Weak multiplier Hopf algebras. Preliminaries, motivation and basic examples
Let G be a finite group. Consider the algebra A of all complex functions on G (with pointwise product). Define a coproduct Δ on A by Δ(f)(p,q) = f(pq) where f ∈ A and p,q ∈ G. Then (A,Δ) is a Hopf algebra. If G is only a groupoid, so that the product of two elements is not always defined, one still can consider A and define Δ(f)(p,q) as above when pq is defined. If we let Δ(f)(p,q) = 0 otherwise, we still get a coproduct on A, but Δ(1) will no longer be the identity in A ⊗ A. The pair (A,Δ)...