On generalized Cartan subspaces (Q649092)

Let \(G\) be a connected reductive algebraic group defined over a field \(k\) of characteristic not 2, \(\theta\) an involution of \(G\) defined over \(k\), \(H\) a \(k\)-open subgroup of the fixed point group of \(\theta\), and \(G_k\) (resp. \(H_k\)) the set of \(k\)-rational points of \(G\) (resp. \(H\)). The variety \(G_k/H_k\) is called a symmetric \(k\)-variety. For real and \(p\)-adic symmetric \(k\)-varieties the space \(L^2(G_k/H_k)\) of square integrable functions decomposes into several series, one for each \(H_k\)-conjugacy class of Cartan subspaces of \(G_k/H_k\). The authors characterize the \(H_k\)-conjugacy classes of these Cartan subspaces in the case that there exists a splitting extension of order 2 and \((G,\sigma)\) is \((\sigma,k)\)-split conjugate (see Subsection 3.8). This condition is satisfied for the real numbers \(k\) and for several other fields for which the symmetric \(k\)-variety has a splitting extension of order 2. For \(k=\mathbb R\), they obtain a number of additional results.