Symplectic analysis of time-frequency spaces

We present a different symplectic point of view in the definition of weighted modulation spaces $M^{p,q}_m(\rd)$ and weighted Wiener amalgam spaces $W(\cF L^p_{m_1},L^q_{m_2})(\rd)$. All the classical time-frequency representations, such as the short-time Fourier transform (STFT), the $\tau$-Wigner distributions and the ambiguity function, can be written as metaplectic Wigner distributions $\mu(\cA)(f\otimes \bar{g})$, where $\mu(\cA)$ is the metaplectic operator and $\cA$ is the associated symplectic matrix. Namely, time-frequency representations can be represented as images of metaplectic operators, which become the real protagonists of time-frequency analysis. In \cite{CR2022}, the authors suggest that any metaplectic Wigner distribution that satisfies the so-called \emph{shift-invertibility condition} can replace the STFT in the definition of modulation spaces. In this work, we prove that shift-invertibility alone is not sufficient, but it has to be complemented by an upper-triangularity condition for this characterization to hold, whereas a lower-triangularity property comes into play for Wiener amalgam spaces. The shift-invertibility property is necessary: Rihaczek and and conjugate Rihaczek distributions are not shift-invertible and they fail the characterization of the above spaces. We also exhibit examples of shift-invertible distributions without upper-tryangularity condition which do not define modulation spaces. Finally, we provide new families of time-frequency representations that characterize modulation spaces, with the purpose of replacing the time-frequency shifts with other atoms that allow to decompose signals differently, with possible new outcomes in applications.