Singularity of orbital measures in SU\((n)\) (Q696281)

The circle group is contrasted with compact, connected, simple Lie groups by the existence of singular, continuous measures all of whose convolution powers remain singular. \textit{D. L. Ragozin} [J. Funct. Anal. 10, 212-229 (1972; Zbl 0286.43002)] proved that, for \(G\) a compact, connected, simple Lie group and \(\mu\) any central, continuous measure on \(G\), \(\mu^{\dim G}\) belongs to \(L^1(G)\). The present authors show that Ragozin's result is sharp by exhibiting a measure on \(\text{SU}(n)\) whose \(n-1\) convolution power remains singular to Haar measure. The example given is the orbital measure \(\mu_g\) supported on the conjugacy class containing \(g\) when \(g\) is a certain element not in the center of the group. \(\mu_g\) is defined by \(\langle f,\mu_g\rangle= \langle f(tgt^{-1}), m_G\rangle\) for any continuous function \(f\) and Haar measure \(m_G\).