We investigate the fundamental concept of a closed quantum subgroup of a locally compact quantum group. Two definitions -one due to S. Vaes and one due to S.L. Woronowicz -are analyzed and relations between them discussed. Among many reformulations we prove that the former definition can be phrased in terms of quasi-equivalence of representations of quantum groups while the latter can be related to an old definition of Podleś from the theory of compact quantum groups. The cases of classical groups, duals of classical groups, compact and discrete quantum groups are singled out and equivalence of the two definitions is proved in the relevant context. A deep relationship with the quantum group generalization of Herz restriction theorem from classical harmonic analysis is also established, in particular, in the course of our analysis we give a new proof of Herz restriction theorem.

Idempotent states on a compact quantum group are shown to yield group-like projections in the multiplier algebra of the dual discrete quantum group. This allows to deduce that every idempotent state on a finite quantum group arises in a canonical way as the Haar state on a finite quantum hypergroup. A natural order structure on the set of idempotent states is also studied and some examples discussed.Comment: 28 pages; v3 omits the former lemma 2.1 due to a gap in the proof. This does not affect any other results. The paper will appear in the Journal of Algebr

Abstract. The Haagerup property for locally compact groups is generalised to the context of locally compact quantum groups, with several equivalent characterisations in terms of the unitary representations and positive-definite functions established. In particular it is shown that a locally compact quantum group G has the Haagerup property if and only if its mixing representations are dense in the space of all unitary representations. For discrete G we characterise the Haagerup property by the existence of a symmetric proper conditionally negative functional on the dual quantum group O G; by the existence of a real proper cocycle on G, and further, if G is also unimodular we show that the Haagerup property is a von Neumann property of G. This extends results of Akemann, Walter, Bekka, Cherix, Valette, and Jolissaint to the quantum setting and provides a connection to the recent work of Brannan. We use these characterisations to show that the Haagerup property is preserved under free products of discrete quantum groups.