Proximal-isometric (P J) flows

We develop some new tools for the study of minimal transformation groups (flows) and apply these tools to extend the classification theory of minimal flows to a larger class than has previously been classified. The tools we develop arise from a simplification and unification of the techniques used by Furstenberg, Ellis, and Veech in their proofs of structure theorems about distal and point distal flows. This simplification is made possible largely through the use of recent results of Glasner on the structure of 2^X (whose points consist of closed subsets of the phase space X of a given flow).