On Helly's principle for metric semigroup valued BV mappings to two real variables

We introduce a concept of metric space valued mappings of two variables with finite total variation and define a counterpart of the Hardy space. Then we establish the following Helly type selection principle for mappings of two variables: Let X be a metric space and a commutative additive semigroup whose metric is translation invariant. Then an infinite pointwise precompact family of X-valued mappings on the closed rectangle of the plane, which is of uniformly bounded total variation, contains a pointwise convergent sequence whose limit is a mapping with finite total variation.

A note on conservative measures on semigroups

Consider(S,B,μ)the measure space whereSis a topological metric semigroup andμa countably additive bounded Borel measure. Callμconservative if all right translationstx:s→sx,x∈S(which are assumed closed mappings) are conservative with respect(S,B,μ)in the ergodic theory sense. It is shown that the semigroup generated by the support ofμis a left group. An extension of this result is obtained forσ-finiteμ.

A universal semigroup

J.H. Michael recently proved that there exists a metric semigroup U such that every compact metric semigroup with property P is topologically isomorphic to a subsemigroup of U; where a semigroup S has property P if and only if for each x, y in S, x ≠ y, there is a z in S such that xs ≠ yz or zx ≠ zyA stronger result is proved here more simply. It is shown that for any set A of metric semigroups there exists a metric semigroup U such that each S in A is topologically isomorphic to a subsemigroup of U. In particular this is the case when A is the class of all separable metric semigroups, or more particularly the class of all compact metric semigroups.

A universal semigroup

In [4] S. Ulam asks the following question. ‘Does there exist a universal compact semigroup; i.e., a semigroup U such that every compact topological semigroup is continuously isomorphic to a subsemigroup of it?’ The author has not been able to answer this question. However, in this paper, a proof is given for the following related result.Let Q denote the Hilbert cube of countably infinite dimension and C(Q) the Banach space of continuous real-valued functions on Q with the usual norm. Let U denote the semigroup consisting of all bounded linear operators T: C(Q)→ C(Q) with ∥T∥ ≦ 1 and let U be endowed with the strong topology. Then, for every compact metric semigroup S with the property: (1.1) for all x, y ∈ S, with x ≠ y, there exists a z ∈ S, such that xz ≠ yz or zx ≠ zy;there exists a 1 − 1 mapping φ of S into U such that φ is both a semigroup isomorphism and a homeomorphism.U is metrizable, but is not compact; hence it does not provide an answer to the question of Ulam. The proof of the above statement leans heavily on a result of S. Kakutani [1].