Construction of covariant differential calculi on quantum homogeneous spaces

A method of constructing covariant differential calculi on a quantum homogeneous space is devised. The function algebra X of the quantum homogeneous space is assumed to be a left coideal of a coquasitriangular Hopf algebra H and to contain the coefficients of any matrix over H which is the two-sided inverse of one with entries in X. The method is based on partial derivatives. For the quantum sphere of Podles and the quantizations of symmetric spaces due to Noumi, Dijkhuizen and Sugitani, the construction produces the subcalculi of the standard bicovariant calculus on the quantum group. Mathematics Subject Classifications (1991): 17B37, 46L87, 81R50.