The Plancherel formula for the horocycle space and generalizations

The Plancherel formula for various semisimple homogeneous spaces with non-reductive stability group is derived within the framework of the Bonnet Plancherel formula for the direct integral decomposition of a quasi-regular representation. These formulas represent a continuation of the author’s program to establish a new paradigm for concrete Plancherel analysis on homogeneous spaces wherein the distinction between finite and infinite multiplicity is de-emphasized. One interesting feature of the paper is the computation of the Bonnet nuclear operators corresponding to certain exponential representations (roughly those induced from infinite-dimensional representations of a subgroup). Another feature is a natural realization of the direct integral decomposition over a canonical set of concrete irreducible representations, rather than over the unitary dual. 1991 Mathematics subject classification (Amer. Math. Soc.): primary 22E46; secondary 22E45. 1