Given a semidirect product $G = N \rtimes H$ where $N$ is%% nilpotent, connected, simply connected and normal in $G$ and where $H$ is a vector group for which $\ad(\h)$ is completely reducible and $\mathbf R$-split, let $\tau$ denote the quasiregular representation of $G$ in $L^2(N)$. An element $\psi \in L^2(N)$ is said to be admissible if the wavelet transform $f \mapsto \langle f, \tau(\cdot)\psi\rangle$ defines an isometry from $L^2(N)$ into $L^2(G)$. In this paper we give an explicit construction of admissible vectors in the case where $G$ is not unimodular and the stabilizers in $H$ of its action on $\hat N$ are almost everywhere trivial. In this situation we prove orthogonality relations and we construct an explicit decomposition of $L^2(G)$ into $G$-invariant, multiplicity-free subspaces each of which is the image of a wavelet transform . We also show that, with the assumption of (almost-everywhere) trivial stabilizers, non-unimodularity is necessary for the existence of admissible vectors.

We study the semilinear equation \begin{equation*} -\Delta_{\mathbb H} u(\eta) + u(\eta) = f(\eta, u(\eta)),\quad u \in \So(\Omega), \end{equation*} where $\Omega$ is an unbounded domain of the Heisenberg group $\mathbb H^N$, $N\ge 1$. The space $\So(\Omega)$ is the Heisenberg analogue of the Sobolev space $W_0^{1,2}(\Omega)$. The function $f\colon \overline{\Omega}\times \mathbb R\to \mathbb R$ is supposed to be odd in $u$, continuous and satisfy some (superlinear but subcritical) growth conditions. The operator $\Delta_{\mathbb H}$ is the subelliptic Laplacian on the Heisenberg group. We give a condition on $\Omega$ which implies the existence of infinitely many solutions of the above equation. In the proof we rewrite the equation as a variational problem, and show that the corresponding functional satisfies the Palais--Smale condition. This might be quite surprising since we deal with domains which are far from bounded. The technique we use rests on a compactness argument and the maximum principle.