Joint continuity of multiplication on the dual of the left uniformly continuous functions (Q2267778)

Let \(G\) be a locally compact group and let \(C(G)\) be the \(C^{\ast}\)-algebra of bounded continuous functions on \(G\). For \(s \in G\) denote by \(\ell_s\) the left translation operator on \(C(G)\), so \(\ell_s \varphi(t) = \varphi(st)\), where \(\varphi \in C(G)\) and \(t \in G\). The set LUC\((G)\) consists of the functions \(\varphi\) in \(C(G)\) for which \(s \mapsto \ell_s \varphi : G \rightarrow C(G)\) is norm continuous. The spectrum \(G^{\text{LUC}}\) of \(\text{LUC}(G)\) is the universal semigroup compactification of \(G\) with respect to the joint continuity property: the multiplication on \(G \times G^{\text{LUC}}\) is jointly continuous. A multiplication can be defined on the Banach space \(\text{LUC}(G)^*\) via \[ \langle \mu \nu, \varphi \rangle = \langle \mu, \nu \varphi \rangle \quad (\mu, \nu \in \text{LUC}(G)^*, \varphi \in \text{LUC}(G)) \] where \[ \nu \varphi(s) = \langle \nu, \ell_s \varphi \rangle \quad ( s \in G). \] Now the multiplication on \(G^{\text{LUC}}\) is the restriction of the multiplication on \(\text{LUC}(G)^*\). In this paper the question about how the \(\text{weak}^*\) continuity of the multiplication on \(\text{LUC}(G)^*\) is related to the continuity of the multiplication on \(G^{\text{LUC}}\) is studied. The measure algebra M\((G)\) on \(G\) consists of the bounded regular measures on \(G\) and when equipped with convolution is a subalgebra of \(\text{LUC}(G)^*\). In this paper the topology on M\((G)\) is the \(\text{weak}^*\) topology inherited from \(\text{LUC}(G)^*\). \textit{A. T.-M. Lau} showed in [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 99, 273-283 (1986; Zbl 0591.43003)] that M\((G)\) is the topological centre of \(\text{LUC}(G)^*\), that is, left translation \(\nu \mapsto \mu \nu\) is \(\text{weak}^*\) continuous on \(\text{LUC}(G)^*\) for a fixed \(\mu\) in \(\text{LUC}(G)^*\) if and only if \(\mu\) is in M\((G)\). In view of this result, if there is joint continuity to be found on \(\text{LUC}(G)^*\), one must look for it in M\((G) \times \text{LUC}(G)^*\). However, the author shows that if \(G\) is non-compact, then the multiplication is not jointly \(\text{weak}^*\) continuous at any point of M\((G) \times \text{LUC}(G)^*\). A net \((\mu_{\alpha})\) of measures in M\((G)\) is said to be approximately compactly supported if, for every \(\varepsilon > 0\), there is a compact set \(K \subseteq G\) and an index \(\alpha_0\) such that \[ | \mu_{\alpha} | (G\setminus K ) < \varepsilon\;\text{ for every }\;\alpha \geq \alpha_0. \] Here \(| \cdot |\) denotes the total variation. With this definition the author is able to give the following joint continuity result. Let \((\mu_{\alpha})\) be a bounded, approximately compactly supported net in M\((G)\) converging to \(\mu\) in the \(\text{weak}^*\) topology, and let \((\nu_{\alpha})\) be a bounded net in \(\text{LUC}(G)^*\) converging to \(\nu\) in the weak* topology. Then \(\mu_{\alpha} \nu_{\alpha} \rightarrow \mu \nu\). A corollary to this result is that if \(G\) is a compact group, then the multiplication on \(\text{LUC}(G)^*= {\text M}(G)\) is jointly weak* continuous on bounded sets. The author also gives an example that shows that the boundedness condition cannot be dropped from the corollary.