Let G be a group that is either virtually soluble or virtually free, and let ω be a weight on G. We prove that if G is infinite, then there is some maximal left ideal of finite codimension in the Beurling algebra $\ell^1(G, \omega)$, which fails to be (algebraically) finitely generated. This implies that a conjecture of Dales and Żelazko holds for these Banach algebras. We then go on to give examples of weighted groups for which this property fails in a strong way. For instance, we describe a Beurling algebra on an infinite group in which every closed left ideal of finite codimension is finitely generated and which has many such ideals in the sense of being residually finite dimensional. These examples seem to be hard cases for proving Dales and Żelazko’s conjecture.

In this paper we introduce a new way of deforming convolution algebras and Fourier algebras on locally compact groups. We demonstrate that this new deformation allows us to reveal some information about the underlying groups by examining Banach algebra properties of deformed algebras. More precisely, we focus on representability as an operator algebra of deformed convolution algebras on compact connected Lie groups with connection to the real dimension of the underlying group. Similarly, we investigate complete representability as an operator algebra of deformed Fourier algebras on some finitely generated discrete groups with connection to the growth rate of the group.

Let $G$ be a locally compact group and let $\omega$ be a continuous weight on $G$. We show that for each of the Banach algebras ${{L}^{1}}\left( G,\,\omega \right),\,M\left( G,\,\omega \right),\,LUC{{\left( G,\,{{\omega }^{-1}} \right)}^{*}}$, and ${{L}^{1}}{{\left( G,\,\omega \right)}^{**}}$, the order structure combined with the algebra structure determines the weighted group.

For a discrete abelian cancellative semigroup $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}S$ with a weight function $\omega $ and associated multiplier semigroup $M_\omega (S)$ consisting of $\omega $-bounded multipliers, the multiplier algebra of the Beurling algebra of $(S,\omega )$ coincides with the Beurling algebra of $M_\omega (S)$ with the induced weight.

We show that every one-codimensional closed two-sided ideal in a boundedly approximately contractible Banach algebra has a bounded approximate identity. We use this to give a complete characterization of bounded approximate contractibility of Beurling algebras associated to symmetric weights. We give a slight modification of a criterion for bounded approximate contractibility. We use our criterion to show that, for the quasi-SIN groups, in the presence of a certain growth condition on a weight, the associated Beurling algebra is boundedly approximately amenable if and only if it is boundedly approximately contractible. We show that approximate amenability of a Beurling algebra on an IN group necessitates the amenability of the group. Finally, we show that, for every locally compact abelian group, in the presence of a growth condition on the weight, 2n-weak amenability of the associated Beurling algebra is equivalent to every point-derivation vanishing at the augmentation character.