The affine group of a local field is Hermitian

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Main Author: Carter, Max
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Carter, Max
author_facet Carter, Max
contents The question of whether the group $\mathbb{Q}_p \rtimes \mathbb{Q}_p^*$ is Hermitian has been stated as an open question in multiple sources in the literature, even as recently as a paper by R. Palma published in 2015. In this note we confirm that this group is Hermitian by proving the following more general theorem: given any local field $\mathbb{K}$, the affine group $\mathbb{K} \rtimes \mathbb{K}^*$ is a Hermitian group. The proof is a consequence of results about Hermitian Banach $*$-algebras from the 1970's. In the case that $\mathbb{K}$ is a non-archimedean local field, this result produces examples of totally disconnected locally compact Hermitian groups with exponential growth, and these are the first examples of groups satisfying these properties. This answers a second question of Palma about the existence of such groups.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_06893
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The affine group of a local field is Hermitian
Carter, Max
Functional Analysis
Group Theory
22D15, 43A20, 43A45, 46H05
The question of whether the group $\mathbb{Q}_p \rtimes \mathbb{Q}_p^*$ is Hermitian has been stated as an open question in multiple sources in the literature, even as recently as a paper by R. Palma published in 2015. In this note we confirm that this group is Hermitian by proving the following more general theorem: given any local field $\mathbb{K}$, the affine group $\mathbb{K} \rtimes \mathbb{K}^*$ is a Hermitian group. The proof is a consequence of results about Hermitian Banach $*$-algebras from the 1970's. In the case that $\mathbb{K}$ is a non-archimedean local field, this result produces examples of totally disconnected locally compact Hermitian groups with exponential growth, and these are the first examples of groups satisfying these properties. This answers a second question of Palma about the existence of such groups.
title The affine group of a local field is Hermitian
topic Functional Analysis
Group Theory
22D15, 43A20, 43A45, 46H05
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.06893