Computations with Bernstein projectors of SL(2)

Abstract

For the p-adic group G=SL (2) , we present results of the computations of the sums of the Bernstein projectors of a given depth. Motivation for the computations is based on a conversation with Roger Howe in August 2013. The computations are elementary, but they provide an expansion of the delta distribution δ_{1_G} into an infinite sum of G -invariant locally integrable essentially compact distributions supported on the set of topologically unipotent elements. When these distributions are transferred, by the exponential map, to the Lie algebra, they give G -invariant distributions supported on the set of topologically nilpotent elements, whose Fourier Transforms turn out to be characteristic functions of very natural G -domains. The computations in particular rely on the SL(2) discrete series character tables computed by Sally-Shalika in 1968. This new phenomenon for general rank has also been independently noticed in recent work of Bezrukavnikov, Kazhdan, and Varshavsky.