The C*-algebras of compact transformation groups

We investigate the representation theory of the crossed-product C*-algebra associated to a compact group G acting on a locally compact space X when the stability subgroups vary discontinuously. Our main result applies when G has a principal stability subgroup or X is locally of finite G-orbit type. Then the upper multiplicity of the representation of the crossed product induced from an irreducible representation V of a stability subgroup is obtained by restricting V to a certain closed subgroup of the stability subgroup and taking the maximum of the multiplicities of the irreducible summands occurring in the restriction of V. As a corollary we obtain that when the trivial subgroup is a principal stability subgroup, the crossed product is a Fell algebra if and only if every stability subgroup is abelian. A second corollary is that the C*-algebra of the classical motion group R^n\rtimes \SO(n) is a Fell algebra. This uses the branching theorem for the special orthogonal group \SO(n) with respect to \SO(n-1).