The groups of the semigroup of compact subsets of a topological group

The compact subsets of a topological groupG form a semigroup,S(G), when multiplication is defined by set product. This semigroup is a topological semigroup when given the Vietoris topology. It would be expected that the subgroups ofS(G) should in some way be related to the groupG. This is the case. It is shown that the subgroups ofS(G) are both algebraically and topologically exactly the groups obtained as quotients of certain subgroups ofG. One consequence of this is that every subgroup ofS(G) is a topological group. Conditions are also given for these subgroups to be open or closed. Green's relations inS(G) have a particularly nice formulation. As a result, the relationsD andJ are equal inS(G). Moreover, the Schützenberger group of aD-class is a topological group that is topologically isomorphic to a quotient of certain subgroups ofG.