Group algebra of a discrete group Let G be a discrete group with identity e and let H be the Hilbert space 2 (G).

Let g g and g g be the left and right regular representations of G on H. These are determined on the canonical orthonormal basis (x )xG by the formulae: g x = gx Let W be the set of operators T B(H) such that x T x = T e for all x G. Notice an operator T W is completely determined by the vector T e since the formula T x = T e tells T what to do on an orthonormal basis. In fact, if = xG x x is any element of 2 (G) x and T W has T e = = xG x x , then T =
sG

g x = xg1

s = s
sG

s
tG

t t = s
t,sG

t s ts =

(G)

where is the standard convolution product. Remark concerning the above convolution: When , the case that 2 (G).
2

(G), we will have c0 (G). It is not generally

It is simple to see that each of the identities x T x = T e , x G which dene W is linear and strongly continuous in T . Thus W is strongly closed subspace of B(H). Question 1: Is W a von Neumann algebra? Question 2: If 2 (G) is such that 2 (G) for all G, does T = dene a bounded operator (which is then in W )? Loosely, can W be identied with the set of convolvers in 2 (G)? To motivate the denition of W , note that if T B(H) commutes with the right representation of G on H then x T x = T x e = T e x
so T W . In particular, W contains the reduced group algebra Cr (G) which is the norm closure of the span of the unitaries g , g G (because the left and right representations of G on H commute). Question 3: Does W equal the strong-operator closure of Cr (G)?

Question 4: Does W equal the commutant of (G)? (it is clearly larger).