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.

A hyperfinite von Neumann algebra satisfies the condition that every o.d. homomorphism is a normal operator if and only if it is a factor of type In.

We give new presentations of the five Mathieu groups, the simple groups J1, J2, HS, McL, Co3, and some other simple and related groups. All generators in these presentations are involutions. Our presentations are simpler than the known presentations of this type for the groups mentioned above.

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.

A geometric property of convex sets which is equivalent to a minimax inequality of the Ky Fan type is formulated. This property is used directly to prove minimax inequalities of the von Neumann type, minimax inequalities of the Fan-Kneser type, and fixed point theorems for inward and outward maps.

This is a study of formal power series under the binary operation of formal composition from a group-theoretical point of view. Various “large” properties are derived.

If G is a compact connected Lie group every infinite subset of Ĝ contains an infinite central Λ(p) set, for p < 2 + 2 rank G/(dim G - rank G). A subset R of Ĝ is of type central Λ(2) if and only if the associated set of characters on the maximal torus is of type Λ(2). The dual of a compact connected semisimple Lie group contains infinite sets which are central p-Sidon for all p > 1. Every infinite subset of the dual of Su(2) contains such a set.

We give a simple proof, using only classical algebraic topology, of the following theorem of B. H. Li and F. P. Peterson. Any map from an N-manifold into a (2N − 1)-manifold is homotopic to an immersion.

We give algebraic criteria for distinguishing composition operators among all continuous linear operators on spaces of continuous functions with topologies generated by seminorms that are weighted analogues of the supremum norm. In another direction, we also characterize those self maps of the underlying topological space which induce composition operators on such weighted spaces, as well as determine conditions on these self maps which correspond to various basic properties of the induced composition operator. Our results are applied to a question concerning translation invariance which arises in the context of topological dynamics.

A filtration is constructed for each dual Weyl module of a connected reductive group in prime characteristic p, and the quotients of the filtration are identified when the highest weight is far enough from the walls of the dominant chamber. The existence of certain composition factors is deduced.

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.

A characterization of group congruences on an eventually regular semigroup S is provided. It is shown that a group congruence is dually right modular in the lattice of congruences on S. Also for any group congruence ℸ and any congruence p on S, ℸ Vp and kernel ℸ Vp are described.

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.

The main result proved in this paper is the following. Suppose X1, X2 are two subspaces of a space X such that X = Int(X1)∪ X2 = X1 ∪ Int(X2). Then the pair (X1, X2) is a ϕ on X. This result settles an open question and includes all known results on ϕ-excisiveness in sheaf cohomology as its special cases. We construct several several examples to illustrate our main theorem and to show that it is, in fact, quite sharp.

Let G be a locally compact group, and let D(G) be a dense subalgebra of the convolution algebra L1(G). Suppose that π is a unitary representation of G and that, for each u in D(G), π(u)) is a trace-class operator. Then the linear functional u → tr(π(u)) (the trace of π(u)) is called the D-character of π. We give a simple proof that the D-character of such a representation determines the representation up to unitary equivalence. As an application, we give an easy proof of the result of Harish-Chandra that the K-finite characters of unitary representations of semisimple Lie groups determine the representations.

Let Gbe a primitive permutation group on a finite set Ω. We investigate the subconstitutents of G, that is the permutation groups induced by a point stabilizer on its orbits in Ω, in the cases where Ghas a diagonal action or a product action on Ω. In particular we show in these cases that no subconstituent is doubly transitive. Thus if G has a doubly transitive subconstituent we show that G has a unique minimal normal subgroup N and either N is a nonabelian simple group or N acts regularly on Ω: we investigate further the case where N is regular on Ω.

This paper constructs a minimal faithful representation of a semilattice of groups by partial transformations. The solution is expressed in terms of join irreducible elements of the semilattice and minimal faithful representations of groups with respect to certain normal subgroups.

In this paper we prove several random fixed point theorems for multifunctions with a stochastic domain. Then those techniques are used to establish the existence of solutions for random differential inclusions. A useful tool in this process is a stochastic version of the Tietze extension theorems that we prove. Finally we present a stochastic version of the Riesz representation theorem for Hilbert spaces.

We prove that finite dimensional nonatomic vector measures and their integral maps are open maps. These results can be found in the literature, but unfortunately the proofs presented there are not complete.

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.