Let $(M_i)_{i}$ be a (finite or infinite) family of finite von Neumann algebras with a common subalgebra $P$. When $φ:\IN\rightarrow\IC$ is a function, we define the radial multiplier $M_φ$ on the amalgamated free product $M=M_1\free_P M_2\free_P\ldots$ setting $M_φ(x)=φ(n)x$ for every reduced expression $x$ of length $n$. In this paper we give a sufficient condition on $φ$ to ensure that the corresponding radial multiplier $M_φ$ is a completely bounded map, and moreover we give an upper bound on its completely bounded norm. Our condition on $φ$ does not depend on the choice of von Neumann algebras $(M_i)_i$ and $P$. This result extends earlier results by Haagerup and Möller, who proved the same statement for free products without amalgamation, and Möller showed that the same statement holds when $P$ has finite index in each of the $M_i$.
In this paper we describe the amalgamated free product of two hyperfinite von Neumann algebras over a finite dimensional subalgebra. In general the free product is a finite direct sum of interpolated free group factors and a hyperfinite von Neumann algebra. We then show that the class of von Neumann algebras of this form is closed under taking amalgamated free products over finite dimensional subalgebras.
In this paper we describe the amalgamated free product of finite and semifinite hyperfinite von Neumann algebras over atomic type I subalgebras. To do this we extend the notions of free dimension and standard embeddings used in the related results for finite von Neumann algebras to ones which work better for the semifinite case. We also define classes R3 (of finite von Neumann algebras) and R4 (of semifinite von Neumann algebras) which are closed under such amalgamated free products.
Several techniques together with some partial answers are given to the questions of factoriality, type classification and fullness for amalgamated free product von Neumann algebras.
We investigate factoriality, Connes' type ${\rm III}$ invariants and fullness of arbitrary amalgamated free product von Neumann algebras using Popa's deformation/rigidity theory. Among other things, we generalize many previous structural results on amalgamated free product von Neumann algebras and we obtain new examples of full amalgamated free product factors for which we can explicitely compute Connes' type ${\rm III}$ invariants.
Recently, Adrian Ioana proved that all crossed products by free ergodic probability measure preserving actions of a nontrivial free product group Γ_1 * Γ_2 have a unique Cartan subalgebra up to unitary conjugacy. Ioana deduced this result from a more general dichotomy theorem on the normalizer N_M(A)'' of an amenable subalgebra A of an amalgamated free product von Neumann algebra M = M_1 *_B M_2. We improve this dichotomy theorem by removing the spectral gap assumptions and obtain in particular a simpler proof for the uniqueness of the Cartan subalgebra in crossed products by Γ_1 * Γ_2.
In this paper we study conditions under which, for an inclusion of finite von Neumann algebras $N \subseteq M$, we have the reduced amalgamated free product $\ast_N M$ is embeddable into $(R \bar{\otimes} N_1)^ω$ for some other finite von Neumann algebra $N_1$, where $R$ is the hyperfinite $\textrm{II}_1$ factor.
We investigate the position of amenable subalgebras in arbitrary amalgamated free product von Neumann algebras $M = M_1 \ast_B M_2$. Our main result states that under natural analytic assumptions, any amenable subalgebra of $M$ that has a large intersection with $M_1$ is actually contained in $M_1$. The proof does not rely on Popa's asymptotic orthogonality property but on the study of non normal conditional expectations.
We investigate the use of Popa's asymptotic orthogonality to establish maximal amenability for amalgamated free product von Neumann algebras. Although new techniques have recently been developed to consider amalgamated free products, we find that the technique developed by Popa in the 1980s can be used to demonstrate maximal amenability for a certain family of amalgamated free product von Neumann algebras.
We provide a fairly large family of amalgamated free product groups $Γ=Γ_1\ast_ΣΓ_2$ whose amalgam structure can be completely recognized from their von Neumann algebras. Specifically, assume that $Γ_i$ is a product of two icc non-amenable bi-exact (e.g., hyperbolic) groups, and $Σ$ is icc amenable and has trivial one-sided commensurator in $Γ_i$, for every $i\in\{1,2\}$. Then $Γ$ satisfies the following rigidity property: any group $\La$ such that $L(\La)$ is isomorphic to $L(\G)$ admits an amalgamated free product decomposition $\La=\La_1\ast_Δ\La_2$ such that the inclusions $L(Δ)\subseteq L…
Let $\mathcal{M}_i$ be a family of $\mathrm{II}_1$-factors, containing a common $\mathrm{II}_1$-subfactor $\mathcal{N}$, such that $[\mathcal{M}_i:\mathcal{N}] \in \mathbb{N}_0$ for all $i$. Furthermore, let $ϕ\colon \mathbb{N}_0 \to \mathbb{C}$. We show that if a Hankel matrix related to $ϕ$ is trace-class, then there exists a unique completely bounded map $M_ϕ$ on the amalgamated free product of the $\mathcal{M}_i$ with amalgamation over $\mathcal{N}$, which acts as an radial multiplier. Hereby we extend a result of U. Haagerup and the author for radial multipliers on reduced free products o…
We show that a free product of a II_1-factor and a finite von Neumann algebra with amalgamation over a finite dimensional subalgebra is always a II_1-factor, and provide an algorithm for describing it in terms of free products (with amalgamation over the scalars) and compression/dilation. As an application, we show that the class of direct sums of finitely many von Neumann algebras that are interpolated free group factors, hyperfinite II_1-factors, type I_n algebras for n finite, and finite dimensional algebras, is closed under taking free products with amalgamation over finite dimensional sub…
We establish the MF property of the reduced group $ C^* $-algebra of an amalgamated free product of countable Abelian discrete groups. This result is then used to give a characterization of the amalgamated free products of Abelian groups for which the BDF semigroup of the reduced group $ C^* $-algebra is a group. Along the way we get a tensor product factorization of the corresponding group von Neumann algebra. We end the exposition by applying the ideas from the first part to give a few more examples of groups with a reduced group $ C^* $-algebra which is MF.
We establish a platform to transfer $L_p$-completely bounded maps on tensor products of von Neumann algebras to $L_p$-completely bounded maps on the corresponding amalgamated free products. As a consequence, we obtain a Hörmander-Mikhlin multiplier theory for free products of groups. Let $\mathbb{F}_\infty$ be a free group on infinite generators $\{g_1, g_2,\cdots\}$. Given $d\ge1$ and a bounded symbol $m$ on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ satisfying the classical Hörmander-Mikhlin condition, the linear map $M_m:\mathbb{C}[\mathbb{F}_\infty]\to \mathbb{C}[\mathbb{F}_\infty]$ defined by $λ(g)\mapsto m(k_1,\cdo…
With a minor change made in the previous construction we observe that any reduced HNN extension is precisely a compressed algebra of a certain reduced amalgamated free product in both the von Neumann algebra and the $C^*$-algebra settings. It is also pointed out that the same fact holds true even for universal HNN extensions of C$^*$-algebras. We apply the observation to the questions of factoriality and type classification of HNN extensions of von Neumann algebras and also those of simplicity and $K$-theory of (reduced or universal) HNN extensions of $C^*$-algebras.
We investigate Cartan subalgebras in nontracial amalgamated free product von Neumann algebras $M_1 \ast_B M_2$ over an amenable von Neumann subalgebra $B$. First, we settle the problem of the absence of Cartan subalgebra in arbitrary free product von Neumann algebras. Namely, we show that any nonamenable free product von Neumann algebra $(M_1, φ_1) \ast (M_2, φ_2)$ with respect to faithful normal states has no Cartan subalgebra. This generalizes the tracial case that was established in \cite{Io12a}. Next, we prove that any countable nonsingular ergodic equivalence relation $\mathcal R$ defined…
We calculate the microstates free entropy dimension of natural generators in an amalgamated free product of certain von Neumann algebras, with amalgamation over a hyperfinite subalgebra. In particular, some `exotic' Popa algebra generators of free group factors are shown to have the expected free entropy dimension. We also show that microstates and non--microstates free entropy dimension agree for generating sets of many groups. In the appendix by Wolfgang Lueck, the first L^2-Betti number for certain amalgamated free products of groups is calculated.
We study Cartan subalgebras in the context of amalgamated free product II$_1$ factors and obtain several uniqueness and non-existence results. We prove that if $Γ$ belongs to a large class of amalgamated free product groups (which contains the free product of any two infinite groups) then any II$_1$ factor $L^{\infty}(X)\rtimesΓ$ arising from a free ergodic probability measure preserving action of $Γ$ has a unique Cartan subalgebra, up to unitary conjugacy. We also prove that if $\mathcal R=\mathcal R_1*\mathcal R_2$ is the free product of any two non-hyperfinite countable ergodic probability …
We consider amalgamated free product II$_1$ factors $M = M_1 *_B M_2 *_B ...$ and use ``deformation/rigidity'' and ``intertwining'' techniques to prove that any relatively rigid von Neumann subalgebra $Q\subset M$ can be intertwined into one of the $M_i$'s. We apply this to the case $M_i$ are w-rigid II$_1$ factors, with $B$ equal to either $\Bbb C$, to a Cartan subalgebra $A$ in $M_i$, or to a regular hyperfinite II$_1$ subfactor $R$ in $M_i$, to obtain the following type of unique decomposition results, à la Bass-Serre: If $M = (N_1 *_C N_2 *_C ...)^t$, for some $t>0$ and some other similar …
We obtain new Bass-Serre type rigidity results for ${\rm II_1}$ equivalence relations and their von Neumann algebras, coming from free ergodic actions of free products of groups on the standard probability space. As an application, we show that any non-amenable factor arising as an amalgamated free product of von Neumann algebras $\mathcal{M}_1 \ast_B \mathcal{M}_2$ over an abelian von Neumann algebra $B$, is prime, i.e. cannot be written as a tensor product of diffuse factors. This gives, both in the type ${\rm II_1}$ and in the type ${\rm III}$ case, new examples of prime factors.
We prove that $(λ_g\mapsto e^{-t|g|^r}λ_g)_{t>0}$ defines a completely bounded semigroup of multipliers on the von Neuman algebra of hyperbolic groups for all real number $r$. One ingredient in the proof is the observation that a construction of Ozawa allows to characterize the radial multipliers that are bounded on every hyperbolic graph, partially generalizing results of Haagerup--Steenstrup--Szwarc and Wysoczański. Another ingredient is an upper estimate of trace class norms for Hankel matrices, which is based on Peller's characterization of such norms.
Given reduced amalgamated free products of C$^*$-algebras, $(A,phi)=*_i(A_i,phi_i)$ and $(D,psi)=*_i(D_i,psi_i)$, an embedding $A\to D$ is shown to exist assuming there are conditional expectation preserving embeddings $A_i\to D_i$. This result is extended to show the existance of the reduced amalgamated free product of certain classes of unital completely positive maps. Analogues of the above mentioned results are proved for von Neumann algebras.
We investigate Fourier multipliers on the compact dual of arbitrary discrete groups. Our main result is a Hörmander-Mihlin multiplier theorem for finite-dimensional cocycles with optimal smoothness condition. We also find Littlewood-Paley type inequalities in group von Neumann algebras, prove $L_p$ estimates for noncommutative Riesz transforms and characterize $L_\infty \to \mathrm{BMO}$ boundedness for radial Fourier multipliers. The key novelties of our approach are to exploit group cocycles and cross products in Fourier multiplier theory in conjunction with BMO spaces associated to semigrou…
In this paper we establish the $L^p$-$L^q$ boundedness of Fourier multipliers on locally compact separable unimodular groups for the range of indices $1<p\leq 2 \leq q<\infty$. Our approach is based on the operator algebras techniques. The result depends on a version of the Hausdorff-Young-Paley inequality that we establish on general locally compact separable unimodular groups. In particular, the obtained result implies the corresponding Hörmander's Fourier multiplier theorem on $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ and the corresponding known results for Fourier multipliers on compact Lie groups.
We consider crossed product von Neumann algebras arising from free Bogoljubov actions of the integers. We describe several presentations of them as amalgamated free products and cocycle crossed products and give a criterion for factoriality. A number of isomorphism results for free Bogoljubov crossed products are proved, focusing on those arising from almost periodic representations. We complement our isomorphism results by rigidity results yielding non-isomorphic free Bogoljubov crossed products and by a partial characterisation of strong solidity of a free Bogoljubov crossed products in term…
Using a non-negative curvature condition, we prove the complete version of modified log-Sobolev inequalities for central Markov semigroups on various compact quantum groups, including group von Neumann algebras, free orthogonal group and quantum automorphism groups. We also prove that the "geometric Ricci curvature lower bound" introduced by Junge-Li-LaRacuente is stable under tensor products and amalgamated free products. As an application, we obtain the geometric Ricci curvature lower bound and complete modified logarithmic Sobolev inequality for word-length semigroups on free group factors …
We introduce the relative Haagerup approximation property for a unital, expected inclusion of arbitrary von Neumann algebras and show that if the smaller algebra is finite then the notion only depends on the inclusion itself, and not on the choice of the conditional expectation. Several variations of the definition are shown to be equivalent in this case, and in particular the approximating maps can be chosen to be unital and preserving the reference state. The concept is then applied to amalgamated free products of von Neumann algebras and used to deduce that the standard Haagerup property fo…
Let $f_1, f_2, ..., f_n$ be a family of independent copies of a given random variable f in a probability space $(Ω, \mathcal{F}, μ)$. Then, the following equivalence of norms holds whenever $1 \le q \le p < \infty$ $$\Big(\int_Ω \Big[ \sum_{k=1}^n |f_k|^q \Big]^{\frac{p}{q}} d μ\Big)^{\frac1p} \sim \max_{r \in \{p,q\}} {n^{\frac1r} \Big(\int_Ω|f|^r dμ\Big)^{\frac1r}}.$$ We prove a noncommutative analogue of this inequality for sums of free random variables over a given von Neumann subalgebra. This formulation leads to new classes of noncommutative function spaces which appear in quantum probab…
A group $G$ is called $W^*$-superrigid (resp. $C^*$-superrigid) if it is completely recognizable from its von Neumann algebra $L(G)$ (resp. reduced $C^*$-algebra $C_r^*(G)$). Developing new technical aspects in Popa's deformation/rigidity theory we introduce several new classes of $W^*$-superrigid groups which appear as direct products, semidirect products with non-amenable core and iterations of amalgamated free products and HNN-extensions. As a byproduct we obtain new rigidity results in $C^*$-algebra theory including additional examples of $C^*$-superrigid groups and explicit computations o…
Jolissaint and Stalder introduced definitions of mixing and weak mixing for von Neumann subalgebras of finite von Neumann algebras. In this note, we study various algebraic and analytical properties of subalgebras with these mixing properties. We prove some basic results about mixing inclusions of von Neumann algebras and establish a connection between mixing properties and normalizers of von Neumann subalgebras. The special case of mixing subalgebras arising from inclusions of countable discrete groups finds applications to ergodic theory, in particular, a new generalization of a classical th…
We prove that any weak* continuous semigroup $(T_t)_{t \geq 0}$ of Markov Fourier multipliers acting on a group von Neumann algebra $\mathrm{VN}(G)$ associated to a locally compact group $G$ can be dilated by a weak* continuous group of Markov $*$-automorphisms on a bigger von Neumann algebra. Our construction relies on probabilistic tools and is even new for the group $\mathbb{R}^n$. Our results imply the boundedness of the McIntosh's $\mathrm{H}^\infty$ functional calculus of the generators of these semigroups on the associated noncommutative $\mathrm{L}^p$-spaces.
We present families of pairs of finite von Neumann algebras $A\subset M$ where $A$ is a maximal injective masa in the type $\mathrm{II}_1$ factor $M$ with separable predual. Our results make use of the strong mixing and the asymptotic orthogonality properties of $A$ in $M$ and are borrowed from ideas of S. Popa who proved that if $G$ is a non abelian free group and if $a$ is one of its generators, then the von Neumann algebra generated by $a$ is maximal injective in the factor $L(G)$. Our results apply to pairs $H<G$ where $H$ is an infinite abelian subgroup of a suitable amalgamated product g…
We study analogues of classical Hilbert transforms as fourier multipliers on free groups. We prove their complete boundedness on non commutative $L^p$ spaces associated with the free group von Neumann algebras for all $1<p<\infty$. This implies that the decomposition of the free group $\F_\infty$ into reduced words starting with distinct free generators is completely unconditional in $L^p$. We study the case of Voiculescu's amalgamated free products of von Neumann algebras as well. As by-products, we obtain a positive answer to a compactness-problem posed by Ozawa, a length independent estimat…
We define the Schur multipliers of a separable von Neumann algebra M with Cartan masa A, generalising the classical Schur multipliers of $B(\ell^2)$. We characterise these as the normal A-bimodule maps on M. If M contains a direct summand isomorphic to the hyperfinite II_1 factor, then we show that the Schur multipliers arising from the extended Haagerup tensor product $A \otimes_{eh} A$ are strictly contained in the algebra of all Schur multipliers.
In the mid thirties Murray and von Neumann found a natural way to associate a von Neumann algebra $L(Γ)$ to any countable discrete group $Γ$. Classifying $L(Γ)$ in term of $Γ$ is a notoriously complex problem as in general the initial data tends to be lost in the von Neumann algebraic regime. An important problem in the theory of von Neumann algebras is to completely describe all possible tensor decompositions of a given group von Neumann algebra $L(Γ)$. In this direction the main goal is to investigate how exactly a tensor decomposition of $L(Γ)$ relates to the underlying group $Γ$. In this d…
We give an overview of the question: which positive elements in an operator algebra can be written as a linear combination of projections with positive coefficients. A special case of independent interest is the question of which positive elements can be written as a sum of finitely many projections. We focus on von Neumann algebras, on purely infinite simple C*-algebras, and on their associated multiplier algebras.
Let A_i be a family of unital C*-algebras, respectively, of von Neumann algebras and phi: N_0 \to C. We show that if a Hankel matrix related to phi is trace-class, then there exists a unique completely bounded map M_phi on the reduced free product of the A_i, which acts as an radial multiplier. Hereby we generalize a result of Wysoczański for Herz-Schur multipliers on reduced group C*-algebras for free products of groups.
Spectral theory and functional calculus for unbounded self-adjoint operators on a Hilbert space are usually treated through von Neumann's Cayley transform. Based on ideas of Woronowicz, we redevelop this theory from the point of view of multiplier algebras and the so-called bounded transform (which establishes a bijective correspondence between closed operators and pure contractions). This also leads to a simple account of the affiliation relation between von Neumann algebras and self-adjoint operators.
We canonically associate to any planar algebra two type II_{\infty} factors M_{+} and M_{-}. The subfactors constructed previously by the authors in a previous paper are isomorphic to compressions of M_{+} and M_{-} to finite projections. We show that each \mathfrak{M}_{\pm} is isomorphic to an amalgamated free product of type I von Neumann algebras with amalgamation over a fixed discrete type I von Neumann subalgebra. In the finite-depth case, existing results in the literature imply that M_{+} \cong M_{-} is the amplification a free group factor on a finite number of generators. As an applic…
In this paper, we introduce the notion of multiplier of a Hilbert algebra. The space of bounded multipliers is a semifinite von Neumann algebra isomorphic to the left von Neumann algebra of the Hilbert algebra, as expected. However, in the unbounded setting, the space of multipliers has the structure of a *-algebra with nice properties concerning commutant and affiliation: it is a pre-GW*-algebra. And this correspondence between Hilbert algebras and its multipliers is functorial. Then, we can endow the Hilbert algebra with a nice topology constructed from unbounded multipliers. As we can see f…
We consider the tensor product of the completely depolarising channel on $d\times d$ matrices with the map of Schur multiplication by a $k \times k$ correlation matrix and characterise, via matrix theory methods, when such a map is a mixed (random) unitary channel. When $d=1$, this recovers a result of O'Meara and Pereira, and for larger $d$ is equivalent to a result of Haagerup and Musat that was originally obtained via the theory of factorisation through von Neumann algebras. We obtain a bound on the distance between a given correlation matrix for which this tensor product is nearly mixed un…
Given Hilbert spaces $H_1,H_2,H_3$, we consider bilinear maps defined on the cartesian product $S^2(H_2,H_3)\times S^2(H_1,H_2)$ of spaces of Hilbert-Schmidt operators and valued in either the space $B(H_1,H_3)$ of bounded operators, or in the space $S^1(H_1,H_3)$ of trace class operators. We introduce modular properties of such maps with respect to the commutants of von Neumann algebras $M_i\subset B(H_i)$, $i=1,2,3$, as well as an appropriate notion of complete boundedness for such maps. We characterize completely bounded module maps $u\colon S^2(H_2,H_3)\times S^2(H_1,H_2)\to B(H_1,H_3)$ by…
The theory of M-ideals and multiplier mappings of Banach spaces naturally generalizes to left (or right) M-ideals and multiplier mappings of operator spaces. These subspaces and mappings are intrinsically characterized in terms of the matrix norms. In turn this is used to prove that the algebra of left adjointable mappings of a dual operator space X is a von Neumann algebra. If in addition X is an operator A--B-bimodule for $C^{*}$-algebras A and B, then the module operations on X are automatically weak$^{*}$ continuous. One sided L-projections are introduced, and analogues of various results …
We consider semi-group BMO-spaces associated with arbitrary von Neumann algebras and prove interpolation theorems. This extends results by Junge-Mei for the tracial case. We give examples of multipliers on free Araki-Woods algebras and in particular we find $L_\infty \rightarrow {\rm BMO}$ multipliers. We also provide $L_p$-bounds for a natural generalization of the Hilbert transform.
In this paper we solve three problems in noncommutative harmonic analysis which are related to endpoint inequalities for singular integrals. In first place, we prove that an $L_2$-form of Hörmander's kernel condition suffices for the weak type (1,1) of Calderón-Zygmund operators acting on matrix-valued functions. To that end, we introduce an improved CZ decomposition for martingale filtrations in von Neumann algebras, and apply a very simple unconventional argument which notably avoids pseudolocalization. In second place, we establish as well the weak $L_1$ endpoint for matrix-valued CZ operat…
