Positive functionals on Lau Banach \(*\)-algebras with application to negative-definite functions on foundation semigroups (Q1365570): Difference between revisions

It is well-known that if \(f\) is a bounded negative definite function on a commutative discrete \(*\)-semigroup \(S\) with an identity \(1\), then there exists a positive measure \(\lambda\in M(\widehat S)\) such that \[ f(x)= f(1)+ \int_{\widehat S}[1-\chi(x)] d\lambda(\chi)\quad (x\in S), \] where \(\widehat S\) denotes the space of all \(*\)-semicharacters on \(S\) endowed with the topology of pointwise convergence. In the present paper, through a different method, we extend this result to the continuous negative definite functions which are bounded with respect to a multiplicative Borel measurable weight function on foundation topological \(*\)-semigroups. This family of semigroups is quite extensive and it contains topological groups and discrete semigroups as elementary examples.