Reconstructing étale groupoids from semigroups

Abstract

Abstract We unify various étale groupoid reconstruction theorems such as the following: • Kumjian and Renault’s reconstruction from a groupoid C*-algebra; • Exel’s reconstruction from an ample inverse semigroup; • Steinberg’s reconstruction from a groupoid ring; • Choi, Gardella and Thiel’s reconstruction from a groupoid L p {L^{p}} -algebra. We do this by working with certain bumpy semigroups S of functions defined on an étale groupoid G. The semigroup structure of S together with the diagonal subsemigroup D then yields a natural domination relation ≺ {\prec} on S. The groupoid of ≺ {\prec} -ultrafilters is then isomorphic to the original groupoid G.