Infinite dimensional multiplicity free spaces. III: Matrix coefficients and regular functions (Q621307)

[Part I: Limits of compact commutative spaces, in: K.-H. Neeb and A. Pianzola (eds.), ``Developments and trends in infinite dimensional Lie theory'', Birkhäuser (to appear); Part II in Contemporary Mathematics 491, 179--208 (2009; Zbl 1180.22021).] Let \(G\) be a locally compact topological group and \(K\) a compact subgroup. Then \((G,K)\) is a Gelfand pair, i.e. \(L^1(K\setminus G/K)\) is commutative under convolution, if and only if the left regular representation of \(G\) on \(L^2(G/K)\) is multiplicity free. In the paper under review the author defines a ring \({\mathcal A}(G/K)\) of regular functions as a subalgebra of the inverse limit of finite dimensional Gelfand pairs in the usual sense. This is accompanied by a \(G\)-equivariant map \({\mathcal A}(G/K)\to L^2(G/K)\). The main result of this paper asserts that both for the direct limit of compact symmetric spaces and for the direct limit of commutative nilmanifolds \({\mathcal A}(G/K)\) injects to a dense subspace of \(L^2(G/K)\), so \(L^2(G/K)\) defines a \(G\)-invariant inner product on \({\mathcal A}(G/K)\), the regular representation of \(G\) on \({\mathcal A}(G/K)\) is unitarized, and \(L^2(G/K)\) can be interpreted as a Hilbert space completion of \({\mathcal A}(G/K)\).