Abstract :
Let n be a Euclidean space and let S be a Euclidean semigroup, i.e., a subsemigroup of the group of isometries of n. We say that a semigroup S acts discontinuously on n if the subset {s S:sK ∩ K ≠ ︀} is finite for any compact set K of n. The main results of this work are
Theorem.
If S is a Euclidean semigroup which acts discontinuously on n, then the connected component of the closure of the linear part ℓ(S) of S is a reducible group.
Corollary.
Let S be a Euclidean semigroup acting discontinuously on n; then the linear part ℓ(S) of S is not dense in the orthogonal group O(n).
These results are the first step in the proof of the following
Margulisʹ Conjecture.
If S is a crystallographic Euclidean semigroup, then S is a group.