Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2004 / iii / Paper 20 / 2

Interpret $\theta$ as a continuous finite-dimensional complex group representation, so its values lie in ${\mathrm{GL}}_{\mathbb{C}}(V)$, and interpret approximation in the uniform norm. Assume the usual Hausdorff convention for the compact topological group. The following argument proves the required form of the Peter-Weyl theorem without first assuming that $G$ is a Lie group.

Start with normalized Haar measure. It is both left- and right-invariant on a compact group. Average any Hermitian inner product to make a finite-dimensional representation unitary. The left regular action $L_{a}h(x)=h(a^{-1}x)$ is already unitary on $L^2(G)$.

Choose a continuous nonnegative function $k$ supported in a small symmetric identity neighbourhood, with $k(z^{-1})=k(z)$ and $\int k=1$. Such functions are obtained from a nonzero continuous bump near the identity, symmetrizing and normalizing. DefineThe convolution operator $T_k$ commutes with left translations. Its continuous kernel is Hermitian, hence it is self-adjoint. It is compact on $L^2(G)$: approximate the continuous kernel uniformly by finite sums of separated functions of $x$ and $y$, using the Stone-Weierstrass theorem on the compact product. The corresponding operators have finite rank and converge in operator norm. It also maps into $C(G)$ and satisfiesby the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality; continuity follows from the uniform continuity of the translated kernel.

The spectral theorem for compact self-adjoint operators decomposes the orthogonal complement of its kernel into finite-dimensional eigenspaces with nonzero eigenvalues. Every such eigenspace is left-translation invariant, and all its elements are continuous, since $h=T_{k}h/\lambda$ there. If $W\subset C(G)$ is one of these invariant spaces, write $\rho (a)=L_a{|}_W$. Evaluation at the identity givesThus $h$ is a matrix coefficient of the dual representation. This identifies each finite spectral sum with finite-dimensional representation data.

To get uniform rather than just $L^2$ approximation, let $S_N$ project onto increasing finite sums of the nonzero eigenspaces. For $f\in C(G)$, $T_{k}f$ is orthogonal to the kernel, so $S_N{T}_{k}f\to T_{k}f$ in $L^2$. Applying the displayed smoothing bound givesMeanwhile, choosing the support of $k$ sufficiently small makes $T_{k}f$ uniformly close to $f$, by uniform continuity under small translations. Since $\Vert T_k{\Vert }_{C\to C}\le 1$, it also makes $T_k^{2}f$ uniformly close to $f$. Every $T_k{S}_N{T}_{k}f$ belongs to a finite sum of invariant eigenspaces, hence is a finite sum of matrix coefficients. This completes the convolution proof of uniform Peter-Weyl approximation.

A coefficient $\ell (\theta (g)v)$ equals $\mathrm{tr}(\alpha \theta (g))$ for the rank-one endomorphism $\alpha =v\otimes \ell$. Finite sums of coefficients can be combined using a direct-sum representation and a block-diagonal $\alpha$. Therefore the conclusion has exactly the requested form:

For a class function $f$, apply conjugation averaging on a compact group,It fixes $f$ and is a contraction in the uniform norm, so averaging an approximation preserves its error bound. A trace coefficient averages to $\mathrm{tr}(\overline{\alpha }\theta (g))$, whereThis endomorphism commutes with the representation. A finite-dimensional unitary representation splits into irreducibles by repeatedly taking invariant orthogonal complements. On each irreducible diagonal block, Schur lemma makes its average a scalar multiple of the identity, namely its trace divided by the block dimension. Off-diagonal blocks do not contribute to the total trace. Thus the averaged coefficient is a finite linear combination of irreducible characters. Consequently irreducible complex characters span a uniformly dense subspace of the continuous class functions.

By part (i), finite-dimensional continuous unitary representations separate points of the compact group. More explicitly, if every representation sent some $g\ne e$ to the identity, all their matrix coefficients would take the same values at $g$ and $e$. Uniform density would force every continuous scalar function to do so, contradicting separation of points on a compact Hausdorff space. HenceEach representation kernel is a closed normal subgroup. We claim that the intersection can be reduced to finitely many kernels. Begin with $K_0=G$. If $K_j\ne \{e\}$, choose $g_j\in K_j\setminus \{e\}$ and a representation ${\theta }_{j+1}$ with ${\theta }_{j+1}(g_j)\ne I$. ThenAn indefinite continuation would violate the descending chain condition for closed subgroups. Thus after finitely many steps, $K_N=\{e\}$.

The direct sum $\rho ={\theta }_1\oplus \cdots \oplus {\theta }_N$ is consequently a finite-dimensional faithful representation, with continuous injective homomorphismCompactness of $G$ makes this a homeomorphism onto a compact, hence closed, image. The closed-subgroup theorem makes that image an embedded Lie subgroup of the finite-dimensional unitary group. Transporting its smooth structure to $G$ provesThis is the mechanism behind the assertion that compact groups with a descending chain condition are Lie groups: the chain condition turns an arbitrarily large separating family into one finite-dimensional faithful representation.