Positivity of Dunkl's intertwining operator

Abstract

For a finite reflection group on $\b R^N,$ the associated Dunkl operators are parametrized first-order differential-difference operators which generalize the usual partial derivatives. They generate a commutative algebra which is - under weak assumptions - intertwined with the algebra of partial differential operators by a unique linear and homogeneous isomorphism on polynomials. In this paper it is shown that for non-negative parameter values, this intertwining operator is positivity-preserving on polynomials and allows a positive integral representation on certain algebras of analytic functions. This result in particular implies that the generalized exponential kernel of the Dunkl transform is positive-definite.