Dunkl theory, convolution algebras, and related Markov processes

Abstract: These lecture notes are intended as an introduction to the theory of rational Dunkl operators, the associated special functions and related Markov processes with an emphasis on examples which are related to Riemannian symmetric spaces of Euclidean type and Bessel hypergroups on the matrix cones of positive semidefinite matrices. We start with a comprehensive introduction into Dunkl theory: Dunkl operators, the intertwining operator and its positivity, the Dunkl kernel and the Dunkl transform, the Dunkl Laplacian and the associated heat semigroup. We further give an outline of the connection with Calogero-Moser-Sutherland models and generalized Hermite polynomials. Moreover, of central interest will be product formulas, generalized translations and associated commutative hypergroup structures on closed Weyl chambers. In particular, we explain how Dunkl theory for particular multiplicities is related to Riemannian symmetric spaces of Euclidean type and Bessel hypergroups on the matrix cones, and how this leads to a bunch of multiplicities for which the Weyl-group invariant Dunkl theory admits a probability preserving translation and an associated commutative hypergroup structure on the closed Weyl chamber. We finally discuss Markov processes on R^N which are related with Dunkl theory with an emphasis on connections to random walk on groups and hypergroups. In particular associated martingales, martingale characterizations, moment functions and Appell characters are studied, i.e. diffusion-reflection processes with the Dunkl Laplacians as generators.