The structure theory of nilspaces. I (Q2177969)

The present paper is the first one in a series of three papers devoted to the structure theory of nilspaces. Section 1 is introductory. Section 2 recalls a certain background about Host-Kra cube groups, by putting the abstract definitions involved there in some context; the main definitions are then expanded in Section 3. The next two sections are dealing with the main structural result in the paper: Theorem. Let \(X=(X,C^k)\) be a compact ergodic nilspace of degree \(s\). Further, suppose that the spaces \(C^k(X)\) are connected for each \(k\ge 0\); so, in particular, \(X=C^0(X)\) is connected. Then, necessarily, \(X\) is an inverse limit of nilmanifolds. Precisely, Section 4 is devoted to a heuristic outline of the high-lever stages of the proof. In Section 5 an expanded version of the underlying heuristic outline is proposed. Then, Section 6 is concerning with the first of these stages, called the ``weak structure theory''. Finally, in Section 7, some relative type versions of the elementary theory are considered. For Part II, see [the authors, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 371, No. 7, 4951--4992 (2019; Zbl 1440.37017)].