Gowers norms, regularization and limits of functions on abelian groups

For every natural number k we prove a decomposition theorem for bounded measurable functions on compact abelian groups into a structured part, a quasi random part and a small error term. In this theorem quasi randomness is measured with the Gowers norm U(k+1) and the structured part is a bounded complexity nilspace-polynomial'' of degree k. This statement implies a general inverse theorem for the U(k+1) norm. (We discuss some consequences in special families of groups such as bounded exponent groups, zero characteristic groups and the circle group.) Along these lines we introduce a convergence notion and corresponding limit objects for functions on abelian groups. This subject is closely related to the recently developed graph and hypergraph limit theory. An important goal of this paper is to put forward a new algebraic aspect of the notion higher order Fourier analysis’'. According to this, k-th order Fourier analysis is regarded as the study of continuous morphisms between structures called compact k-step nilspaces. All our proofs are based on an underlying theory of topological nilspace factors of ultra product groups.