Weighted Spectral Cluster Bounds and a Sharp Multiplier Theorem for Ultraspherical Grushin Operators

We study degenerate elliptic operators of Grushin type on the $d$-dimensional sphere, which are singular on a $k$-dimensional sphere for some $k < d$. For these operators we prove a spectral multiplier theorem of Mihlin-Hormander type, which is optimal whenever $2k \leq d$, and a corresponding Bochner-Riesz summability result. The proof hinges on suitable weighted spectral cluster bounds, which in turn depend on precise estimates for ultraspherical polynomials.