Harmonic Analysis Of Probability Measures On Hypergroups

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The present volume contains the transactions of the lOth Oberwolfach Conference on "Probability Measures on Groups". The series of these meetings inaugurated in 1970 by L. Schmetterer and the editor is devoted to an intensive exchange of ideas on a subject which developed from the relations between various topics of mathematics: measure theory, probability theory, group theory, harmonic analysis, special functions, partial differential operators, quantum stochastics, just to name the most significant ones. Over the years the fruitful interplay broadened in various directions: new group-related structures such as convolution algebras, generalized translation spaces, hypercomplex systems, and hypergroups arose from generalizations as well as from applications, and a gradual refinement of the combinatorial, Banach-algebraic and Fourier analytic methods led to more precise insights into the theory. In a period of highest specialization in scientific thought the separated minds should be reunited by actively emphasizing similarities, analogies and coincidences between ideas in their fields of research. Although there is no real separation between one field and another - David Hilbert denied even the existence of any difference between pure and applied mathematics - bridges between probability theory on one side and algebra, topology and geometry on the other side remain absolutely necessary. They provide a favorable ground for the communication between apparently disjoint research groups and motivate the framework of what is nowadays called "Structural probability theory".

An underlying theme in this text is the notion of hypergroups, the theory of which has been developed and used in fields as diverse as special functions, differential equations, probability theory, representation theory, measure theory, Hopf algebras, and quantum groups. Other topics include the harmonic analysis of analytic functions, ergodic theory and wavelets.

The book is conceived as a text accompanying the traditional graduate courses on probability theory. An important feature of this enlarged version is the emphasis on algebraic-topological aspects leading to a wider and deeper understanding of basic theorems such as those on the structure of continuous convolution semigroups and the corresponding processes with independent increments. Fourier transformation ? the method applied within the settings of Banach spaces, locally compact Abelian groups and commutative hypergroups ? is given an in-depth discussion. This powerful analytic tool along with the relevant facts of harmonic analysis make it possible to study certain properties of stochastic processes in dependence of the algebraic-topological structure of their state spaces. In extension of the first edition, the new edition contains chapters on the probability theory of generalized convolution structures such as polynomial and Sturm?Liouville hypergroups, and on the central limit problem for groups such as tori, p-adic groups and solenoids.

The present volume contains the transactions of the lOth Oberwolfach Conference on "Probability Measures on Groups". The series of these meetings inaugurated in 1970 by L. Schmetterer and the editor is devoted to an intensive exchange of ideas on a subject which developed from the relations between various topics of mathematics: measure theory, probability theory, group theory, harmonic analysis, special functions, partial differential operators, quantum stochastics, just to name the most significant ones. Over the years the fruitful interplay broadened in various directions: new group-related structures such as convolution algebras, generalized translation spaces, hypercomplex systems, and hypergroups arose from generalizations as well as from applications, and a gradual refinement of the combinatorial, Banach-algebraic and Fourier analytic methods led to more precise insights into the theory. In a period of highest specialization in scientific thought the separated minds should be reunited by actively emphasizing similarities, analogies and coincidences between ideas in their fields of research. Although there is no real separation between one field and another - David Hilbert denied even the existence of any difference between pure and applied mathematics - bridges between probability theory on one side and algebra, topology and geometry on the other side remain absolutely necessary. They provide a favorable ground for the communication between apparently disjoint research groups and motivate the framework of what is nowadays called "Structural probability theory".

``The most important single thing about this conference was that it brought together for the first time representatives of all major groups of users of hypergroups. [They] talked to each other about how they were using hypergroups in fields as diverse as special functions, probability theory, representation theory, measure algebras, Hopf algebras, and Hecke algebras. This led to fireworks.''--from the Introduction Hypergroups occur in a wide variety of contexts, and mathematicians the world over have been discovering this same mathematical structure hidden in very different applications. The diverse viewpoints on the subject have led to the need for a common perspective, if not a common theory. Presenting the proceedings of a Joint Summer Research Conference held in Seattle in the summer of 1993, this book will serve as a valuable starting point and reference tool for the wide range of users of hypergroups and make it easier for an even larger audience to use these structures in their work.

The book aims at giving a monographic presentation of the abstract harmonic analysis of hypergroups, while combining it with applied topics of spectral analysis, approximation by orthogonal expansions and stochastic sequences. Hypergroups are locally compact Hausdorff spaces equipped with a convolution, an involution and a unit element. Related algebraic structures had already been studied by Frobenius around 1900. Their axiomatic characterisation in harmonic analysis was later developed in the 1970s. Hypergoups naturally emerge in seemingly different application areas as time series analysis, probability theory and theoretical physics.The book presents harmonic analysis on commutative and polynomial hypergroups as well as weakly stationary random fields and sequences thereon. For polynomial hypergroups also difference equations and stationary sequences are considered. At greater extent than in the existing literature, the book compiles a rather comprehensive list of hypergroups, in particular of polynomial hypergroups. With an eye on readers at advanced undergraduate and graduate level, the proofs are generally worked out in careful detail. The bibliography is extensive.

The theory of hypergroups is a rapidly developing area of mathematics due to its diverse applications in different areas like probability, harmonic analysis, etc. This book exhibits the use of functional equations and spectral synthesis in the theory of hypergroups. It also presents the fruitful consequences of this delicate "marriage" where the methods of spectral analysis and synthesis can provide an efficient tool in characterization problems of function classes on hypergroups. This book is written for the interested reader who has open eyes for both functional equations and hypergroups, and who dares to enter a new world of ideas, a new world of methods - and, sometimes, a new world of unexpected difficulties.