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Since there seems to be no progress in this interesting question, I took the liberty to reformulate it in a way, that is easier to understand. Moreover, my answer shows that the question is related to amenable groups. Therefore I changed the title to make it more attractive to group theorists.

$C_b(\mathbb{R})$ resp. $C_0(\mathbb{R})$ are the continuous functions $\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ that are bounded resp. vanish at infinity.

Question: Given two homoeomorphisms $g_1,g_2: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ and a continuous linear functional $L: C_b(\mathbb{R}) \to \mathbb{R}$ with the following properties:

  1. The restriction of $L$ to $C_0(\mathbb{R})$ is zero
  2. $L$ is invariant under $g_1,g_2$, i.e. $L(f \circ g_i) = L(f)$ for all $f \in C_b(X)$

What are conditions on $g_1,g_2$ that enforce $L=0$ ?


Original formulation:

I have next situation:

Let $C_b(\mathbb R)=$ { $ f:\mathbb R\rightarrow \mathbb R $ } is the subset of $C(\mathbb R)$ consisting of all bounded continuous functions with a norm $\|\cdot\|$ defined as $\|f\|_\infty=\sup\|f(x)\|$.

Let $C_0(\mathbb R)=$ { $ f:\mathbb R\rightarrow \mathbb R $ } is the subset of $C(\mathbb R)$ consisting of functions such that for every $ε > 0$, there is a compact set $K⊂\mathbb R$ such that $|f(x)| < ε$ for all $x \in \mathbb R\setminus K $. This is usually called the space of functions vanishing at infinity.

There are two homeomorphisms of the line $g_1, g_2$ and a continuous linear positive functional $l$ on $C_b(\mathbb R)$ which is invariant with respect to $g_1, g_2$. Also this functional is permanent: $l([C_0(\mathbb R)])=0$, so $l$ is "concentrate at infinity".

Then we make a Stone-Čech compactification of the $\mathbb R $ designated as $\beta \mathbb R $.

After Stone-Čech compactification of the line, the homeomorphism still will be a homeomorphism and I can show that it will transfer $\mathbb R$ to $\mathbb R$ and the remainder $\mathbb R^* $ to $\mathbb R^* $ ($\mathbb R^* = \beta\mathbb R\setminus\mathbb R $). By the Riesz representation theorem, for our linear functional (already on $\beta\mathbb R$ and still invariant) there is a unique regular countably additive Borel measure $\mu$ on $\beta\mathbb R$. I can show that this measure will be trivial zero at $\mathbb R$. I need to understand under which conditions on the homeomorphisms this measure will be trivial zero at $\mathbb R^* $. I will be very grateful for links on this problem.

UPDATE [12.06.2012] There is a potential result: let $g_1, g_2\in Homeo_+(\mathbb R)$. $g_1$ can be represented as a line $y=x+k$, where $k>0$, and $g_2$ is such that there are two points $t_1,t_2$, for which following conditions are fulfilled $ t_1 < t_2; g_2(t_1)=t_1; g_2(t_2)=t_2; g_2(t)>t$ (or $ g_2(t) < t $ ) for $t \in (t_1, t_2); g_1(t_1) \in (t_1, t_2); g_2(t)$ is an arbitrary monotone increasing curve for $ t\in (-\infty, t_1) \cup (t_2,+\infty) $. Also we have a group $G =< g_1,g_2 >$ with two generators.

If $L$ is a continuous linear functional, which is invariant under $g_1, g_2$, and $L$ was "lowered" from the group $G$ to the $\mathbb R$, and after "lowering" it appears to be permanent (the restriction of $L$ to $C_0(\mathbb R)$ is zero), then $L=0$ and the group $G$ is not amenable.

The definition of "lowering" functional from the group to $\mathbb R$ can be found in section §3.1 of the paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.1942 and the proof of the statement is the whole paper. This paper has not yet verified.

show/hide this revision's text 5 improved formatting

Since there seems to be no progress in this interesting question, I took the liberty to reformulate it in a way, that is easier to understand. Moreover, my answer shows that the question is related to amenable groups. Therefore I changed the title to make it more attractive to group theorists.

$C_b(\mathbb{R})$ resp. $C_0(\mathbb{R})$ are the continuous functions $\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ that are bounded resp. vanish at infinity.

Question: Given two homoeomorphisms $g_1,g_2: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ and a continuous linear functional $L: C_b(\mathbb{R}) \to \mathbb{R}$ with the following properties:

  1. The restriction of $L$ to $C_0(\mathbb{R})$ is zero
  2. $L$ is invariant under $g_1,g_2$, i.e. $L(f \circ g_i) = L(f)$ for all $f \in C_b(X)$

What are conditions on $g_1,g_2$ that enforce $L=0$ ?


Original formulation:

I have next situation:

Let $C_b(\mathbb R)=$ { $ f:\mathbb R\rightarrow \mathbb R $ } is the subset of $C(\mathbb R)$ consisting of all bounded continuous functions with a norm $\|\cdot\|$ defined as $\|f\|_\infty=\sup\|f(x)\|$.

Let $C_0(\mathbb R)=$ { $ f:\mathbb R\rightarrow \mathbb R $ } is the subset of $C(\mathbb R)$ consisting of functions such that for every $ε > 0$, there is a compact set $K⊂\mathbb R$ such that $|f(x)| < ε$ for all $x \in \mathbb R\setminus K $. This is usually called the space of functions vanishing at infinity.

There are two homeomorphisms of the line $g_1, g_2$ and a continuous linear positive functional $l$ on $C_b(\mathbb R)$ which is invariant with respect to $g_1, g_2$. Also this functional is permanent: $l([C_0(\mathbb R)])=0$, so $l$ is "concentrate at infinity".

Then we make a Stone-Čech compactification of the $\mathbb R $ designated as $\beta \mathbb R $.

After Stone-Čech compactification of the line, the homeomorphism still will be a homeomorphism and I can show that it will transfer $\mathbb R$ to $\mathbb R$ and the remainder $\mathbb R^* $ to $\mathbb R^* $ ($\mathbb R^* = \beta\mathbb R\setminus\mathbb R $). By the Riesz representation theorem, for our linear functional (already on $\beta\mathbb R$ and still invariant) there is a unique regular countably additive Borel measure $\mu$ on $\beta\mathbb R$. I can show that this measure will be trivial zero at $\mathbb R$. I need to understand under which conditions on the homeomorphisms this measure will be trivial zero at $\mathbb R^* $. I will be very grateful for links on this problem.

UPDATE [12.06.2012] There is a potential result: let $g_1, g_2\in Homeo_+(\mathbb R)$. $g_1$ can be represented as a line $y=x+k$, where $k>0$, and $g_2$ is such that there are two points $t_1,t_2$, for which following conditions are fulfilled $ t_1 < t_2; g_2(t_1)=t_1; g_2(t_2)=t_2; g_2(t)>t$ (or $ t_1t\, g_2(t) < t $ ) for $t \in (\text{or } t_1, t_2); g_1(t_1) \in (t_1, t_2); g_2(t)$ is an arbitrary monotone increasing curve for $ t\in (-\infty, t_1) \cup (t_2,+\infty) $. Also we have a group $G =$ with two generators.

If $L$ is a continuous linear functional, which is invariant under $g_1, g_2$, and $L$ was "lowered" from the group $G$ to the $\mathbb R$, and after "lowering" it appears to be permanent (the restriction of $L$ to $C_0(\mathbb R)$ is zero), then $L=0$ and the group $G$ is not amenable.

The definition of "lowering" functional from the group to $\mathbb R$ can be found in section \S §3.1 of the paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.1942 and the proof of the statement is the whole paper. This paper has not yet verified.

show/hide this revision's text 4 update

UPDATE [12.06.2012]There is a potential result: let $g_1, g_2\in Homeo_+(\mathbb R)$. $g_1$ can be represented as a line $y=x+k$, where $k>0$, and $g_2$ is such that there are two points $t_1,t_2$, for which following conditions are fulfilledt_1t\, (\text{or } g_2(t)$ with two generators.

If $L$ is a continuous linear functional, which is invariant under $g_1, g_2$, and $L$ was "lowered" from the group $G$ to the $\mathbb R$, and after "lowering" it appears to be permanent (the restriction of $L$ to $C_0(\mathbb R)$ is zero), then $L=0$ and the group $G$ is not amenable.

The definition of "lowering" functional from the group to $\mathbb R$ can be found in section \S 3.1 of the paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.1942 and the proof of the statement is the whole paper. This paper has not yet verified.

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