Measure algebras associated with a second order differential operator

Let $\text{L =}\text{d}{}^2\text{dx}{}^2\text{? q(x)}$ be a Sturm-Liouville operator acting on functions defined on R. The authors have recently shown how to construct commutative associative algebras of distributions of compact support for which L is a centralizer (in the sense that $\text{L(f 1 g) = (Lf) 1 g}$ for distributions f, g of compact support) when q is locally bounded. Here, it is assumed either that q is bounded and $\text{x → (1 + ¦ x ¦) q(x)}$ is integrable, or that q is of bounded variation. A function ψ is then found such that $\text{M}$ψ={μ : μ is a measure on R and | μ |(ψ) < & infin;} becomes a Banach algebra containing the algebra of measures of compact support. The representation theory of $\text{M}$_ψ is discussed and conditions for its semisimplicity are obtained.