A generalization of the Funk–Hecke theorem to the case of hyperbolic spaces

The well-known Funk–Hecke theorem states that for integral operators whose kernels depend only on the distance between points in spherical geometry and where the integral is taken over the surface of a hypersphere, every surface spherical harmonic is an eigenvector. In this paper we extend this theorem to the case of non-compact Lobachevsky spaces. We compute the corresponding eigenvalue in some physically important cases.