Pseudo-contractibility and pseudo-amenability of semigroup algebras

In this paper, we characterize pseudo-contractibility of ℓ ¹(S), where S is a uniformly locally finite inverse semigroup. As a consequence, we show that for a Brandt semigroup S=M⁰(G,I),{S={\mathcal{M}}^{0}(G,I),} the semigroup algebra ℓ ¹(S) is pseudo-contractible if and only if G and I are finite. Moreover, we study the notions of pseudo-amenability and pseudo-contractibility of a semigroup algebra ℓ ¹(S) in terms of the amenability of S.     

Irregular abelian semigroups with weakly amenable semigroup algebra

In this paper we give counterexamples for the open problem, posed by Blackmore (Semigroup Forum 55:359–377, 1987) of whether weak amenability of a semigroup algebra ℓ ¹(S) implies complete regularity of the semigroup S. We present a neat set of conditions on a commutative semigroup (involving concepts well known to those working with semigroups, e.g. the counterexamples are nil and 0-cancellative) which ensure that S is irregular (in fact, has no nontrivial regular subsemigroup), but ℓ ¹(S) is weakly amenable. Examples are then given.     

Preduals of semigroup algebras

For a locally compact group G, the measure convolution algebra M(G) carries a natural coproduct. In previous work, we showed that the canonical predual C ₀(G) of M(G) is the unique predual which makes both the product and the coproduct on M(G) weak^*-continuous. Given a discrete semigroup S, the convolution algebra ℓ ¹(S) also carries a coproduct. In this paper we examine preduals for ℓ ¹(S) making both the product and the coproduct weak^*-continuous. Under certain conditions on S, we show that ℓ ¹(S) has a unique such predual. Such S include the free semigroup on finitely many generators. In general, however, this need not be the case even for quite simple semigroups and we construct uncountably many such preduals on ℓ ¹(S) when S is either ℤ₊×ℤ or (ℕ,⋅).     

Biflatness of ℓ<Superscript>1</Superscript>-Semilattice Algebras

We show that if L is a semilattice then the ℓ¹-convolution algebra of L is biflat precisely when L is "uniformly locally finite". Our proof technique shows in passing that if this convolution algebra is biflat then it is isomorphic as a Banach algebra to the Banach space ℓ¹(L) equipped with pointwise multiplication. At the end we sketch how these techniques may be extended to prove an analogous characterisation of biflatness for Clifford semigroup algebras.     

Amenability constants for semilattice algebras

For any finite commutative idempotent semigroup S, a semilattice, we show how to compute the amenability constant of its semigroup algebra ℓ ¹(S). This amenability constant is always of the form 4n+1. We then show that these give lower bounds to amenability constants of certain Banach algebras graded over semilattices. We also give example of a commutative Clifford semigroups G _n whose semigroup algebras ℓ ¹(G _n ) admit amenability constants of the form 41+4(n−1)/n. We also show there is no commutative semigroup whose semigroup algebra has an amenability constant between 5 and 9. N. Spronk’s research was supported by NSERC Grant 312515-05.     

The closure of the smallest ideal of an ultrafilter semigroup

Let S be a discrete semigroup, let β S be the Stone-Čech compactification of S, and let T be a closed subsemigroup of β S. We characterize ultrafilters from the smallest ideal K(T) of T and from its closure c ℓ  K(T). We show that, for a large class of closed subsemigroups of β S, c ℓ  K(T) is not an ideal of T. This class includes the subsemigroups 0⁺⊂βℝ _d and ℍ _κ ⊂β(⊕ _κ ℤ₂).     

A note on the approximate amenability of semigroup algebras

It is known that the bicyclic semigroup S ₁ is an amenable inverse semigroup. In this note we show that the convolution semigroup algebra ℓ ¹(S ₁) is not approximately amenable.     

Approximate amenability of Banach category algebras with application to semigroup algebras

Let C be a small category. Then we consider ℓ ¹(C) as the ℓ ¹ algebra over the morphisms of C, with convolution product and also consider as the ℓ ¹ algebra over the objects of C, with pointwise multiplication. The main purpose of this paper is to show that approximate amenability of ℓ ¹(C) implies of and clearly this implies that C has only finitely many objects. Some applications are given, the main one is the characterization of approximate amenability for ℓ ¹(S), where S is a Brandt semigroup, which corrects a result of Lashkarizadeh Bami and Samea (Semigroup Forum 71:312–322, 2005).     

Structure of a finite commutative inverse semigroup and a finite bundle for which the inverse monoid of local automorphisms is permutable

For a semigroup S, the set of all isomorphisms between the subsemigroups of the semigroup S with respect to composition is an inverse monoid denoted by PA(S) and called the monoid of local automorphisms of the semigroup S. The semigroup S is called permutable if, for any couple of congruences ρ and σ on S, we have ρ ∘ σ = σ ∘ ρ. We describe the structures of a finite commutative inverse semigroup and a finite bundle whose monoids of local automorphisms are permutable.     

Anharmonic Oscillators in the Complex Plane, $\boldsymbol{\mathcal{PT}}$-symmetry,and Real Eigenvalues

For integers m ≥ 3 and 1 ≤ ℓ ≤ m − 1, we study the eigenvalue problems − u ^″(z) + [( − 1)^ℓ(iz) ^m  − P(iz)]u(z) = λu(z) with the boundary conditions that u(z) decays to zero as z tends to infinity along the rays argz=-\fracp2±\frac(l+1)pm+2\arg z=-\frac{\pi}{2}\pm \frac{(\ell+1)\pi}{m+2} in the complex plane, where P is a polynomial of degree at most m − 1. We provide asymptotic expansions of the eigenvalues λ _n . Then we show that if the eigenvalue problem is PT\mathcal{PT}-symmetric, then the eigenvalues are all real and positive with at most finitely many exceptions. Moreover, we show that when gcd(m,l)=1\gcd(m,\ell)=1, the eigenvalue problem has infinitely many real eigenvalues if and only if one of its translations or itself is PT\mathcal{PT}-symmetric. Also, we will prove some other interesting direct and inverse spectral results.     

Module Arens regularity for semigroup algebras

We extend the concept of Arens regularity of a Banach algebra to the case that there is an -module structure on , and show that when S is an inverse semigroup with totally ordered subsemigroup E of idempotents, then A=ℓ ¹(S) is module Arens regular if and only if an appropriate group homomorphic image of S is finite. When S is a discrete group, this is just Young’s theorem which asserts that ℓ ¹(S) is Arens regular if and only if S is finite. An erratum to this article can be found at     

On Projections of Semi-Algebraic Sets Defined by Few Quadratic Inequalities

Let S⊂ℝ ^k+m be a compact semi-algebraic set defined by P ₁≥0,…,P _ℓ ≥0, where P _i ∈ℝ[X ₁,…,X _k ,Y ₁,…,Y _m ], and deg (P _i )≤2, 1≤i≤ℓ. Let π denote the standard projection from ℝ ^k+m onto ℝ ^m . We prove that for any q>0, the sum of the first q Betti numbers of π(S) is bounded by (k+m) ^{O(q ℓ)}. We also present an algorithm for computing the first q Betti numbers of π(S), whose complexity is . For fixed q and ℓ, both the bounds are polynomial in k+m. The author was supported in part by an NSF Career Award 0133597 and a Sloan Foundation Fellowship.     

A homological characterization of hyperbolic groups

A finitely presented group G is hyperbolic iff H ⁽¹⁾ ₁(G,ℝ)=0=⁽¹⁾ ₂(G, ℝ), where H ⁽¹⁾ _* (resp. ⁽¹⁾ _*) denotes the ℓ₁-homology (resp. reduced ℓ₁-homology). If Γ is a graph, then every ℓ₁ 1-cycle in Γ with real coefficients can be approximated by 1-cycles of compact support. A 1-relator group G is hyperbolic iff H ⁽¹⁾ ₁(G,ℝ)=0. Oblatum: 30-IV-1997 & 14-V-1998 / Published online: 14 January 1999     

The continuity of the inversion and the structure of maximal subgroups in countably compact topological semigroups

We search for conditions on a countably compact (pseudocompact) topological semigroup under which: (i) each maximal subgroup H(e) in S is a (closed) topological subgroup in S; (ii) the Clifford part H(S) (i.e. the union of all maximal subgroups) of the semigroup S is a closed subset in S; (iii) the inversion inv: H(S) → H(S) is continuous; and (iv) the projection π: H(S) → E(S), π: x ↦ xx ⁻¹, onto the subset of idempotents E(S) of S, is continuous.      

Hyperspaces of Banach Spaces with the Attouch—Wets Topology

Let X be an infinite-dimensional Banach space with weight τ. By Cld _AW (X), we denote the hyperspace of nonempty closed sets in X with the Attouch—Wets topology. By Fin _AW (X), Comp _AW (X) and Bdd _AW (X), we denote the subspaces of Cld _AW (X) consisting of finite sets, compact sets and bounded closed sets, respectively. In this paper, it is proved that Fin _AW (X)≈Comp _AW (X)≈ℓ₂(τ)×ℓ₂ ^f ℓandℓBdd _AW (X)≈ℓ₂(2^τ)×ℓ₂ ^f where ≈ means ‘is homeomorphic to’, ℓ₂(τ) is the Hilbert space with weight τ (ℓ₂(ℵ₀)=ℓ₂ the separable Hilbert space) and ℓ₂ ^f ={(x _i ) _iεN εℓ₂∣x _i =0 except for finitely many iεN}.     

On <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-weak amenability of Rees semigroup algebras

Let S be a Rees matrix semigroup. We show that l ¹(S) is (2k + 1)-weakly amenable for k ∈ ℤ⁺.     

Harnack Inequalities for some Lévy Processes

In this paper we prove Harnack inequality for nonnegative functions which are harmonic with respect to random walks in ℝ ^d . We give several examples when the scale invariant Harnack inequality does not hold. For any α ∈ (0,2) we also prove the Harnack inequality for nonnegative harmonic functions with respect to a symmetric Lévy process in ℝ ^d with a Lévy density given by $c|x|^{-d-\alpha}1_{\{|x|\leq 1\}}+j(|x|)1_{\{|x|>1\}}$c|x|^{-d-\alpha}1_{\{|x|\leq 1\}}+j(|x|)1_{\{|x|>1\}}, where 0 ≤ j(r) ≤ cr ^{− d − α} , ∀ r > 1, for some constant c. Finally, we establish the Harnack inequality for nonnegative harmonic functions with respect to a subordinate Brownian motion with subordinator with Laplace exponent ϕ(λ) = λ ^α/2ℓ(λ), λ > 0, where ℓ is a slowly varying function at infinity and α ∈ (0,2).     

Dense inverse subsemigroups of a topological inverse semigroup

In this paper we study dense inverse subsemigroups of topological inverse semigroups. We construct a topological inverse semigroup from a semilattice. Finally, we give two examples of the closure of B _{( −∞, ∞ )}¹, a topological inverse semigroup obtained by starting with the real numbers as a semilattice with the operation a ∨ b=sup{a,b}. The author would like to thank to the referee for useful suggestions.     

Fast Dimension Reduction Using Rademacher Series on Dual BCH Codes

The Fast Johnson–Lindenstrauss Transform (FJLT) was recently discovered by Ailon and Chazelle as a novel technique for performing fast dimension reduction with small distortion from ℓ ₂ ^d to ℓ ₂ ^k in time O(max {dlog d,k ³}). For k in [Ω(log d),O(d ^1/2)], this beats time O(dk) achieved by naive multiplication by random dense matrices, an approach followed by several authors as a variant of the seminal result by Johnson and Lindenstrauss (JL) from the mid 1980s. In this work we show how to significantly improve the running time to O(dlog k) for k=O(d ^1/2−δ ), for any arbitrary small fixed δ. This beats the better of FJLT and JL. Our analysis uses a powerful measure concentration bound due to Talagrand applied to Rademacher series in Banach spaces (sums of vectors in Banach spaces with random signs). The set of vectors used is a real embedding of dual BCH code vectors over GF(2). We also discuss the number of random bits used and reduction to ℓ ₁ space. The connection between geometry and discrete coding theory discussed here is interesting in its own right and may be useful in other algorithmic applications as well.