Let X be either the d-dimensional sphere or a compact, simply connected, simple, connected Lie group. We define a mean-value operator analogous to the spherical mean-value operator acting on integrable functions on Euclidean space. The value of this operator will be written as ℳ f (x, a), where x ∈ X and a varies over a torus A in the group of isometries of X. For each of these cases there is an interval pO < p ≦ 2, where the p0 depends on the geometry of X, such that if f is in Lp (X) then there is a set full measure in X and if x lies in this set, the function a ↦ℳ f(x, a) has some Hölder continuity on compact subsets of the regular elements of A.

Let G/K be a compact symmetric space, and let G = KAK be a Cartan decomposition of G. For f in L1(G) we define the spherical means f(g, t) = ∫k∫k ∫(gktk′) dk dk′, g ∈ G, t ∈ A. We prove that if f is in Lp(G), 1 ≤ p ≤ 2, then for almost every g ∈ G the functions t → f(g, t) belong to certain Soblev spaces on A. From these regularity results for the spherical means we deduce, if G/K is a compact rank one symmetric space, a theorem on the almost everywhere localization of spherical harmonic expansions of functions in L2 (G/K).