The fourfold way in real analysis. An alternative to the metaplectic representation (Q818326)

In order to create a sound foundation for the theory of theta series, A. Weil constructed in 1964 the metaplectic representation of the double cover \(\tilde { Sp}(n,{\mathbb R})\) of the symplectic group \(Sp(n,{\mathbb R})\). Of central importance in this theory is the Gaussian function \(e^{-\pi x^2}\). In the book under review, the author establishes a representation, called the \textit{anaplectic representation}, of a certain finite cover of \(Sp(n,{\mathbb R})\). The role of the Gaussian is played by the Bessel function \(| x| ^{1/2} I_{-1/4}(\pi x^2)\), which lies in the kernel of the harmonic oscillator. As this function grows exponentially, the usual \(L^2\)-inner product needs to be replaced by an indefinite hermitian pairing. The space of the representation is a space of holomorphic functions which satisfy growth conditions in the four directions \(+\infty, -\infty, +i\infty, -i\infty\), thus giving rise to the name of the book. As in the metaplectic case, the image of the anaplectic representation contains a ``Fourier transform'', this one being adapted to the new ``inner product''. The development of anaplectic analysis in the whole rather uses elementary real algebraic geometry than Hilbert space methods. In the first chapter of the book the one-dimensional anaplectic representation is introduced, the \(n\)-dimensional in the second. The third chapter is aimed at the development of a symbolic calculus for the anaplectic analysis, and in the fourth and last chapter, the anaplectic representation is embedded in a continuous family of more general representations. The author expresses his wish that this new theory may turn out useful in quantum mechanics, partial differential equations, and in special functions theory.