Arens regularity of semigroup algebras with certain locally convex topologies (Q2461619): Difference between revisions

In this review \(S\) will always denote a locally compact Hausdorff semigroup. Let \(M(S)\) denote the measure algebra of \(S\) consisting of all bounded complex regular Borel measures on \(S\) equipped with the convolution multiplication \(\ast\) and the total variation norm \( \parallel \cdot \parallel\). For \(x \in S\) denote by \(\delta_x\) the Dirac measure of \(x\). Let \(M_a(S)\) be the space of all measures \(\mu \in M(S)\) for which the maps \(x \mapsto \delta_x \ast | \mu |\) and \(x \mapsto | \mu | \ast \delta_x\) from \(S\) into \(M(S)\) are weakly continuous. The space \(M_a(S)\) is a closed two sided \(L\)-ideal of \(M(S)\). A locally compact semigroup \(S\) is called \textit{foundation} if the closure of the set \(\bigcup\{ \text{ supp}(\mu) \colon \mu \in M_a(S) \}\) coincides with \(S\). Let \(\mathcal{C}\) be the set of increasing sequences of compact subsets of \(S\) and let \(\mathcal{R}\) be the set of increasing sequences \((r_n)\) of real numbers in \((0, \infty)\) with \(r_n \rightarrow \infty\). For any \((C_n) \in \mathcal{C}\) and \((r_n) \in \mathcal{R}\), set \[ U((C_n), (r_n)) = \{ \mu \in M_a(S) \colon | \mu | (C_n) \leq r_n \text{ for all } n \geq 1 \}. \] The family \(\mathcal{U}\) of all sets \(U ((C_n), (r_n))\) for \((C_n) \in \mathcal{C}\) and \((r_n) \in \mathcal{R}\) is a neighborhood base for zero of a locally convex topology on \(M_a(S)\). This topology is denoted by \(\beta^1(S)\). Observe \[ (M_a(S), \beta^1(S))^{\ast} \subseteq (M_a(S), \parallel \cdot \parallel )^{\ast}. \] Let \(L^{\infty} (S, M_a(S))\) consist of all bounded \(M_a(S)\)-measurable functions on \(S\) formed by identifying functions that agree almost \(\mu\)-almost everywhere for all \(\mu \in M_a(S)\). The equation \[ \langle \theta(g), \mu \rangle \colon = \langle \mu, g \rangle = \int_S g \, d\mu \] defines a linear mapping \(\theta\) from \(L^{\infty} (S, M_a(S))\) into \((M_a(S), \parallel \cdot \parallel )^{\ast}\). If \(S\) is a foundation semigroup with identity, then \(L^{\infty} (S, M_a(S))\) can be identified with \((M_a(S), \parallel \cdot \parallel)^{\ast}\) via \(\theta\). Denote by \(L^{\infty}_0 (S, M_a(S))\) the \(C^{\ast}\)-subalgebra of \(L^{\infty}(S, M_a(S))\) consisting of those functions in \(L^{\infty}(S, M_a(S))\) with representatives that vanish at infinity. Denote the weak topology of the dual pair \((M_a(S), \theta( L^{\infty}_0 (S, M_a(S))))\) by \(\sigma_0(S)\). Note that \(\sigma_0 (S) \leq \beta^1(S) \leq \parallel \cdot \parallel\). The semigroup \(S\) is called \textit{compactly cancellative} if \(C^{-1}D\) and \(CD^{-1}\) are compact subsets of \(S\) for all compact subsets \(C\) and \(D\) of \(S\). In this paper the authors prove the following theorem: Let \(S\) be a compactly cancellative foundation semigroup with identity and \(\tau\) be a locally convex topology on \(M_a(S)\) with \(\sigma_0(S) \leq \tau \leq \beta^1(S)\). Then \((M_a(S), \tau)^{\ast \ast}\) with the first Arens product \(\odot\) is a Banach algebra, where \(F \odot H\) is defined by the equation \(\langle F \odot H, f \rangle = \langle F, Hf \rangle\) for all \(F, H \in (M_a(S), \tau)^{\ast \ast}\) and \(f \in (M_a(S), \tau)^{\ast}.\) The authors also show that if a semigroup \(S\) and a locally convex topology \(\tau\) satisfy the conditions of the above theorem, then \((M_a(S), \tau)\) is semireflexive if and only if \(S\) is discrete. In the last section of the paper necessary conditions are given for the Arens regularity of \((M_a (S), \beta^1(S))\).