Normal ergodic actions

AbstractThe von Neumann-Halmos theory of ergodic transformations with discrete spectrum makes use of the duality theory of locally compact abelian groups to characterize those transformations preserving a probability measure, which are defined by a rotation on a compact abelian group. We use the recently developed duality between general locally compact groups and Hopf-von Neumann algebras to characterize those actions of a locally compact group, preserving a σ-finite measure, which are defined by a dense embedding in another group. They are characterized by the property of normality, previously introduced by the author, and motivated by Mackey's theory of virtual groups. The discrete spectrum theory is readily seen to come out as the special case in which the invariant measure is finite