The spectrum of Kleinian manifolds (Q1976333)

Let \(G\) be a real simple linear connected Lie group of real rank one, and let \(\Gamma\subset G\) be a convex-cocompact, non-cocompact, torsion-free, discrete subgroup. The paper is devoted to the decomposition of the right regular representation of \(G\) on \(L^2(\Gamma\setminus G)\) into irreducibles, the so-called Plancherel decomposition. The authors also allow twists by finite-dimensional unitary representations \((\varphi,V_\varphi)\) of \(\Gamma\), i.e. they investigate the right regular representation of \(G\) on the space \[ L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi):=\Biggl\{f: G\to V_\varphi\mid f(gx)= \varphi(g) f(x)\;\forall g\in\Gamma, x\in G, \int_{\Gamma\setminus G}|f(x)|^2 dx< \infty\Biggr\}. \] Let \(K\subset G\) be a maximal compact subgroup. Then \(X:= G/K\) is a Riemannian symmetric space of negative curvature which is the universal covering of the locally symmetric space \(Y:= \Gamma\setminus X\). Their assumption on \(\Gamma\) implies that \(Y\) has infinite volume and no cusps. They call such a locally symmetric space a Kleinian manifold. Let \((\gamma,V_\gamma)\) be a finite-dimensional unitary representation of \(K\). Then they form the homogeneous vector bundle \(V(\gamma):= G\times_KV_\gamma\) over \(X\) and the locally homogeneous vector bundle \(V_Y(\gamma,\varphi):= \Gamma\setminus (V(\gamma)\otimes V_\varphi)\) over \(Y\). Let \(g\) denote the Lie algebra of \(G\), \({\mathcal U}(g)\) the universal enveloping algebra of \(g\) and \({\mathcal Z}\) its center. Via the left regular action of \({\mathcal U}(g)\) on \(C^\infty(X, V(\gamma))\) any \(A\in{\mathcal Z}\) gives rise to a \(G\)-invariant differential operator. This operator descends to \(C^\infty(Y, V_Y(\gamma,\varphi))\). Here, the Casimir operator \(\Omega_G\in{\mathcal Z}\), which defines an essentially selfadjoint elliptic operator of second-order acting on \(L^2(Y, V_Y(\gamma, \varphi))\), is of particular interest. The isomorphism \[ L^2(Y, V_Y(\gamma, \varphi)\cong [L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)\otimes V_\gamma]^K \] implies that the Plancherel decomposition of \(L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)\) is more or less equivalent to the desired spectral decompositions for all the bundles at once. The main results of the authors are the Plancherel theorem and its consequences for spectral decompositions. The structure of the Plancherel decomposition depends on their critical exponent \(\delta_\Gamma\) of \(\Gamma\). For technical reasons they have to exclude discrete subgroups of the isometry group of \(X= \mathbb{O} H^2\) with \(\delta_\Gamma\geq 0\). Then their main theorem provides a decomposition \[ L^2(\Gamma,\varphi)= L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)_{ac}\oplus L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)_{\text{cusp}}\oplus L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)_{\text{res}}\oplus L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)_U. \] Here \(L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)_{ac}\) decomposes further into a sum of direct integrals corresponding to the unitary principal series representations of \(G\), each occurring with infinite multiplicity, \(L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)_{\text{cusp}}\) decomposes into discrete series representations of \(G\), each discrete series representation of \(G\) occurs with infinite multiplicity. The remaining two parts \(L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)_{res}\) and \(L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)_U\) can only be nontrivial if \(\delta_\Gamma\geq 0\). They consist of a direct sum of non-discrete series representations of \(G\) with real infinitesimal character occurring with finite multiplicity. The subscript res stands for residual spectrum. Indeed, the space \(L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)_{\text{res}}\) is generated by residues of Eisenstein series. The ``stable'' subspace \(L^2(\Gamma\setminus G,\varphi)_U\) is of similar nature but is orthogonal to the residues of Eisenstein series. It contains representations of integral infinitesimal character only.