Singularity of orbital measures in SU\((n)\) (Q696281): Difference between revisions

The circle group is contrasted with compact, connected, simple Lie groups by the existence of singular, continuous measures all of whose convolution powers remain singular. \textit{D. L. Ragozin} [J. Funct. Anal. 10, 212-229 (1972; Zbl 0286.43002)] proved that, for \(G\) a compact, connected, simple Lie group and \(\mu\) any central, continuous measure on \(G\), \(\mu^{\dim G}\) belongs to \(L^1(G)\). The present authors show that Ragozin's result is sharp by exhibiting a measure on \(\text{SU}(n)\) whose \(n-1\) convolution power remains singular to Haar measure. The example given is the orbital measure \(\mu_g\) supported on the conjugacy class containing \(g\) when \(g\) is a certain element not in the center of the group. \(\mu_g\) is defined by \(\langle f,\mu_g\rangle= \langle f(tgt^{-1}), m_G\rangle\) for any continuous function \(f\) and Haar measure \(m_G\).