Vanishing of quasi-invariant generalized functions

Determination of quasi-invariant generalized functions is important for a variety of problems in representation theory, notably character theory and restriction problems. In this note, we review some new and easy-to-use techniques to show vanishing of quasi-invariant generalized functions, developed in the recent work of the authors (Uniqueness of Ginzburg-Rallis models: the Archimedean case, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 363, (2011), 2763-2802). The first two techniques involve geometric notions attached to submanifolds, which we call metrical properness and unipotent $\chi$-incompatibility. The third one is analytic in nature, and it arises from the first occurrence phenomenon in Howe correspondence. We also highlight how these techniques quickly lead to two well-known uniqueness results, on trilinear forms and Whittaker models.