The spectrum of the Vladimirov sub-Laplacian on the compact Heisenberg group

Abstract

Let $p>2$ be a prime number. In this short note, we calculate explicitly the unitary dual and the matrix coefficients of the Heisenberg group over the $p$-adic integers. As an application, we consider directional Vladimirov-Taibleson derivatives, and some polynomials in these operators. In particular, we calculate explicitly the spectrum of the Vladimirov sub-Laplacian, and show how it provides a non-trivial example of a sub-elliptic operator on compact graded $p$-adic Lie groups.