264 PUKANSZKY 2 are chosen in such a fashion, that <strong>the</strong> ratio da/d/ at <strong>the</strong> neutral element <strong>of</strong> 2 should be <strong>the</strong> same as V(K)/d, = C, 2” * m! nasP+ (a, p). We shall see in <strong>the</strong> next section that, in <strong>the</strong> nilpotent case <strong>the</strong> value <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> analogously defined constant is 4” * m! rrm. 3. In this Section we consider again a nilpotent Lie algebra P’ <strong>of</strong> dimension n > 0, with <strong>the</strong> corresponding connected <strong>and</strong> simply- connected group G. We denote by u <strong>the</strong> adjoint representation <strong>of</strong> G, <strong>and</strong> by p <strong>the</strong> representation, which is contragredient to u, on 2’. In o<strong>the</strong>r words, denoting by (/, el) <strong>the</strong> canonical bilinear form on 2 x ZZ”, we have, for all a in G, (u(a) rt, P) = (l, p(a-‘) 8’) (t E Y, t’ E 9’). Let H be a subalgebra <strong>of</strong> 2, <strong>of</strong> a dimension h < n. We shall say, that <strong>the</strong> ordered (n - h)-tuple <strong>of</strong> elements {t; , /a ,..., &‘n-h} <strong>of</strong> $P is a supplementary basis <strong>of</strong> H, provided for each j = 1, 2,..., n - h <strong>the</strong> subspace, spanned by H<strong>and</strong> (8, ,..., e,>, <strong>of</strong> 2 is a subalgebra <strong>of</strong> dimen- sion h + j. Let us denote by exp H <strong>the</strong> subgroup, which is <strong>the</strong> image <strong>of</strong> H through <strong>the</strong> exponential map, <strong>of</strong> G <strong>and</strong> let us set gj(t) = exp (J’+) (j = 1, 2,..., 12 - h). The map <strong>of</strong> exp H x Rn-h into G, which assigns to (h, (ti , t, ,. .., tn-h)) (h E exp H) <strong>the</strong> element <strong>of</strong> G, is a homeomorphism between exp H x Rn-h <strong>and</strong> G ([4J p. 96, Remarque 2), <strong>and</strong> dt, dt, *a+ dt,-, defines an invariant measure on <strong>the</strong> homogeneous space <strong>of</strong> right-classes <strong>of</strong> G according to exp H ([4J, p. 121, Remarque). An element c!; <strong>of</strong> 2’ having been fixed, we shall denote by B(lr ,&J <strong>the</strong> skew-symmetric bilinear form on 9 x 2 defined by ([/r , t.J, 8;) (/i , tz E 2). Given a subspace H <strong>of</strong> JZ’, we shall write (H)i for its orthogonal complement, with respect to B, in 2, <strong>and</strong> H-L for its orthogonal complement, with respect to <strong>the</strong> canonical bilinear form in 9’. We start with a new pro<strong>of</strong> for a statement, announced first by Kirillov ([4], Theo&me on p. 50, <strong>and</strong> also <strong>the</strong> Remark below). LEMMA 1. Let & be a nonzero element in 9”, <strong>and</strong> let 0 be its orbit with respect to p; we set d = dim 0, <strong>and</strong> suppose d > 0. Let
PLANCHEREL FORMULA OF NILPOTENT GROUPS 265 be a Jordan-H6lder sequence in 9, <strong>and</strong> {ej; j = 1, 2,..., n} a basis in Y such that ej’ E S?&., - 9’; (j = 1, 2,..., n). Then <strong>the</strong>re exist n polyno- mials {Pi; j = 1, 2,..., n} <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> d variables {xk; k = 1, 2,..., d} <strong>and</strong> d indices 0