Abstract
The classical theory of spherical harmonics on the unit sphere S is well-known. In an earlier paper, entitled “Modified Spherical Harmonics”, we dealt with a modification of this theory, adapted to the half-sphere \(S_{+}\), in case of three dimensions. In the present paper we extend these results to the four-dimensional case. Although the results look quite similar, their proofs are not. In \(\mathbb {R}^4 =\left\{ (x,y,t,s) \right\} \) the Laplace equation \(\Delta h=0\) will be replaced by the equation \(s\Delta u+2\,\frac{\partial u}{\partial s}=0\). Homogeneous polynomial solutions of this equation, if restricted to the half-sphere \(S_{+}=\left\{ (x,y,t,s): x^2 + y^2 + t^2 + s^2=1, s > 0 \right\} \) are called modified spherical harmonics. Endowed with a non-Euclidean scalar product on \(S_{+}\), these functions behave like the classical spherical harmonics on the full sphere in \(\mathbb {R}^4\). We shall give an explicit expression for the corresponding zonal harmonics and dwell on their connection with the Poisson-type kernel, adapted to the above differential equation. Finally we shall give an explicit orthonormal system of modified spherical harmonics.
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Communicated by Uwe Kaehler.
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Leutwiler, H. Modified Spherical Harmonics in Four Dimensions. Adv. Appl. Clifford Algebras 28, 49 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00006-018-0861-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00006-018-0861-z
Keywords
- Spherical harmonics
- Generalized axially symmetric potentials
- Modified quaternionic analysis
- Generalized function theory