Fourier-Helgason transform as infinite geodesic time limit in geometric quantization

Mathematics > Symplectic Geometry [Submitted on 18 Jun 2026] Title:Fourier-Helgason transform as infinite geodesic time limit in geometric quantization View PDFAbstract:The Fourier-Helgason (FH) transform for a noncompact symmetric space $G/K$ establishes the direct integral decomposition of the unitary representation of $G$ on $L^2(G/K)$ into irreducible principal series representations. By applying techniques of geometric quantization to the symplectic manifold $T^*(G/K),$ Lisiecki in 1987 gave a geometric interpretation of the FH transform in the case when $G$ is complex. He defined for general $G$ a ''horizontal'' polarization on $T^*(G/K)$ and showed that, for complex $G$, the Blattner-Kostant-Sternberg (BKS) pairing between the Schrödinger vertical polarization Hilbert space, $L^2(G/K)$, and the Hilbert space of horizontally polarized functions coincides with the FH transform. However, in the same paper, Lisiecki showed that for noncomplex Lie groups the BKS pairing is nonequivalent to the FH transform and nonunitary in general. In the present paper, we resolve this discrepancy between the FH transform and geometric quantization in the case when $G$ is not complex. First, we show that the horizontal polarization is the infinite-time limit of the push-forward of the vertical polarization with respect to the geodesic flow for a $G$-invariant Riemannian metric. Then we lift the geodesic flow to an intertwining unitary parallel transport on the quantum bundle that we call quantum geodesic transform (QGT). Finally we show that the QGT has a well-defined limit, as the geodesic time goes to infinity, and that it is equal, up to the phase of the Harish-Chandra $c$-function and an irrelevant multiplicative constant, to the FH transform. Submission history From: Ana Cristina Ferreira [view email][v1] Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:31:16 UTC (36 KB) Current browse context: math.SG References & Citations Loading... Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.