Bessel functions on GL(n), I

Abstract

In the context of the Kuznetsov trace formula, we outline the theory of the Bessel functions on $GL(n)$ as a series of conjectures designed as a blueprint for the construction of Kuznetsov-type formulas with given ramification at infinity. We are able to prove one of the conjectures at full generality on $GL(n)$ and most of the conjectures in the particular case of the long Weyl element; as with previous papers, we give some unconditional results on Archimedean Whittaker functions, now on $GL(n)$ with arbitrary weight. We expect the heuristics here to apply at the level of real reductive groups. In an appendix, we make good progress toward series and integral representations of $GL(4)$ Bessel functions by proving several of the conjectures for $GL(4)$.