Functions with a finite number of negative squares on compact groups (Q1924949)

A hermitian function \(f\) (i.e. \(f( x^{-1})= \overline {f(x)}\)) on a compact group \(G\) has \(\kappa\) negative squares if the hermitian matrices \((f (x_i^{-1} x_j))_{i, j,\dots, N}\) have at most \(\kappa\) negative eigenvalues for all choices of points \(x_1, \dots\) in \(G\) and \(\kappa\) negative eigenvalues for some choice. We characterize continuous hermitian functions with \(\kappa\) negative squares by their Fourier transforms, showing that \(f\) has \(\sum_{\sigma\in \Sigma} n_\sigma d_\sigma\) negative squares, where \(d_\sigma\) is the dimension of the irreducible representation \(\sigma\) and \(n_\sigma\) is the number of negative eigenvalues of \(\widehat {f} (\sigma)\). We prove that on the set of functions with at most \(\kappa\) negative squares pointwise convergence of a sequence of functions implies uniform convergence.