The direction of an automorphism of a totally disconnected locally compact group (Q811848)

Let \(G\) be a totally disconnected locally compact group. It is a notorious problem to recognize the group as a member of a suitable class of examples (allowing a reasonable structure theory), such as the class of \(p\)-adic Lie groups. The second author has introduced the scale function [\textit{G. Willis}, Math. Ann. 300, No.~2, 341--363 (1994; Zbl 0811.22004)] which has already been recognized as a useful tool for a structure theory of totally disconnected groups. In the present paper, the scale function is used to define an equivalence relation ``asymptotic'' on any subgroup \(A\) of the group of all automorphisms of~\(G\), and to single out a subset \(A_>\subseteq A\). The quotient \(\partial A\) of \(A_>\) by the relation ``asymptotic'' is then endowed with a pseudo-metric (defined in terms of the scale function and a metric on~\(G\)). The group \(A\) acts by isometries on the completion \(\overline{\partial A}\). The authors show that \(\overline{\partial A}\) is homeomorphic to the spherical building of \(G\) if \(A\) is the group of inner automorphisms of a semisimple group \(G\) over a local field. This result allows to identify the group~\(G\) from~\(\overline{\partial A}\). Further examples in the paper show that in general the space \(\overline{\partial A}\) may be rather large.