An analogue of Bochner's theorem for Damek-Ricci spaces (Q485133)

A theorem of Bochner gives, via the Fourier transform, a bijection between the positive finite measures on \(\mathbb R\) and positive continuous functions. This theorem has been extended to locally compact Abelian groups. For any NA group (also known as Damek-Ricci space) S, the author shows: (1) There exists an integral representation of the radially positive definite functions on S. That is, he shows that such functions are given by positive measures on \(\mathbb R \cup i\mathbb R\) such that the measure on \(\mathbb R\) is finite and the measure \(\mu\) on \(i\mathbb R\) satisfies \(\int_\mathbb R \exp(a| \lambda | ) d\mu (\lambda) < \infty \forall a>0.\) (2) A characterization of the image of radial positive measures \(\theta \) on S which satisfies \(\int_S \phi_0(x) d\theta < \infty \) under the spherical transform. For this, he shows that the space of the spherical transform of such measures is equal to the space of even, continuous, bounded functions on \(\mathbb R\) which satisfy a certain positive definite like condition. Then, he proves that the image set is a subset of the positive definite functions on \(\mathbb R\). The positive definite like condition is: The elements of the image space are positive linear functionals on the Banach algebra \((L^1(\mathbb R, |c(\lambda|^{-2} d\lambda)_e,\odot),\) whereas in the classical Bochner's theorem the elements of the image space are positive linear functionals on the Banach algebra \(L^1(\mathbb R).\) The author gives a conjecture on the image space for finite, radial, positive measures under the spherical transform.