This book provides an introduction to topological groups and the structure theory of locally compact abelian groups, with a special emphasis on Pontryagin-van Kampen duality, including a completely self-contained elementary proof of the duality theorem. Further related topics and applications are treated in separate chapters and in the appendix.

The series is devoted to the publication of monographs and high-level textbooks in mathematics, mathematical methods and their applications. Apart from covering important areas of current interest, a major aim is to make topics of an interdisciplinary nature accessible to the non-specialist. The works in this series are addressed to advanced students and researchers in mathematics and theoretical physics. In addition, it can serve as a guide for lectures and seminars on a graduate level. The series de Gruyter Studies in Mathematics was founded ca. 35 years ago by the late Professor Heinz Bauer and Professor Peter Gabriel with the aim to establish a series of monographs and textbooks of high standard, written by scholars with an international reputation presenting current fields of research in pure and applied mathematics. While the editorial board of the Studies has changed with the years, the aspirations of the Studies are unchanged. In times of rapid growth of mathematical knowledge carefully written monographs and textbooks written by experts are needed more than ever, not least to pave the way for the next generation of mathematicians. In this sense the editorial board and the publisher of the Studies are devoted to continue the Studies as a service to the mathematical community. Please submit any book proposals to Niels Jacob. Titles in planning include Flavia Smarazzo and Alberto Tesei, Measure Theory: Radon Measures, Young Measures, and Applications to Parabolic Problems (2019) Elena Cordero and Luigi Rodino, Time-Frequency Analysis of Operators (2019) Mark M. Meerschaert, Alla Sikorskii, and Mohsen Zayernouri, Stochastic and Computational Models for Fractional Calculus, second edition (2020) Mariusz Lemańczyk, Ergodic Theory: Spectral Theory, Joinings, and Their Applications (2020) Marco Abate, Holomorphic Dynamics on Hyperbolic Complex Manifolds (2021) Miroslava Antic, Joeri Van der Veken, and Luc Vrancken, Differential Geometry of Submanifolds: Submanifolds of Almost Complex Spaces and Almost Product Spaces (2021) Kai Liu, Ilpo Laine, and Lianzhong Yang, Complex Differential-Difference Equations (2021) Rajendra Vasant Gurjar, Kayo Masuda, and Masayoshi Miyanishi, Affine Space Fibrations (2022)

These lecture notes begin with an introduction to topological groups and proceed to a proof of the important Pontryagin-van Kampen duality theorem and a detailed exposition of the structure of locally compact abelian groups. Measure theory and Banach algebra are entirely avoided and only a small amount of group theory and topology is required, dealing with the subject in an elementary fashion. With about a hundred exercises for the student, it is a suitable text for first-year graduate courses.

Concise treatment covers semitopological groups, locally compact groups, Harr measure, and duality theory and some of its applications. The volume concludes with a chapter that introduces Banach algebras. 1966 edition.

Algebraandtopology,thetwofundamentaldomainsofmathematics,playcomplem- tary roles. Topology studies continuity and convergence and provides a general framework to study the concept of a limit. Much of topology is devoted to handling in?nite sets and in?nity itself; the methods developed are qualitative and, in a certain sense, irrational. - gebra studies all kinds of operations and provides a basis for algorithms and calculations. Very often, the methods here are ?nitistic in nature. Because of this difference in nature, algebra and topology have a strong tendency to develop independently, not in direct contact with each other. However, in applications, in higher level domains of mathematics, such as functional analysis, dynamical systems, representation theory, and others, topology and algebra come in contact most naturally. Many of the most important objects of mathematics represent a blend of algebraic and of topologicalstructures. Topologicalfunctionspacesandlineartopologicalspacesingeneral, topological groups and topological ?elds, transformation groups, topological lattices are objects of this kind. Very often an algebraic structure and a topology come naturally together; this is the case when they are both determined by the nature of the elements of the set considered (a group of transformations is a typical example). The rules that describe the relationship between a topology and an algebraic operation are almost always transparentandnatural—theoperationhastobecontinuous,jointlyorseparately.

These lecture notes begin with an introduction to topological groups and proceed to a proof of the important Pontryagin-van Kampen duality theorem and a detailed exposition of the structure of locally compact abelian groups. Measure theory and Banach algebra are entirely avoided and only a small amount of group theory and topology is required, dealing with the subject in an elementary fashion. With about a hundred exercises for the student, it is a suitable text for first-year graduate courses.

The book includes selected contributions presented at the "International Meeting on Functional Analysis and Continuous Optimization" held in Elche (Spain) on June 16–17, 2022. Its contents cover very recent results in functional analysis, continuous optimization and the interplay between these disciplines. Therefore, this book showcases current research on functional analysis and optimization with individual contributions, as well as new developments in both areas. As a result, the reader will find useful information and stimulating ideas.