Asymptotics of matrix coefficients and closures of Fourier-Stieltjes algebras (Q677467)

The article analyzes the asymptotic behaviour of matrix coefficients of strongly continuous unitary representations through the study of topological properties of the underlying group. The study is motivated by the result of R. Howe and C. C. Moore, which states that any matrix coefficient of such representations on a simple Lie group with finite center is a sum of a constant and a function vanishing at infinity. This result is extended by the author onto connected locally compact totally minimal groups. A group is called totally minimal if every continuous homomorphism onto a topological group is open. In Theorem 2.5 the author provides another characterisation: A locally compact connected group \(G\) is totally minimal if and only if there exist a compact subgroup \(K\) of \(G\), a nilpotent simply connected group \(N\) and a reductive group \(H\), such that \(G/K\) is topologically isomorphic to a semidirect product \(N\rtimes_\varphi H\), with \(H\) acting on \(N\) via \(\varphi\) without nontrivial fixed points. The paper also studies groups, for which the Fourier-Stieltjes algebra \(B(G)\) is uniformly dense in the algebra of weakly almost periodic functions \(\text{WAP}(G)\). It turns out, in Theorem 4.5, that among the connected groups, these are exactly the totally minimal groups. Using his results, the author is also able to give nontrivial examples of totally minimal groups.