A Peter-Weyl theorem for compact group bundles and the geometric representation of relatively ergodic compact extensions

Abstract: We show that a relatively ergodic extension of measure-preserving dynamical systems has relative discrete spectrum if and only if it can be represented as a skew-product by a bundle of compact homogeneous spaces. Our result holds without restrictions on the acting group or the underlying probability spaces. This generalizes previous work by Mackey, Zimmer, Ellis, Austin, and the second author and Tao, and is inspired by the Furstenberg-Zimmer and Host-Kra structure theories for actions of uncountable groups. Our approach translates the ergodic-theoretic question into topological dynamics, where we establish a corresponding classification: an extension in topological dynamics has relative discrete spectrum precisely when it admits a skew-product representation by bundles of compact homogeneous spaces. A key step in our argument is establishing a Peter-Weyl-type theorem for bundles of compact groups which might be of independent interest.