A group is said to be factorizable if it has a finite number of abelian subgroups, H1, H2, … Hn, such that G = H1H2 … Hn. It is shown that, if G is a factorizable or connected locally compact group, then every derivation from L1 (G) to an arbitrary L1 (G)-bimodule X is continuous.

Sets of independence are studied for compact abelian hypergroups and they are used, along with Riesz products, to investigate lacunarity questions on the dual object. It is shown that bounded Stechkin sets are always Sidon and that every bounded infinite subset of the dual contains an infinite Sidon set which is also a Λ set. Independent sets are shown to always be Sidon and a necessary condition for Sidonicity is provided. A result of Pisier is used to show that for compact non-abelian groups Sidon and central Λ are equivalent. Several applications are provided, primarily to questions regarding lacunarity on compact groups.

Let X be a complex Banach space, G a compact abelian group and Λ a subset of Ĝ, the dual group pf G. Then LΛ1(G, X) has the Radon-Nikodym property if and only if X has the Radon-Nikodym property and Λ is Riesz set. In particular, H1 (T, X) has the Radon-Nikodym property if and only if X has the Radon-Nikodym property. This solves a problem of Hensgen.

Let G denote a locally compact Vilenkin group with dual group Γ. We give sufficient conditions for a function ϕ ∈ L∞ (Γ) to be a multiplier from the power-weighted Hardy space to itself or the corresponding power-weighted Lebesgue space

Let {λj}j≥0 be a sequence of positive integers such that λj+1/λj≥3 and {aj}j≥0 a sequence of complex numbers such that |aj|≤1. Let μ be the Riesz product πj≥0[1+ Re(ajeiλjx)], that is, the weak limit of measures on T the density of which are the partial products. Then if Σj≥0|aj|2≤∞ the series Σj≥0 aj(eiλjx - ½āj) converges for μ-almost every x. The μ-a.e. convergence of series Σ ajeinλjx is also investigated as well as the case of Riesz products on a compact commutative group.

W. Rudin has proved that the union of the Riesz set N ⊆ R with a Λ(l)-subset of Z is again a Riesz set. In this note we generalize his result to compact groups whose contains a circle group, thereby extending an earlier F. and M. Riesz theorem for such groups by the author. We also investigate the possibility of constructing Λ(p)-sets for these groups, departing from Λ(p)-sets for the circle group in center.

A Borel measure μ on a compact group G is called Lp-improving if the operator Tμ: L2(G) → L2(G), defined by Tμ(f) = μ * f, maps into Lp(G) for some P > 2. We characterize Lp-improving measures on compact non-abelian groups by the eigenspaces of the operator Tμ if |Tμ|. This result is a generalization of our recent characterization of Lp-improving measures on compact abelian groups.

Two examples of Riesz product-like measures are constructed. In contrast with the abelian case one of these is not Lp-improving, while the other is a non-trivial example of an Lp improving measure.

A close analogue for some hypergroup measure algebras of the structure semigroup theorem of J. L. Taylor for convolution measure algebras is constructed: a structure semihypergroup representation is made for the hypergroup measure and its spectrum. This is done for those hypergroup measure algebras that satisfy a condition known as the structure-strong condition. This condition is that the norm-closure of the linear span of the spectrum of the hypergroup measure algebra is a commutative B*-algebra. Then examples of hypergroups whose measure algebras satisfy this condition are given. They include the space of B-orbits of G, where B is a finite solvable group of automorphisms on a locally compact abelian group G. (The hypergroup measure algebra may be identified with the algebra of B-invariant measures on G.) Other examples are the algebra of central measures on a compact, connected, semisimple Lie group, and the algebra of rotation invariant measures on the plane.

The notion of a scalar operator on a Banach space, in the sense of N. Dunford, is widened so as to cover those operators which can be approximated in the operator norm by linear combinations of disjoint values of an additive and multiplicative operator valued set function, P, on an algebra of sets in a space Ω such that P(Ω) = I, subject to some conditions guaranteeing that this definition is unambiguous. An operator T turns out to be scalar in this sense, if and only if, there exists a (not necessarily bounded) Boolean algebra of bounded projections such that the Banach algebra of operators it generates is semisimple and contains T.

The aim of this paper is to study the spherical functions associated to an operator. These functions can be thought of abstractly as being eigenfunctions of the operator which can be expressed in terms of the operator. The meaning of these properties will be made precise as will a notion of boundedness. The results are obtained by studying a specific shift operator on the algebra of functionals on the complex polynomial ring. For the class studied, we obtain ellipses of eigenvalues for which there exist bounded spherical functions. As an application of the results, we study radial functions on discrete groups.

It is well known that a complex-valued function ø, analytic on some open set Ω, extends to any commutative Banach algebra B so that the action of ø on B commutes with the action of the Gelfand transformation. In this paper, it is shown that if B is a homogeneous convolution Banach algebra over any compact group and if 0 ∈ Ω is a fixed point of ø, then a similar result holds, with the Gelfand transformation replaced by the Fourier-Stieltjes transformation. Care is required, in that discussion of this relation usually requires simultaneous consideration of the extension of ø to B and to certain operator algebras.

Let G be any compact group, connected or disconnected, with dual object Ĝ. We define a family of local Sidon subsets of Ĝ in terms of allowable images of the representations. Using this family we develop a straightforward criterion whereby the existence of infinite Sidon subsets of Ĝ may be decided.

Various criteria, in terms of forward differences and related operations on coefficients, are shown to imply that certain series on bounded Vilenkin groups represent integrable functions. These results include analogues of known integrability theorems for trigonometric series. The method of proof is to pass from the given series to a derived series, and to deduce the integrability of the original series from smoothness properties of the latter.

Recently M. Benedicks showed that if a function f ∈ L2(Rd) and its Fourier transform both have supports of finite measure, then f = 0 almot everywhere. In this paper we give a version of this result for all noncompact semisimple connected Lie groups with finite centres.

Let N be a nilpotent simply connected Lie group, and A a commutative connected d-dimensional Lie group of automorphisms of N which correspond to semisimple endomorphisms of the Lie algebra of N with positive eigenvalues. Form the split extension S = N × A ≅ N × a, a being the Lie algebra of A. We consider a family of “rectangles” Br in S, parameterized by r > 0, such that the measure of Br behaves asymptotically as a fixed power of r. One can construct the Hardy-Littlewood maximal function operator f → Mf relative to left translates of the family {Br}. We prove that M is of weak type (1, 1). This complements a result of J.-O. Strömberg concerning maximal functions defined relative to hyperbolic balls in a symmetric space.

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.

The Lebesgue measure, λ (E + F), of the algebraic sum of two Borel sets, E, F of the classical “middle-thirds’ Cantor set on the circle can be estimated by evaluating the Cantor meaure, μ of the summands. For example log λ (E + F) exceeds a fixed scalar multiple of log μ (E)+ log μ (F). Several numerical inequalities which are required to prove this and related results look tantalizingly simple and basic. Here we isolate them from the measure theory and present a common format and proof.

According to an extension of a classical theorem of Bernstein, due to C. Herz, a function on Rn belonging to a Besov space of appropriate order has an absolutely convergent Fourier transform. We establish extensions of this result to Cartan motion groups, for Besov spaces defined with respect to both isotropic and non-isotropic differences.

We consider the distribution μ of numbers whose binary digits are generated from infinitely many tosses of a biased coin. It is shown that, if E has positive μ measure, then some n-fold sum of E with itself must contain an interval. This contrasts with the known result that all convolution powers of μ are singular.

In this paper it is proved that the principal series of representations of Γ = Z2*…*Z2 may be analytically continued to give uniformly bounded representations on the same Hilbert space, and that these representations are irreducible. Further, the reducibility of the restrictions to Γ ⊂ SL(2, Qp) of the irreducible unitary representations of SL(2, Qp) is examined.