On the unitary representation theory of locally compact contraction groups (Q6654894)

A locally compact group \(G\) is called type \(I\) if every unitary representation of \(G\) generates a type \(I\) von Neumann algebra (there is a strong dichotomy between type \(I\) groups and those which are not type \(I\) ). A locally compact contraction group is a pair \((N, \alpha)\), where \(N\) is a locally compact group and \(\alpha \in \mathrm{Aut}(N)\) is a contractive automorphism.\N\NThe paper under review is devoted to the study of the unitary representation theory of locally compact contraction groups and their semi-direct products \(N \rtimes_{\alpha} \mathbb{Z}\). In particular, the author determines new examples of type \(I\) and non-type-\(I\) groups in this class and he completely classifies the irreducible unitary representations of the torsion-free groups, which are shown to be type \(I\). When these groups are totally disconnected, they admit a faithful action by automorphisms on an infinite locally-finite regular tree, so this work provides new examples of automorphism groups of regular trees with interesting representation theory.