Compact open sets in dual spaces and projections in group algebras of \([FC]^{-}\) groups (Q766219)

The motivation for this article is the study of self-adjoint projections in the group algebra \(L^1(G)\) of a locally compact group \(G\). Here \(G\) is assumed to be \([FC]^-\), i.e. such that all the conjugacy classes are precompact. In the dual object \(\widehat G\) (the space of equivalence classes of irreducible unitary representations), the support of such a projection is a compact open set. In general, as proved before by the authors, a compact open set may not be a support of some projection. However, under the assumption that \(G\in [FC]^-\) this question is still open. One is lead thus to the study of compact open sets in \(\widehat G\). The main results are as follows. There is a ``standard'' class of such sets: let \(K\) be a compact normal subgroup of \(G\), and let \(\pi\in \widehat G\). Then the set \[ \widehat G_{K,\pi} = \{ \rho\in \widehat G: \rho|_K \sim \pi|_K\} \] is open, and under certain conditions on \(K\) (given in Theorem 2.2) it is compact. Moreover, Theorem 2.1 describes all compact open sets \(S\subset \widehat G\) as finite unions of the sets of this type, \(K\) being the same for a given \(S\).