On one Minkowski-Radon problem and its generalizations (Q317595)

Let \(S^2\) be the unit sphere in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) and \(B_R\), \(R\in (0,\pi)\), be a geodesic ball of \(S^2\) centered at \((1,0,0)\in S^2\) and with radius \(R\). Let \(S_r\) denote the boundary of the ball \(B_r\), \(r\in(0,R)\). For \(M\in\mathbb{N}\) define \[ U_{r,M}(B_R)=\left\{f\in C(B_R)\,:\,\int_{S_r}f(\tau\xi)(\xi_1+i\xi_2)^Mdl(\xi)=0,\quad\forall\tau\in O(3)\,:\,\tau\overline{B}_r\subset B_R\right\}, \] where \(C(B_R)\) denotes the space of continuous functions on \(B_R\), \(\xi=(\xi_1,\xi_2,\xi_3)\) are the Cartesian coordinates of a point in \(S^2\), and \(O(3)\) is the orthogonal group in \(\mathbb{R}^3\). The authors characterize the functions belonging to the set \(U_{r,M}(B_R)\) by obtaining the expression of the coefficients of the Fourier series of \(f\). In order to obtain the characterization, the authors study the Legendre functions of the first kind evaluated to \(\cos\theta\), i.e., they study \(P_{\nu}^{-k}(\cos\theta)\) for \(k\in\mathbb{Z}_+\), \(\theta\in (0,\pi)\) and \(\nu\in\mathbb{C}\). In particular, they describe the zeros of the function \(\nu\mapsto P_{\nu}^{-k}(\cos\theta)\) and find some recurrences for \(\theta\mapsto P_{\nu}^{-k}(\cos\theta)\) and its image under a differential operator applied in the variable \(\theta\).