Publisher's Synopsis
Dealing with subject matter of compact groups that is frequently cited in fields like algebra, topology, functional analysis, and theoretical physics, this book - now in its third revised and augmented edition - has been conceived with the dual purpose of providing a text book for upper level graduate courses or seminars, and of serving as a source book for research specialists who need to apply the structure and representation theory of compact groups. After a gentle introduction to compact groups and their representation theory, the book presents self-contained courses on linear Lie groups, on compact Lie groups, and on locally compact abelian groups. However, the thrust of book points in the direction of the structure theory of infinite dimensional, not necessarily commutative compact groups, unfettered by weight restrictions or dimensional bounds. In the process it utilizes infinite dimensional Lie algebras and the exponential function of arbitrary compact groups.
