Strictly and strongly positive definite functions on locally compact hypergroups (Q2044594)

Though positive definite functions have been considered and discussed from very early periods in Fourier analysis, an abstract treatment only appeared in the 40's in the pioneering works of \textit{I. M. Gel'fand} and \textit{D. A. Raikov} [Transl., Ser. 2, Am. Math. Soc. 36, 1--15 (1964; Zbl 0166.40103); translation from Mat. Sb., N. Ser. 13(55), 301--316 (1943)] \textit{W. Ambrose} [Duke Math. J. 11, 589--595 (1944; Zbl 0061.25409)] and \textit{R.~Godement} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 63, 1--84 (1948; Zbl 0031.35903)] Bochner's celeberated characterization of positive definite functions was originally proved on the unit circle by \textit{G.~Herglotz} [Leipz. Ber. 63, 501--511 (1911; JFM 42.0438.02)] and on the real additive line by \textit{S. Bochner} [Vorlesungen über Fouriersche Integrale. Leipzig: Akad. Verlagsges.mbH (1932; Zbl 0006.11001)], and was generalized to arbitrary locally compact groups by \textit{A. Weil} [L'intégration dans les groupes topologiques et ses applications. Paris: Hermann \& Cie (1940; Zbl 0063.08195)]. Positive definite functions are also defined on other algebraic structures, such as on involution semigroups by \textit{R.~J. Lindahl} and \textit{P.~H. Maserick} [Duke Math. J. 38, 771--782 (1971; Zbl 0243.43004)] and on hypergroups by \textit{R.~I. Jewett} [Adv. Math. 18, 1--101 (1975; Zbl 0325.42017)] where Bochner type theorems are proved in both cases. Recently, Malamud and Schmüdgen initiated the study of strongly and strictly \(X\)-positive definite functions on the Euclidean space (for a subset \(X\)) to study Schrödinger operators. In the paper under review, the authors define and study these notions on locally compact (hyper)groups to produce Riesz-Fischer sequences. In particular, they show that for each finite subset \(X\) of a hypergroup \(K\), the classes of strongly and strictly \(X\)-positive definite functions coincide. They also give a necessary and sufficient condition for the inverse Fourier transform of a measure to be strongly \(X\)-positive definite.