An introduction to harmonic analysis on the infinite symmetric group

The z-measures on partitions originated from the problem of harmonic analysis of linear representations of the infinite symmetric group in the works of Kerov, Olshanski and Vershik (1993, 2004). A similar family corresponding to projective representations was introduced by Borodin (1997). The latter measures live on strict partitions (i.e., partitions with distinct parts), and the z-measures are supported by all partitions. In this note we describe some combinatorial relation...

Let $\Omega$ denote a non-empty finite set. Let $S(\Omega)$ stand for the symmetric group on $\Omega$ and let us write $P(\Omega)$ for the power set of $\Omega$. Let $\rho: S(\Omega) \to U(L^2(P(\Omega)))$ be the left unitary representation of $S(\Omega)$ associated with its natural action on $P(\Omega)$. We consider the algebra consisting of those endomorphisms of $L^2(P(\Omega))$ which commute with the action of $\rho$. We find an attractive basis $B$ for this algebra. We o...

Infinite dimensional moment problems have a long history in diverse applied areas dealing with the analysis of complex systems but progress is hindered by the lack of a general understanding of the mathematical structure behind them. Therefore, such problems have recently got great attention in real algebraic geometry also because of their deep connection to the finite dimensional case. In particular, our most recent collaboration with Murray Marshall and Mehdi Ghasemi about ...

In Part I (G.Olshanski, math.RT/9804086) and Part II (A.Borodin, math.RT/9804087) we developed an approach to certain probability distributions on the Thoma simplex. The latter has infinite dimension and is a kind of dual object for the infinite symmetric group. Our approach is based on studying the correlation functions of certain related point stochastic processes. In the present paper we consider the so-called tail point processes which describe the limit behavior of the...

Let $\mathfrak{S}_\infty$ be the infinity permutation group and $\Gamma$ an arbitrary group. Then $\mathfrak{S}_\infty$ admits a natural action on $\Gamma^\infty$ by automorphisms, so one can form a semidirect product $\Gamma^\infty\rtimes \mathfrak{S}_\infty$, known as the {\it wreath} product $\Gamma\wr\mathfrak{S}_\infty$ of $\Gamma$ by $\mathfrak{S}_{\infty}$. We obtain a full description of unitary $II_1-$factor-representations of $\Gamma\wr\mathfrak{S}_\infty$ in terms ...

This article is an introduction to our recent work in harmonic analysis associated with semigroups of operators, in the effort of finding a noncommutative Calder\'on-Zygmund theory for von Neumann algebras. The classical CZ theory has been traditionally developed on metric measure spaces satisfying additional regularity properties. In the lack of such metrics -or with very little information on the metric- Markov semigroups of operators appear to be the right substitutes of c...

We study two extension problems, and their interconnections: (i) extension of positive definite (p.d.) continuous functions defined on subsets in locally compact groups $G$; and (ii) (in case of Lie groups $G$) representations of the associated Lie algebras $La\left(G\right)$, i.e., representations of $La\left(G\right)$ by unbounded skew-Hermitian operators acting in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space $\mathscr{H}_{F}$ (RKHS). Our analysis is non-trivial even if $G=\mathbb{R}...

In this paper we study the Plancherel formula for a new class of homogeneous spaces for real reductive Lie groups; these spaces are fibered over non-Riemannian symmetric spaces, and they exhibit a phenomenon of uniform infinite multiplicities. They also provide examples of non-tempered representations of the group appearing in the Plancherel formula. Several classes of examples are given.

These are notes for a mini-course of 3 lectures given at the St. Petersburg School in Probability and Statistical Physics (June 2012). My aim was to explain, on the example of a particular model, how ideas from the representation theory of big groups can be applied in probabilistic problems. The material is based on the joint paper arXiv:1009.2029 by Alexei Borodin and myself; a broader range of topics is surveyed in the lecture notes by Alexei Borodin and Vadim Gorin arXiv...

The irreducible unitary highest weight representations $(\pi_\lambda,\mathcal{H}_\lambda)$ of the group $U(\infty)$, which is the countable direct limit of the compact unitary groups $U(n)$, are classified by the orbits of the weights $\lambda \in \mathbb{Z}^{\mathbb{N}}$ under the Weyl group $S_{(\mathbb{N})}$ of finite permutations. Here, we determine those weights $\lambda$ for which the first cohomology space $H^1(U(\infty),\pi_\lambda,\mathcal{H}_\lambda)$ vanishes. For ...