The Hopf decomposition of locally compact group actions

Abstract

We develop a unified approach to the classical Hopf Decomposition (also known as the conservative--dissipative decomposition) for actions of locally compact second countable groups. While the decomposition is well understood for free actions of countable groups, the extension to general actions requires new techniques and structural insights, particularly concerning recurrence and transience, cocycle behavior, and the structure of stabilizers. We establish several new characterizations and prove a structure theorem for totally dissipative actions, generalizing Krengel's classical result for flows.

35 pages, 2 figures. Change of title and additional minor changes. A version accepted in Journal d'Analyse Mathematique