A characterization of the \(L^{\infty}\)-representation algebra \(\mathfrak R(S)\) of a foundation semigroup and its application to BSE algebras (Q318821)

A BSE algebra, introduced in [\textit{S.-E. Takahasi} and \textit{O. Hatori}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 110, No. 1, 149--158 (1990; Zbl 0722.46025)], is a commutative Banach algebra \(A\) such that the set of bounded continuous functions \(\phi\) on the spectrum \(\Delta(A)\) of \(A\) with a property that there is a constant \(k\) such that \(|\sum_{i=1}^m \alpha_i \phi(\gamma_i)|\leq k\) whenever \(\alpha_i\in\mathbb{C}\) and \(\gamma_i\in \Delta(A)\) with \[ \Bigl\| \sum_{i=1}^m\alpha_i \gamma_i \Bigr\| \leq 1, \] are precisely the restrictions to \(\Delta(A)\) of the Gelfand transforms of elements of the multiplier algebra \({\mathcal M}(A)\) of \(A\). This notion is further developed and studied in [\textit{E. Kaniuth} and \textit{A. Ülger}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 362, No. 8, 4331--4356 (2010; Zbl 1228.46046)]. A foundation semigroup is a topological semigroup \(S\) with the property that \(S\) is the union of the supports of all measures \(\mu\in M_a(S)\), where \(M_a(S)\) is the subalgebra of the algebra \(M(S)\) of all bounded complex Borel measures on \(S\) consisting of those measure \(\mu\) such that the mappings \(s\mapsto |\mu|*\delta_s\) and \(s\mapsto \delta_s*|\mu|\) are weakly continuous. In this paper, the author characterises when a bounded continuous function on a commutative foundation semigroup \(S\) with identity has the form \[ s\mapsto \int_\Omega T_sg \,d\mu \] where \((\Omega,\mu,T)\) is an \(L^\infty\)-representation of \(S\) and \(g\in L^1(\Omega,\mu)\). The characterising condition is in a similar spirit as the condition in the definition of BSE algebra above, and this is then used to show that if \(S\) is a reflexive foundation semigroup, then \(M_a(S)\) is a BSE algebra.