Cocycles and continuity

Abstract

The topic of this paper is the Mackey Cocycle Theorem: every Borel almost cocycle is equivalent to a Borel strict cocycle. This is a theorem about locally compact groups which is not true for arbitrary Polish groups. We discuss the theorem, the open question of whether the theorem generalizes to some nonlocally compact Polish groups, the generalization to non-Borel cocycles, and other subjects associated with the theorem. Traditionally, the subject of cocycles and related matters has been considered in the context of standard Borel G G -spaces. It is now known that a standard Borel G G -space has a topological realization as a Polish G G -space. This makes it possible to consider the subject from a topological point of view. The main theorem of this paper is that the conclusion of the Mackey Cocycle Theorem is equivalent to continuity properties of the almost cocycle. Even in the locally compact case, this continuity is a new result.