Spectral analysis and the Haar functional on the quantum SU(2) group

Abstract

The Haar functional on the quantum $SU(2)$ group is the analogue of invariant integration on the group $SU(2)$. If restricted to a subalgebra generated by a self-adjoint element the Haar functional can be expressed as an integral with a continuous measure or with a discrete measure or by a combination of both. These results by Woronowicz and Koornwinder have been proved by using the corepresentation theory of the quantum $SU(2)$ group and Schur's orthogonality relations for matrix elements of irreducible unitary corepresentations. These results are proved here by using a spectral analysis of the generator of the subalgebra. The spectral measures can be described in terms of the orthogonality measures of orthogonal polynomials by using the theory of Jacobi matrices.