Conformally Covariant Bi-differential Operators for Differential Forms

Abstract

The classical Rankin-Cohen brackets are bi-differential operators from $C^\infty(\mathbb R)\times C^\infty(\mathbb R)$ into $ C^\infty(\mathbb R)$. They are covariant for the (diagonal) action of ${\rm SL}(2,\mathbb R)$ through principal series representations. We construct generalizations of these operators, replacing $\mathbb R$ by $\mathbb R^n,$ the group ${\rm SL}(2,\mathbb R)$ by the group ${\rm SO}_0(1,n+1)$ viewed as the conformal group of $\mathbb R^n,$ and functions by differential forms.