Groups with finite dimensional irreducible representations

Abstract

It will be shown that a locally compact group has a finite bound for the dimensions of its irreducible unitary representations if and only if it has a closed abelian subgroup of finite index. It will further be shown that a locally compact group has all of its irreducible representations of finite dimension if and only if it is a projective limit of Lie groups with the same property, and finally that a Lie group has this property if and only if it has a closed subgroup <italic>H</italic> of finite index such that <italic>H</italic> modulo its center is compact.