Perfectness and semiperfectness of abelian *-semigroups without zero (Q1895939)

Let \(S\) be an abelian semigroup with involution, and \(S^*\) the set of all \(*\)-semicharacters of \(S\). We say that \(S\) is perfect if each positive definite function \(\phi\) on \(S\) has a unique representation in the form \[ \phi (s) = \int_{S^*} \rho (s)d \mu (\rho) \quad (s \in S) \] for some bounded regular Borel measure on \(S\). We assume that \(S\) has a zero element 0, and that \(H = S \backslash \{0\}\) is a \(*\)-subsemigroup of \(S\). The main purpose of this paper is to show that \(S\) is perfect if and only if \(H\) is. Other results are of a similar nature.