A class of C*-algebraic locally compact quantum groupoids Part I. Motivation and definition

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In this series of papers, we develop the theory of a class of locally compact quantum groupoids, which is motivated by the purely algebraic notion of weak multiplier Hopf algebras. In this Part I, we provide motivation and formulate the definition in the C*-algebra framework. Existence of a certain canonical idempotent element is required and it plays a fundamental role, including the establishment of the coassociativity of the comultiplication. This class contains locally compact quantum groups as a subclass.