On ultraproduct embeddings and amenability for tracial von Neumann algebras
Scott Atkinson, Srivatsav Kunnawalkam Elayavalli
备注：
Updated and mildly revised. Results on commuting embeddings in both von Neumann algebraic and group theoretic contexts have been added. 27 pages. Submitted version
We define the notion of self-tracial stability for tracial von Neumann algebras and show that a tracial von Neumann algebra satisfying the Connes Embedding Problem is self-tracially stable if and only if it is amenable. We then generalize a result of Jung by showing that a separable tracial von Neumann algebra that satisfies the Connes Embedding Problem is amenable if and only if any two embeddings into $R^\mathcal{U}$ are ucp-conjugate. Moreover we show that for a II$_1$ factor $N$ satisfying CEP, the space $\mathbb{H}$om$(N, \prod_{k\to \mathcal{U}}M_k)$ of unitary equivalence classes of embeddings is separable if and only $N$ is hyperfinite. This resolves a question of Popa for Connes embeddable factors. These results hold when we further ask that the pairs of embeddings commute, admitting a nontrivial action of $\text{Out}(N\otimes N)$ on $\mathbb{H}$om$(N\otimes N, \prod_{k\to \mathcal{U}}M_k)$ whenever $N$ is non-amenable. We also obtain an analogous result for commuting sofic representations of countable sofic groups.
We study some general properties of tracial C*-algebras. In the first part, we consider Dixmier type approximation theorem and characterize symmetric amenability for C*-algebras. In the second part, we consider continuous bundles of tracial von Neumann algebras and classify some of them.
We study correspondences of tracial von Neumann algebras from the model-theoretic point of view. We introduce and study an ultraproduct of correspondences and use this ultraproduct to prove, for a fixed pair of tracial von Neumann algebras M and N, that the class of M-N correspondences forms an elementary class. We prove that the corresponding theory is classifiable, all of its completions are stable, that these completions have quantifier elimination in an appropriate language, and that one of these completions is in fact the model companion. We also show that the class of triples (M, H, N), …
Let $G$ be a locally compact group. It is not always the case that its reduced C*-algebra $C^*_r(G)$ admits a tracial state. We exhibit closely related necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of such. We gain a complete answer when $G$ compactly generated. In particular for $G$ almost connected, or more generally when $C^*_r(G)$ is nuclear, the existence of a trace is equivalent to amenability. We exhibit two examples of classes of totally disconnected groups for which $C^*_r(G)$ does not admit a tracial state.
Amenability for groups can be extended to metric spaces, algebras over commutative fields and $C^*$-algebras by adapting the notion of Følner nets. In the present article we investigate the close ties among these extensions and show that these three pictures unify in the context of the uniform Roe algebra $C_u^*(X)$ over a metric space $(X,d)$ with bounded geometry. In particular, we show that the following conditions are equivalent: (1) $(X,d)$ is amenable; (2) the translation algebra generating $C_u^*(X)$ is algebraically amenable (3) $C_u^*(X)$ has a tracial state; (4) $C_u^*(X)$ is not pro…
We consider tracial stability, which requires that tuples of elements of a C*-algebra with a trace that nearly satisfy the relation are close to tuples that actually satisfy the relation. Here both "near" and "close" are in terms of the associated 2-norm from the trace, e.g., the Hilbert-Schmidt norm for matrices. Precise definitions are stated in terms of liftings from tracial ultraproducts of C*-algebras. We completely characterize matricial tracial stability for nuclear C*-algebras in terms of certain approximation properties for traces. For non-nuclear $C^{\ast}$-algebras we find new obstr…
We study strongly outer actions of discrete groups on C*-algebras in relation to (non)amenability. In contrast to related results for amenable groups, where uniqueness of strongly outer actions on the Jiang-Su algebra is expected, we show that uniqueness fails for all nonamenable groups, and that the failure is drastic. Our main result implies that if $G$ contains a copy of the free group, then there exist uncountable many, non-cocycle conjugate strongly outer actions of $G$ on any Jiang-Su stable tracial C*-algebra. Similar conclusions apply for outer actions on McDuff tracial von Neumann alg…
We analyze the dichotomy amenable/paradoxical in the context of (discrete, countable, unital) semigroups and corresponding semigroup rings. We consider also Følner's type characterizations of amenability and give an example of a semigroup whose semigroup ring is algebraically amenable but has no Følner sequence. In the context of inverse semigroups $S$ we give a characterization of invariant measures on $S$ (in the sense of Day) in terms of two notions: $domain$ $measurability$ and $localization$. Given a unital representation of $S$ in terms of partial bijections on some set $X$ we define a n…
It is a long standing open problem whether the Thompson group $F$ is an amenable group. In this paper we show that if $A$, $B$, $C$ denote the standard generators of Thompson group $T$ and $D:=C B A^{-1}$ then $$\sqrt2+\sqrt3\,<\,\frac1{\sqrt{12}}||(I+C+C^2)(I+D+D^2+D^3)||\,\le\, 2+\sqrt2.$$ Moreover, the upper bound is attained if the Thompson group $F$ is amenable. Here, the norm of an element in the group ring $\mathbb{C} T$ is computed in $B(\ell^2(T))$ via the regular representation of $T$. Using the "cyclic reduced" numbers $τ(((C+C^2)(D+D^2+D^3))^n)$, $n\in\mathbb{N}$, and some methods …
We conduct a systematic study of traces on locally compact groups, in particular traces on their universal and reduced C*-algebras. We introduce the trace kernel, and examine its relation to the von Neumann kernel and to small-invariant neighbourhood (SIN) quotients. In doing so, we introduce the class of residually-$SIN$ groups, which contains both $SIN$ and maximally almost periodic groups. We examine in detail the trace kernel for connected groups. We study traces on reduced C*-algebras, giving a simple proof for compactly generated groups that existence of such a trace is equivalent to hav…
