Van der Waerden continuity theorem for semisimple lie groups

Abstract

As was proved by van der Waerden in 1933, every finite-dimensional locally bounded representation of a semisimple compact Lie group is continuous. This is the famous “van der Waerden continuity theorem,” and it motivated a vast literature. In particular, relationships between the assertion of the theorem (and of the inverse, in a sense, to this theorem) and some properties of the Bohr compactifications of topological groups were established, which led to the introduction and the study of certain classes of the so-called van der Waerden groups and algebras. Until now, after more than 70 years have passed, the van der Waerden theorem appears in monographs and surveys in diverse forms; new proofs were found and then simplified in important special cases.