Let $M$ and $N$ be two unital JB$^*$-algebras and let $\mathcal{U} (M)$ and $\mathcal{U} (N)$ denote the sets of all unitaries in $M$ and $N$, respectively. We prove that the following statements are equivalent:
$(a)$ $M$ and $N$ are isometrically isomorphic as (complex) Banach spaces;
$(b)$ $M$ and $N$ are isometrically isomorphic as real Banach spaces;
$(c)$ There exists a surjective isometry $Δ: \mathcal{U}(M)\to \mathcal{U}(N).$
We actually establish a more general statement asserting that, under some mild extra conditions, for each surjective isometry $Δ:\mathcal{U} (M) \to \mathcal{U} (N)$ we can find a surjective real linear isometry $Ψ:M\to N$ which coincides with $Δ$ on the subset $e^{i M_{sa}}$. If we assume that $M$ and $N$ are JBW$^*$-algebras, then every surjective isometry $Δ:\mathcal{U} (M) \to \mathcal{U} (N)$ admits a (unique) extension to a surjective real linear isometry from $M$ onto $N$. This is an extension of the Hatori--Moln{á}r theorem to the setting of JB$^*$-algebras.
Let $ε>0$ be a positive number. Is there a number $δ>0$ satisfying the following? Given any pair of unitaries $u$ and $v$ in a unital simple $C^*$-algebra $A$ with $[v]=0$ in $K_1(A)$ for which $$ \|uv-vu\|<\dt, $$ there is a continuous path of unitaries $\{v(t): t\in [0,1]\}\subset A$ such that $$ v(0)=v, v(1)=1 \and \|uv(t)-v(t)u\|<ε\forall t\in [0,1]. $$ An answer is given to this question when $A$ is assumed to be a unital simple $C^*$-algebra with tracial rank no more than one. Let $C$ be a unital separable amenable simple $C^*$-algebra with tracial rank no more than one which also satisf…
We show that a tracial state on a unital C*-algebra admits a Haar unitary if and only if it is diffuse, if and only if it does not dominate a tracial functional that factors through a finite-dimensional quotient. It follows that a unital C*-algebra has no finite-dimensional representations if and only if each of its tracial states admits a Haar unitary. More generally, we study when nontracial states admit Haar unitaries. In particular, we show that every state on a unital, simple, infinite-dimensional C*-algebra admits a Haar unitary. We obtain applications to the structure of reduced free pr…
Let $M$ be a unital JB$^*$-algebra whose closed unit ball is denoted by $\mathcal{B}_M$. Let $\partial_e(\mathcal{B}_M)$ denote the set of all extreme points of $\mathcal{B}_M$. We prove that an element $u\in \partial_e(\mathcal{B}_M)$ is a unitary if and only if the set $$\mathcal{M}_{u} = \{e\in \partial_e(\mathcal{B}_M) : \|u\pm e\|\leq \sqrt{2} \}$$ contains an isolated point. This is a new geometric characterisation of unitaries in $M$ in terms of the set of extreme points of $\mathcal{B}_M$.
This paper is a study of linear spaces of matrices and linear maps on matrix algebras that arise from \emph{spin systems}, or \emph{spin unitaries}, which are finite sets $\mathcal S$ of selfadjoint unitary matrices such that any two unitaries in $\mathcal S$ anticommute. We are especially interested in linear isomorphisms between these linear spaces of matrices such that the matricial order within these spaces is preserved; such isomorphisms are called complete order isomorphisms, which might be viewed as weaker notion of unitary similarity. The main result of this paper shows that all $m$-tu…
We give some new characterizations of unitaries, isometries, unital operator spaces, unital function spaces, operator systems, C*-algebras, and related objects. These characterizations only employ the vector space and operator space structure.
A unital $C^*$-algebra is called $N$-subhomogeneous if its irreducible representations are finite dimensional with dimension at most $N$. We extend this notion to operator systems, replacing irreducible representations by boundary representations. This is done by considering the matrix state space associated with an operator system and identifying the boundary representations as absolute matrix extreme points. We show that two $N$-subhomogeneous operator systems are completely order equivalent if and only if they are $N$-order equivalent. Moreover, we show that a unital $N$-positive map into a…
We investigate the normal subgroups of the groups of invertibles and unitaries in the connected component of the identity. By relating normal subgroups to closed two-sided ideals we obtain a "sandwich condition" describing all the closed normal subgroups both in the invertible and in the the unitary case. We use this to prove a conjecture by Elliott and Rordam: in a simple C*-algebra, the group of approximately inner automorphisms induced by unitaries in the connected component of the identity is topologically simple. Turning to non-closed subgroups, we show, among other things, that in simple…
Multiplicative Unitaries are described in terms of a pair of commuting shifts of relative depth two. They can be generated from ambidextrous Hilbert spaces in a tensor C*-category. The algebraic analogue of the Takesaki-Tatsuuma Duality Theorem characterizes abstractly C*-algebras acted on by unital endomorphisms that are intrinsically related to the regular representation of a multiplicative unitary. The relevant C*-algebras turn out to be simple and indeed separable if the corresponding multiplicative unitaries act on a separable Hilbert space. A categorical analogue provides internal charac…
For each unital $C^*$-algebra $A$, we denote $cel_{CU}(A)=\sup\{cel(u):u\in CU(A)\}$, where $cel(u)$ is the exponential length of $u$ and $CU(A)$ is the closure of the commutator subgroup of $U_0(A)$. In this paper, we prove that $cel_{CU}(A)=2π$ provided that $A$ is an $AH$ algebras with slow dimension growth whose real rank is not zero. On the other hand, we prove that $cel_{CU}(A)\leq 2π$ when $A$ is an $AH$ algebra with ideal property and of no dimension growth (if we further assume $A$ is not of real rank zero, we have $cel_{CU}(A)= 2π$).
We show that the commutator subgroup of the group of unitaries connected to the identity in a simple unital C*-algebra is simple modulo its center. We then go on to investigate the role of regularity properties in the structure of the special unitary group of a C*-algebra. Under mild assumptions, we show that this group has the invariant automatic continuity property and a unique polish group topology. Strengthening our assumptions in the case of simple C*-algebras, we show that the special unitary group modulo its center has bounded normal generation. These results apply to all simple purely …
The principal result in this note is a strengthened version of Kadison's transitivity theorem for unital JB$^*$-algebras, showing that for each minimal tripotent $e$ in the bidual, $\mathfrak{A}^{**}$, of a unital JB$^*$-algebra $\mathfrak{A}$, there exists a self-adjoint element $h$ in $\mathfrak{A}$ satisfying $e\leq \exp(ih)$, that is, $e$ is bounded by a unitary in the principal connected component of the unitary elements in $\mathfrak{A}$. This new result opens the way to attack new geometric results, for example, a Russo--Dye type theorem for maximal norm closed proper faces of the close…
We found that if $u$ and $v$ are any two unitaries in a unital $C^*$-algebra with $\|uv-vu\|<2$ such that $uvu^*v^*$ commutes with $u$ and $v,$ then the \SCA\, $A_{u,v}$ generated by $u$ and $v$ is isomorphic to a quotient of the rotation algebra $A_θ$ provided that $A_{u,v}$ has a unique tracial state. We also found that the Exel trace formula holds in any unital $C^*$-algebra. Let $θ\in (-1/2, 1/2)$ be a rational number. We prove the following: For any $\ep>0,$ there exists $\dt>0$ satisfying the following: if $u$ and $v$ are two unitary matrices such that $$ \|uv-e^{2πiθ}vu\|<\dt\andeqn {1\…
Let $C$ be a unital AH-algebra and let $A$ be a unital separable simple \CA with tracial rank zero. Suppose that $ϕ_1, ϕ_2: C\to A$ are two unital monomorphisms. We show that there is a continuous path of unitaries $\{u_t: t\in [0, \infty)\}$ of $A$ such that $$ \lim_{t\to\infty}u_t^*ϕ_1(a)u_t=ϕ_2(a)\tforal a\in C $$ if and only if $[ϕ_1]=[ϕ_2]$ in $KK(C,A),$ $τ\circ ϕ_1=τ\circ ϕ_2$ for all $τ\in T(A)$ and the rotation map ${\tildeη}_{ϕ_1,ϕ_2}$ associated with $ϕ_1$ and $ϕ_2$ is zero. In particular, an automorphism $\af$ on a unital separable simple \CA $A$ in ${\cal N}$ with tracial rank zero…
Let $C$ and $A$ be two unital separable amenable simple C*-algebras with tracial rank no more than one. Suppose that $C$ satisfies the Universal Coefficient Theorem and suppose that $ϕ_1, ϕ_2: C\to A$ are two unital monomorphisms. We show that there is a continuous path of unitaries $\{u_t: t\in [0, \infty)\}$ of $A$ such that $$ \lim_{t\to\infty}u_t^*ϕ_1(c)u_t=ϕ_2(c)\tforal c\in C $$ if and only if $[ϕ_1]=[ϕ_2]$ in $KK(C,A),$ $ϕ_1^‡=ϕ_2^‡,$ $(ϕ_1)_T=(ϕ_2)_T$ and a rotation related map $\bar{R}_{ϕ_1,ϕ_2}$ associated with $ϕ_1$ and $ϕ_2$ is zero. Applying this result together with a result of W…
Let $A$ be a unital separable simple infinite dimensional \CA with tracial rank no more than one and with the tracial state space $T(A)$ and let $U(A)$ be the unitary group of $A.$ Suppose that $u\in U_0(A),$ the connected component of $U(A)$ containing the identity. We show that, for any $\ep>0,$ there exists a selfadjoint element $h\in A_{s.a}$ such that $$ \|u-\exp(ih)\|<\ep. $$ We also study the problem when $u$ can be approximated by unitaries in $A$ with finite spectrum. Denote by $CU(A)$ the closure of the subgroup of unitary group of $U(A)$ generated by its commutators. It is known tha…
Let Z denote the simple limit of prime dimension drop algebras that has a unique tracial state. Let A != 0 be a unital C^*-algebra with A = A tensor Z. Then the homotopy groups of the group U(A) of unitaries in A are stable invariants, namely, π_i(U(A)) = K_{i-1}(A) for all integers i >= 0. Furthermore, A has cancellation for full projections, and satisfies the comparability question for full projections. Analogous results hold for non-unital Z-stable C^*-algebras.
For unital $C^*$-algebras $A$ and $B$, we completely characterize the isometric ($*$-) automorphisms of their Banach space projective tensor product $A\otimes^γB$. This leads to the characterization of inner and outer isometric $*$-automorphisms of $A\otimes^γB$, as well. As an application, we provide a partial affirmative answer to a question posed by Kaijser and Sinclair, viz., we prove that for unital $C^*$-algebras $A$ and $B$, the set of norm-one unitaries of $A\otimes^γB$ coincides with $U(A) \otimes U(B)$, where $U(A)$ is the unitary group of $A$. We also establish the fact that the rel…
We study the question of which Polish groups can be realized as subgroups of the unitary group of a separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space. We also show that for a separable unital C$^*$-algebra $A$, the identity component $\mathcal{U}_0(A)$ of its unitary group has property (OB) of Rosendal (hence it also has property (FH)) if and only if the algebra has finite exponential length (e.g. if it has real rank zero), while in many cases the unitary group $\mathcal{U}(A)$ does not have property (T). On the other hand, the $p$-unitary group $\mathcal{U}_p(M,τ)$ where $M$ is a properly infinite…
The present paper is a sequel to our paper "Metric characterization of isometries and of unital operator spaces and systems". We characterize certain common objects in the theory of operator spaces (unitaries, unital operator spaces, operator systems, operator algebras, and so on), in terms which are purely linear-metric, by which we mean that they only use the vector space structure of the space and its matrix norms. In the last part we give some characterizations of operator algebras (which are not linear-metric in our strict sense described in the paper).
We use the theory of regular objects in tensor categories to clarify the passage between braided multiplicative unitaries and multiplicative unitaries with projection. The braided multiplicative unitary and its semidirect product multiplicative unitary have the same Hilbert space representations. We also show that the multiplicative unitaries associated to two regular objects for the same tensor category are equivalent and hence generate isomorphic C*-quantum groups. In particular, a C*-quantum group is determined uniquely by its tensor category of representations on Hilbert space, and any fun…
Let $C=C(X)$ be the unital $C^*$-algebra of all continuous functions on a finite CW complex $X$ and let $A$ be a unital simple $C^*$-algebra with tracial rank at most one. We show that two unital monomorphisms $ϕ, ψ: C\to A$ are asymptotically unitarily equivalent, i.e., there exists a continuous path of unitaries $\{u_t: t\in [0,1)\}\subset A$ such that $$ \lim_{t\to 1} u_t^*ϕ(f)u_t=ψ(f) {\rm for all} \in C(X), $$ if and only if \beq [ϕ]&=&[ψ] {\rm in} KK(C, A), τ\circ ϕ&=&τ\circ ψ{\rm for all} τ\in T(A), and ϕ^†&=&ψ^†, \eneq where $T(A)$ is the simplex of tracial states of $A$ and $ϕ^†, ψ^†:…
Let $A$ be a unital $C^*$-algebra and let $U_0(A)$ be the group of unitaries of $A$ which are path connected to the identity. Denote by $CU(A)$ the closure of the commutator subgroup of $U_0(A).$ Let $i_A^{(1, n)}\colon U_0(A)/CU(A)\rightarrow U_0(\mathrm M_n(A))/CU(\mathrm M_n(A))$ be the \hm\, defined by sending $u$ to ${\rm diag}(u,1_n).$ We study the problem when the map $i_A^{(1,n)}$ is an isomorphism for all $n.$ We show that it is always surjective and is injective when $A$ has stable rank one. It is also injective when $A$ is a unital $C^*$-algebra of real rank zero, or $A$ has no trac…
One of the main tools to classify \cst-algebras is the study of its projections and its unitaries. It was proved by Cuntz in \cite{Cu81} that if $A$ is a \textit{purely infinite} simple \cst-algebra, then the kernel of the natural map for the unitary group $\U(A)$ to the $K$-theory group $K_1(A)$ is reduced to the connected component $\U^0(A)$, i.e. $A$ is \textit{$K_1$-injective} (see §3). We study in this note a finitely generated \cst-algebra, the $K_1$-injectivity of which would imply the $K_1$-injectivity of all unital \textit{properly infinite} \cst-algebras.
Let $A$ and $B$ be unital separable simple amenable \CA s which satisfy the Universal Coefficient Theorem. Suppose {that} $A$ and $B$ are $\mathcal Z$-stable and are of rationally tracial rank no more than one. We prove the following: Suppose that $ϕ, ψ: A\to B$ are unital {monomorphisms}. There exists a sequence of unitaries $\{u_n\}\subset B$ such that $$ \lim_{n\to\infty} u_n^*ϕ(a) u_n=ψ(a)\tforal a\in A, $$ if and only if $$ [ϕ]=[ψ]\,\,\,\text{in}\,\,\, KL(A,B), ϕ_{\sharp}=ψ_{\sharp}\andeqnϕ^‡=ψ^‡, $$ where $ϕ_{\sharp}, ψ_{\sharp}: \aff(T(A))\to \aff(T(B))$ and $ϕ^‡, ψ^‡: U(A)/CU(A)\to U(B…
We define an analog of Voiculescu's free entropy for n-tuples of unitaries (u_{1},...,u_{n}) in a tracial von Neumann algebra M, normalizing a unital diffuse abelian subalgebra B in M. Using this quantity, we define the free dimension δ_{0}(u_{1},..,u_{n}\btw B). This number depends on (u_{1},... ,u_{n}) only up ``orbit equivalence'' over B. In particular, if R is an measirable equivalence relation on [0,1] generated by n automorphisms α_{1},...,α_{n}, let u_{1},..., u_{n} be the unitaries implementing α_{1},..,α_{n} in the Feldman-Moore crossed product algebra M=W^{*}([0,1],R), and let B be t…
We generalize the classification result of Restorff on Cuntz-Krieger algebras to cover all unital graph C*-algebras with real rank zero, showing that Morita equivalence in this case is determined by ordered, filtered K-theory as conjectured by three of the authors. The classification result is geometric in the sense that it establishes that any Morita equivalence between C*(E) and C*(F) in this class can be realized by a sequence of moves leading from E to F in a way resembling the role of Reidemeister moves on knots. As a key technical step, we prove that the so-called Cuntz splice leaves uni…
Let $Θ=(θ_{j,k})_{3\times 3}$ be a non-degenerate real skew-symmetric $3\times 3$ matrix, where $θ_{j,k}\in [0,1).$ For any $\varepsilon>0$, we prove that there exists $δ>0$ satisfying the following: if $v_1,v_2,v_3$ are three unitaries in any unital simple separable $C^*$-algebra $A$ with tracial rank at most one, such that $$\|v_kv_j-e^{2πi θ_{j,k}}v_jv_k\|<δ\,\,\,\, \mbox{and}\,\,\,\, \frac{1}{2πi}τ(\log_θ(v_kv_jv_k^*v_j^*))=θ_{j,k}$$ for all $τ\in T(A)$ and $j,k=1,2,3,$ where $\log_θ$ is a continuous branch of logarithm for some real number $θ\in [0, 1)$, then there exists a triple of unit…
To each unital C*-algebra A we associate a presheaf Σ^A, called the spectral presheaf of A, which can be regarded as a generalised Gelfand spectrum. We develop a categorical notion of local duality and show that there is a contravariant functor from the category of unital C*-algebras to a suitable category of presheaves containing the spectral presheaves. We clarify how much algebraic information about a C*-algebra is contained in its spectral presheaf. A nonabelian unital C*-algebra A that is neither isomorphic to C^2 nor to B(C^2) is determined by its spectral presheaf up to quasi-Jordan iso…
In this paper we will introduce the tracial Rokhlin property for an inclusion of separable simple unital C*-algebras $P \subset A$ with finite index in the sense of Watatani, and prove theorems of the following type. Suppose that $A$ belongs to a class of C*-algebras characterized by some structural property, such as tracial rank zero in the sense of Lin. Then $P$ belongs to the same class. The classes we consider include:(1) Simple C*-algebras with real rank zero or stable rank one, (2) Simple C*-algebras with tracial rank zero or tracial rank less than or equal to one, (3) Simple C*-algebras…
Let A be a unital separable simple infinite-dimensional nuclear C*-algebra with at least one tracial state. We prove that if the trace space of A has compact finite-dimensional extreme boundary then there exist unital embeddings of matrix algebras into a certain central sequence algebra of A which is determined by the uniform topology on the trace space. As an application, it is shown that if furthermore A has strict comparison then A absorbs the Jiang-Su algebra tensorially.
It is well known that unital contractive representations of the disk algebra are completely contractive. Let A denote the subalgebra of the disk algebra consisting of those functions f whose first derivative vanishes at 0. We prove that there are unital contractive representations of A which are not completely contractive, and furthermore provide a Kaiser and Varopoulos inspired example for A and present a characterization of those contractive representations of A which are completely contractive. In the positive direction, for the algebra of rational functions with poles off the distinguished…
It is shown that the coloured isomorphism class of a unital, simple, $\mathcal{Z}$-stable, separable amenable C$^*$-algebra satisfying the Universal Coefficient Theorem (UCT) is determined by its tracial simplex.
We provide a complete classification of the class of unital graph $C^*$-algebras - prominently containing the full family of Cuntz-Krieger algebras - showing that Morita equivalence in this case is determined by ordered, filtered $K$-theory. The classification result is geometric in the sense that it establishes that any Morita equivalence between $C^*(E)$ and $C^*(F)$ in this class can be realized by a sequence of moves leading from $E$ to $F$, in a way resembling the role of Reidemeister moves on knots. As a key ingredient, we introduce a new class of such moves, establish that they leave th…
Let $A$ be a unital separable simple amenable $C^*$-algebra with finite tracial rank which satisfies the Universal Coefficient Theorem (UCT). Suppose $\af$ and $\bt$ are two automorphisms with the Rokhlin property that {induce the same action on the $K$-theoretical data of $A$.} We show that $\af$ and $\bt$ are strongly cocycle conjugate and uniformly approximately conjugate, that is, there exists a sequence of unitaries $\{u_n\}\subset A$ and a sequence of strongly asymptotically inner automorphisms $σ_n$ such that $$ \af={\rm Ad}\, u_n\circ σ_n\circ \bt\circ σ_n^{-1}\andeqn \lim_{n\to\infty}…
Let A be an approximately subhomogeneous (ASH) C*-algebra with slow dimension growth. We prove that if A is unital and simple, then the Cuntz semigroup of A agrees with that of its tensor product with the Jiang-Su algebra Z. In tandem with a result of W. Winter, this yields the equivalence of Z-stability and slow dimension growth for unital simple ASH algebras. This equivalence has several consequences, including the following classification theorem: unital ASH algebras which are simple, have slow dimension growth, and in which projections separate traces are determined up to isomorphism by th…
We show that for any two von Neumann algebras $M$ and $N$, the space of non-unital normal homomorphisms $N\to M$ with finite support, modulo conjugation by unitaries in $M$, is Dedekind complete with respect to the partial order coming from the addition of homomorphisms with orthogonal ranges; this ties in with work by Brown and Capraro, where the corresponding objects are given Banach space structures under various niceness conditions on $M$ and $N$. More generally, we associate to $M$ a Grothendieck site-type category, and show that presheaves satisfying a sheaf-like condition on this catego…
We show that any order isomorphism between ordered structures of associative unital JB-subalgebras of JBW algebras is implemented naturally by a Jordan isomorphism. Consequently, JBW algebras are determined by the structure of their associative unital JB subalgebras. Further we show that in a similar way it is possible to reconstruct Jordan structure from the order structure of associative subalgebras endowed with an orthogonality relation. In case of abelian subalgebras of von Neuman algebra it is we shown that order isomorphisms of the structure of abelian C*-subalgebras that are well behave…
We introduce the tracial Rokhlin property for automorphisms of stably finite simple unital C*-algebras containing enough projections. This property is formally weaker than the various Rokhlin properties considered by Herman and Ocneanu, Kishimoto, and Izumi. Our main results are as follows. Consider a stably finite simple unital C*-algebra, and an automorphism of it which has the tracial Rokhlin property. Suppose the algebra has real rank zero and stable rank one, and suppose that the order on projections over the algebra is determined by traces. Then the crossed product by the automorphism al…
We prove that in a simple, unital, exact, Z-stable C*-algebra of stable rank one, the distance between the unitary orbits of self-adjoint elements with connected spectrum is completely determined by spectral data. This fails without the assumption of Z-stability.
Let $A$ be a stably finite simple unital $C^*$-algebra and suppose $α$ is an action of a finite group $G$ with the tracial Rokhlin property. Suppose further $A$ has real rank zero and the order on projections over $A$ is determined by traces. Then the crossed product $C^*$-algebra $C^*(G,A, α)$ also has real rank zero and order on projections over $A$ is determined by traces. Moreover, if $A$ also has stable rank one, then $C^*(G,A, α)$ also has stable rank one.
Let $M_n(R)$ be the algebra of all $n\times n$ matrices over a unital commutative ring $R$ with 6 invertible. We say that $A\in M_n(R)$ is a Jordan product determined point if for every $R$-module $X$ and every symmetric $R$-bilinear map $\{\cdot, \cdot\}$ : $M_n(R)\times M_n(R)\to X$ the following two conditions are equivalent: (i) there exists a fixed element $w\in X$ such that $\{x,y\}=w$ whenever $x\circ y=A$, $x,y\in M_n(R)$; (ii) there exists an $R$-linear map $T:M_n(R)^2\to X$ such that $\{x,y\}=T(x\circ y)$ for all $x,y\in M_n(R)$. In this paper, we mainly prove that all the matrix uni…
We prove that the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra O(E) of a vector bundle E over a compact metrizable space X is determined up to an isomorphism of C(X)-algebras by the ideal (1-[E])K(X) of the K-theory ring K(X). Moreover, if E and F are vector bundles of rank >1, then a unital embedding of C(X)-algebras of O(E) into O(F) exists if and only if 1-[E] is divisible by 1-[F] in the ring K(X). We introduce related, but more computable K-theory and cohomology invariants for O(E) and study their completeness. As an application we classify the unital separable continuous fields with fibers isomorphic to the Cu…
In this paper, we first characterize reflexive one-sided $\a$-submodules $\u$ of a unital operator algebra $\a$ in $\bh$ completely. Furthermore we investigate the invariant subspace lattice $\lat\r$ and the reflexive hull $\ref\r$, where $\r$ is the submodule generated by rank-one operators in $\u$; in particular, if $ł$ is a subspace lattice, we obtain when the rank-one algebra $\r$ of $\algł$ is big enough to determined $\algł$ in the following senses: $\algł=\alg\lat\r$ and $\algł=\ref\r$.
We show that, if A is a separable simple unital C*-algebra which absorbs the Jiang-Su algebra Z tensorially and which has real rank zero and finite decomposition rank, then A is tracially AF in the sense of Lin, without any restriction on the tracial state space. As a consequence, the Elliott conjecture is true for the class of C*-algebras as above which, additionally, satisfy the Universal Coefficients Theorem. In particular, such algebras are completely determined by their ordered K-theory. They are approximately homogeneous of topological dimension less than or equal to 3, approximately sub…
Let A be a unital C*-algebra. Denote by P the space of selfadjoint projections of A. We study the relationship between P and the spaces of projections P_a determined by the different involutions #_a induced by positive invertible elements a in A. The maps f_p: P \to P_a sending p to the unique q in P_a with the same range as p and Ω_a: P_a \to P sending q to the unitary part of the polar decomposition of the symmetry 2q-1 are shown to be diffeomorphisms. We characterize the pairs of idempotents q, r in A with |q-r|<1 such that there exists a positive element a in A verifying that q, r are in P…
Let $S = (S_1, \ldots, S_d)$ denote the compression of the $d$-shift to the complement of a homogeneous ideal $I$ of $\mathbb{C}[z_1, \ldots, z_d]$. Arveson conjectured that $S$ is essentially normal. In this paper, we establish new results supporting this conjecture, and connect the notion of essential normality to the theory of the C*-envelope and the noncommutative Choquet boundary. The unital norm closed algebra $\mathcal{B}_I$ generated by $S_1,\ldots,S_d$ modulo the compact operators is shown to be completely isometrically isomorphic to the uniform algebra generated by polynomials on $\o…
The matrix normed structure of the unitization of a (non-selfadjoint) operator algebra is determined by that of the original operator algebra. This yields a classification up to completely isometric isomorphism of two-dimensional unital operator algebras. This allows to define invariant distances on the spectrum of commutative operator algebras analogous to the Caratheodory distance for complex manifolds. Moreover, unitizations of two-dimensional operator algebras with zero multiplication provide a rich class of counterexamples. Especially, several badly behaved quotients of function algebras …
We introduce crossed products of a $C^*$-algebra $A$ by a completely positive map $\varrho:A\to A$ relative to an ideal in $A$. They generalize various crossed products by endomorphisms when $\varrho$ is multiplicative. When $A$ is commutative they include $C^*$-algebras associated to Markov operators by Ionescu, Muhly, Vega, and to topological relations by Brenken, but in general they are not modeled by topological quivers popularized by Muhly and Tomforde. We show that Exel's crossed product $A\rtimes_{α,L} \mathbb{N}$, generalized to the case where $A$ is not necessarily unital, is the cros…
