Research interests

In the early 70's I started doing research in category theory, topology and analysis. General problem: Let G be an arbitrary topological group and let TOPG be the category of G-spaces and equivariant continuous mappings. Which results about the category TOP{e} (i.e., which theorems from ordinary general topology) can be generalized to the category TOPG for non-trivial G? For a general overview, see [2]; for a more specific result, see [1] and [3].
Publications [4] and [5] deal with an equivariant version of Glickberg's Theorem. Related with this, from a categorical point of view, is [6].

Gradually, I became interested in abstract topological dynamics: the theory of dynamical systems phrased in terms of G-spaces (where G plays the role of the space of time-values; in ordinary dynamical systems theory G = R or Z). This eventually led to the book Elements of Topological Dynamics. Some gems not contained in the book are in [7] and [8]. An overview of the research area of (abstract) topological dynamics is given in [9].

Other interests: almost periodic functions on groups and semigroups (see [10]), representation theory of topological and Lie groups (see [11] and [12]), and the structure of semisimple Lie groups (see [13]).

After my retirement I re-worked and translated my lecture notes on topological dynamics (discrete systems on intervals, shift systems and an introduction into chaos) - in Dutch - into the introductory book Topological Dynamical Systems.


Selected publications

[1a] Topological transformation groups, a categorical approach,
Mathematical Centre Tracts 65, Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1975.
[1b] Linearization of actions of locally compact groups,
Proc. Steklov Inst. Math., 1984, Issue 4, pp. 57-74.
[2] Problems and results in the category of topological transformation groups,
CWI Quarterly 1 (1988), 29-35.
[3a] Equivariant embeddings of G-spaces,
in: J.Novak (ed.), General Topology and its Relations to Modern Analysis and Algebra IV, Part B (Proc. 4th Prague Top. Sym., 1976), Prague, 1977, pp. 485-49.
[3b] On the existence of G- compactifications,
Bull. Acad. Polon. Sci. Sér. Sci. Math. Astronom. Phys. 26 (1978), 275-280.
[4a] On the G- compactification of products,
Pacific J. Math. 110 (1984), 447-470.
[4b] A note on the G- space version of Glicksberg's theorem,
Pacific J. Math. 122 (1986), 493-495.
[5] G- spaces: compactifications and pseudocompactness,
in: A.Czaszar (ed.), Topology, theory and Applications (Proc. Conference at Eger, 1983), Colloquia Mathematica Societatis Janos Bolyai 41, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1985, 655-666.
[6a] (with M.Husek) Preservation of products by functors close to reflectors,
Topology and Appl. 27, 171-189.
[6b] (with M.Husek) A note on compactifications of products of semigroups,
Semigroup Forum 38 (1989), 85-89.
[7] Two applications of topological dynamics in combinatorial number theory,
CWI Newsletter 2, 1984, pp. 2-17.
[8] The Furstenberg structure theorem in topological dynamics,
CWI Quarterly 4 (1991), 27-44.
[9] Abstract topological dynamics,
in: M.Husek and J.van Mill (eds.), Recent progress in General Topology, North-Holland,
Amsterdam, 1992, pp. 641-672.
[10] Equivalence of almost periodic compactifications,
Compositio Mathematica 22 (1970), 453-456.
[11] Pseudocompactness and the Stone-Cech compactification for topological groups,
Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde (3) 23 (1975), 35-48.
[12] Integration on locally compact groups,
in: T.H.Koornwinder (ed.), Representations of locally compact groups, MC Syllabus 38,
Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1979.
[13] The Furstenberg boundary of a semisimple Lie group,
in: T.H.Koornwinder (ed.), The structure of semisimple Lie groups, MC Syllabus 49,
Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1982, pp. 79-112.

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