Stein's square function associated with the Bochner-Riesz means on Métivier groups and its applications

In this paper, we study the $L^p$-boundedness of Stein’s square function ${\mathfrak{S}}^{\alpha }(\mathcal{L})$ associated with the sub-Laplacian $\mathcal{L}$ on Métivier group $G$. A key aspect of our result is that the smoothness condition is expressed in terms of the topological dimension $d$ of the underlying Métivier group $G$. Consequently, we also present several applications of the $L^p$-boundedness of ${\mathfrak{S}}^{\alpha }(\mathcal{L})$. First, we provide an alternate proof of the sharp $L^p$-boundedness result for spectral multipliers on Métivier groups, recently obtained by Niedorf [Niedorf, Studia Math., 2025]. Next we prove $L^p$-boundedness of maximal spectral multipliers and consequently establish sharp $L^p$-boundedness result for the maximal Bochner-Riesz operator on Métivier groups, which also yields pointwise almost everywhere convergence of Bochner-Riesz means with smoothness parameter given in terms of the topological dimension of $G$. In case of Métivier groups our result improves upon the existing works of Mauceri-Meda [Mauceri, Meda, Rev. Mat. Iberoam., 1990] and Horwich-Martini [Horwich, Martini, J. Lond. Math. Soc., 2021]. Our result further imply the mixed norm regularity estimates for the solution of fractional Schrödinger equation on Métivier groups, where the regularity index is again expressed in terms of the topological dimension of $G$. Finally, we study the $L^{p_1}(G)\times L^{p_2}(G)$ to $L^p(G)$ boundedness of the bilinear Bochner-Riesz means and its maximal version, associated with the sub-Laplacian on Métivier group $G$. Our result improves upon the recent work of the author with Bagchi and Molla [Bagchi, Molla, Singh, J. Funct. Anal., 2026] in the range $2\le p_1,p_2<\mathrm{\infty }$. In the same range, …