Algebraic structure of semigroup compactifications: Pym's and Veech's theorems and strongly prime points (Q2401814)

If \(G\) is a locally compact group, and \(\mathcal A(G)\) is a unital, translation-invariant \(C^*\)-algebra of bounded continuous functions on \(G\), then the spectrum \(G^\mathcal{A}\) of \(\mathcal{A}(G)\) is a compact \(G\times G\)- space equipped with a canonical equivariant map \(\epsilon_{\mathcal A}:G\to G^{\mathcal A}\). Under an additional algebraic assumption on \(\mathcal{A}(G)\), called \textit{admissibility}, the group structure on \(\epsilon_{\mathcal{A}}(G)\) can be extended to a semigroup structure on \(G^{\mathcal A}\), which is then called a \textit{semigroup compactification} of \(G\). A prime example of this is when \(G\) is discrete and \(\mathcal A(G)=\ell^\infty(G)\): then \(G^{\mathcal A}\) is the Stone-Čech compactification of \(G\), whose algebraic structure has been intensively studied (see e.g. [\textit{N. Hindman} and \textit{D. Strauss}, Algebra in the Stone-Čech compactification. Theory and applications. 2nd revised and extended ed. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter (2012; Zbl 1241.22001)]). For a general locally compact \(G\), the maximal semigroup compactification \(G^{\mathcal{LUC}}\) is obtained from the algebra \(\mathcal{LUC}(G)\) of right-uniformly continuous bounded functions. Two basic structural results concerning \(G^{\mathcal{LUC}}\) are a theorem of Veech asserting that the left action of \(G\) on \(G^{\mathcal{LUC}}\) is free [\textit{W. A. Veech}, Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 83, 775--830 (1977; Zbl 0384.28018)]; and a theorem of Pym relating \(G^{\mathcal{LUC}}\) to the Stone-Čech compactifications of uniformly discrete subsets of \(G\) [\textit{J. Pym}, Semigroup Forum 59, No. 2, 171--174 (1999; Zbl 0980.22009)]. In the paper under review the authors establish versions of Veech's and Pym's theorems for general semigroup compactifications \(G^{\mathcal A}\), by identifying a class of subsets of \(G\) -- called \(\mathcal{A}(G)\)-sets -- on whose closures the assertions of those theorems are valid. The technology of \(\mathcal A(G)\)-sets is also applied at the end of the paper to obtain an interesting result regarding the support of invariant means on amenable \(\mathcal A(G)\), generalising a result from [\textit{H. G. Dales} et al., Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 966, i-v, 165 p. (2010; Zbl 1192.43001)].