibers of the first map are connected and the second map is finite. Let \(A_Y\) be the quotient torus of \(T\), whose character lattice is the lattice of weights of \(B\)-semiinvariant rational functions on \(Y\), and let \(\mathfrak a_Y\) be the Lie algebra of the torus \(A_Y\). Then there exists a finite little Weyl group \(W_Y\) (and its action on \(\mathfrak a_Y^\ast\)) for which the categorical factors \(M_Y/G\) and \(\mathfrak a_Y^\ast/W_Y\) are isomorphic. By applying the results of Knop, the algebra \(D(X)^G\) is found. Theorem 4. For a spherical manifold \(Y\), \(D(Y)^G\simeq\mathbb C[\rho+\mathfrak a_Y^\ast]^{W_Y},\) where \(\rho\) is the half-sum of the positive roots of \(G\). For the homogeneous space \(X=G/TU'\), one obtains \(D(X)^G\simeq\mathbb C[\rho+\mathfrak t^\ast]^{W}\simeq\mathfrak Z(\mathfrak g)\), where the second isomorphism is the Harish-Chandra isomorphism.