A groupoid approach to discrete inverse semigroup algebras (Q1047671)

The semigroup algebra \(KS\) of an inverse semigroup \(S\) over a commutative ring with unit \(K\) is shown to be a convolution algebra of functions on Paterson's universal étale groupoid of \(S\). Thus, various structural properties of \(KS\) translate into properties of topological nature. For example, \(KS\) has a unit if and only if the spectrum \(\widehat{E(S)}\) of the semilattice of idempotents of \(S\) is compact. The finite dimensional irreducible representations of \(S\) over a field \(K\) are obtained as induced representations of maximum group images of stabilizers of finite index characters of the semilattice of idempotents in \(S\) under the spectral action of \(S\) on \(\widehat{E(S)}\). It is also determined which irreducible representations of \(S\) arise in the same manner but without the finiteness assumptions. The paper contains several other results along the same lines and many applications of these and connections with results from the representation theory of inverse semigroups to the theory of \(C^*\)-algebras.