Automorphisms on a Lie group contracting modulo a compact subgroup and applications to semistable convolution semigroups

Let ( _t ) _t0 be a -semistable convolution semigroup of probability measures on a Lie groupG whose idempotent ₀ is the Haar measure on some compact subgroupK. Then all the measures ₁ are supported by theK-contraction groupC _K() of the topological automorphism ofG. We prove here the structure theoremC _K()=C()K, whereC() is the contraction group of . Then it turns out that it is sufficient to study semistable convolution semigroups on simply connected nilpotent Lie groups that have Lie algebras with a positive graduation.