We study conjugacy orbits of certain types of subalgebras in tracial von Neumann algebras. For any separable II$_1$ factor $N_0$ we construct a highly indecomposable non Gamma II$_1$ factor $N$ such that $N_0 \subset N$ and moreover every von Neumann subalgebra of $N$ with Haagerup's property admits a unique embedding up to unitary conjugation. Such a factor necessarily has to be non separable, but we show that it can be taken of density character $2^{\aleph_0}$. On the other hand we are able to construct for any separable II$_1$ factor $M_0$, a separable II$_1$ factor $M$ containing $M_0$ such that every property (T) subfactor admits a unique embedding into $M$ up to uniformly approximate unitary equivalence; i.e., any pair of embeddings can be conjugated up to a small uniform $2$-norm perturbation.
We study the complexity of the classification problem for Cartan subalgebras in von Neumann algebras. We construct a large family of II$_1$ factors whose Cartan subalgebras up to unitary conjugacy are not classifiable by countable structures, providing the first such examples. Additionally, we construct examples of II$_1$ factors whose Cartan subalgebras up to conjugacy by an automorphism are not classifiable by countable structures. Finally, we show directly that the Cartan subalgebras of the hyperfinite II$_1$ factor up to unitary conjugacy are not classifiable by countable structures, and d…
We apply a method inspired by Popa's intertwining-by-bimodules technique to investigate inner conjugacy of MASAs in graph $C^*$-algebras. First we give a new proof of non-inner conjugacy of the diagonal MASA ${\mathcal D}_n$ to its non-trivial image under a quasi-free automorphism, where $E$ is a finite transitive graph. Changing graphs representing the algebras, this result applies to some non quasi-free automorphisms as well. Then we exhibit a large class of MASAs in the Cuntz algebra ${\mathcal O}_n$ that are not inner conjugate to the diagonal ${\mathcal D}_n$.
The problem of inner vs outer conjugacy of subalgebras of certain graph C*-algebras is investigated. For a large class of finite graphs E, we show that whenever $α$ is a vertex-fixing quasi-free automorphism of the corresponding graph C*-algebra C*(E) such that α(\D_E)\neq\D_E, where \D_E is the canonical MASA in C*(E), then α(\D_E)\neq w\D_E w^* for all unitaries w\in C*(E). That is, the two MASAs \D_E and α(\D_E) of C*(E) are outer but not inner conjugate. Passing to an isomorphic C*-algebra by changing the underlying graph makes this result applicable to certain non quasi-free automorphisms…
We completely classify Cartan subalgebras of dimension drop algebras with coprime parameters. More generally, we classify Cartan subalgebras of arbitrary stabilised dimension drop algebras that are non-degenerate in the sense that the dimensions of their fibres in the endpoints are maximal. Conjugacy classes by an automorphism are parametrised by certain congruence classes of matrices over the natural numbers with prescribed row and column sums. In particular, each dimension drop algebra admits only finitely many non-degenerate Cartan subalgebras up to conjugacy. As a consequence of this param…
Denote by $U_{\mathcal I}({\mathcal H})$ the group of all unitary operators in ${\bf 1}+{\mathcal I}$ where ${\mathcal H}$ is a separable infinite-dimensional complex Hilbert space and ${\mathcal I}$ is any two-sided ideal of ${\mathcal B}({\mathcal H})$. A Cartan subalgebra ${\mathcal C}$ of ${\mathcal I}$ is defined in this paper as a maximal abelian self-adjoint subalgebra of~${\mathcal I}$ and its conjugacy class is defined herein as the set of Cartan subalgebras $\{V{\mathcal C} V^*\mid V\in U_{\mathcal I}({\mathcal H})\}$. For nonzero proper ideals ${\mathcal I}$ we construct an uncounta…
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 prove that the normalizer of any diffuse amenable subalgebra of a free group factor $L(\Bbb F_r)$ generates an amenable von Neumann subalgebra. Moreover, any II$_1$ factor of the form $Q \vt L(\Bbb F_r) $, with $Q$ an arbitrary subfactor of a tensor product of free group factors, has no Cartan subalgebras. We also prove that if a free ergodic measure preserving action of a free group $\Bbb F_r$, $2\leq r \leq \infty$, on a probability space $(X,μ)$ is profinite then the group measure space factor $L^\infty(X)\rtimes \Bbb F_r$ has unique Cartan subalgebra, up to unitary conjugacy.
We study uniform perturbations of intermediate C*-subalgebras of inclusions of simple C*-algebras. If a unital simple C*-algebra has a simple C*-subalgebra of finite index, then sufficiently close simple intermediate C*-subalgebras are unitarily equivalent. These C*-subalgebras need not to be nuclear. The unitary can be chosen in the relative commutant algebra. An imediate corollary is the following: If the relative commutant is trivial, then the set of intermediate C*-subagebras is a finite set.
In this paper, we study uniform perturbations of von Neumann subalgebras of a von Neumann algebra. Let N and M be von Neumann subalgebras of a von Neumann algebra with finite probabilistic index in the sense of Pimsner-Popa. If N and M are sufficiently close, then N and M are unitarily equivalent. The implementing unitary can be chosen as being close to the identity.
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.
We prove that any II$_1$ factor $L^{\infty}(X)\rtimesΓ$ arising from a compact, free, ergodic, probability measure preserving action of a countable group $Γ$ with positive first $\ell^2$-Betti number, has a unique group measure space Cartan subalgebra, up to unitary conjugacy.
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 prove that the regular von Neumann subalgebras $B$ of the hyperfinite II_1 factor $R$ satisfying the condition $B'\cap R=Z(B)$ are completely classified (up to conjugacy by an automorphism of $R$) by the associated discrete measured groupoid $G$. We obtain a similar classification result for triple inclusions $A\subset B \subset R$, where $A$ is a Cartan subalgebra in $R$ and the intermediate von Neumann algebra $B$ is regular in $R$. A key step in proving these results is to show the vanishing cohomology for the associated cocycle actions of $G$ on $B$. We in fact prove two very general va…
We show that two cocycle-conjugate endomorphisms of an arbitrary von Neumann algebra that satisfy certain stability conditions are conjugate endomorphisms, when restricted to some specific von Neumann subalgebras. As a consequence of this result, we obtain a new criterion for conjugacy of Powers shift endomorphisms acting on factors of type $\rm{I}\sb{\infty}.$
We prove that for any free ergodic nonsingular nonamenable action Γ \actson (X,μ) of all Γ in a large class of groups including all hyperbolic groups, the associated group measure space factor $L^\infty(X) \rtimes Γ$ has L^\infty(X) as its unique Cartan subalgebra, up to unitary conjugacy. This generalizes the probability measure preserving case that was established in [PV12]. We also prove primeness and indecomposability results for such crossed products, for the corresponding orbit equivalence relations and for arbitrary amalgamated free products $M_1 *_B M_2$ over a subalgebra B of type I.
We consider two von Neumann subalgebras $\cl B_0$ and $\cl B$ of a type ${\rm{II}}_1$ factor $\cl N$. For a map $ϕ$ on $\cl N$, we define \[\|ϕ\|_{\infty,2}=\sup\{\|ϕ(x)\|_2\colon \|x\| \leq 1\},\] and we measure the distance between $\cl B_0$ and $\cl B$ by the quantity $\|{\bb E}_{\cl B_0}-{\bb E}_{\cl B}\|_{\infty,2}$. Under the hypothesis that the relative commutant in $\cl N$ of each algebra is equal to its center, we prove that close subalgebras have large compressions which are spatially isomorphic by a partial isometry close to 1 in the $\|\cdot \|_2$--norm. This hypothesis is satisfie…
We give sufficient conditions, in terms of the existence of unbounded derivations satisfying certain properties, which ensure that a II$_1$ factor $M$ is prime or has at most one Cartan subalgebra. For instance, we prove that if there exists a real closable unbounded densely defined derivation $δ:M\rightarrow L^2(M)\bar{\otimes}L^2(M)$ whose domain contains a non-amenability set, then $M$ is prime. If $δ$ is moreover "algebraic" (i.e. its domain $M_0$ is finitely generated, $δ(M_0)\subset M_0\otimes M_0$ and $δ^*(1\otimes 1)\in M_0$), then we show that $M$ has no Cartan subalgebra. We also giv…
We prove that for any free ergodic probability measure preserving action $Γ\actson (X,μ)$ of a non-elementary hyperbolic group, or a lattice in a rank one simple Lie group, the associated group measure space II_1 factor $L^\infty(X) \rtimes Γ$ has L^\infty(X) as its unique Cartan subalgebra, up to unitary conjugacy.
We prove the first rigidity and classification theorems for crossed product von Neumann algebras given by actions of non-discrete, locally compact groups. We prove that for arbitrary free probability measure preserving actions of connected simple Lie groups of real rank one, the crossed product has a unique Cartan subalgebra up to unitary conjugacy. We then deduce a W* strong rigidity theorem for irreducible actions of products of such groups. More generally, our results hold for products of locally compact groups that are nonamenable, weakly amenable and that belong to Ozawa's class S.
We introduce a wide class of countable groups, called properly proximal, which contains all non-amenable bi-exact groups, all non-elementary convergence groups, and all lattices in non-compact semi-simple Lie groups, but excludes all inner amenable groups. We show that crossed product II$_1$ factors arising from free ergodic probability measure preserving actions of groups in this class have at most one weakly compact Cartan subalgebra, up to unitary conjugacy. As an application, we obtain the first $W^*$-strong rigidity results for compact actions of $SL_d(\mathbb Z)$ for $d \geq 3$.
Let $I$ be any nonempty set and $(M_i, φ_i)_{i \in I}$ any family of nonamenable factors, endowed with arbitrary faithful normal states, that belong to a large class $\mathcal C_{\rm anti-free}$ of (possibly type III) von Neumann algebras including all nonprime factors, all nonfull factors and all factors possessing a Cartan subalgebra. For the free product $(M, φ) = \ast_{i \in I} (M_i, φ_i)$, we show that the free product von Neumann algebra $M$ retains the cardinality $|I|$ and each nonamenable factor $M_i$ up to stably inner conjugacy, after permutation of the indices. Our main theorem uni…
Kadison and Kastler introduced a natural metric on the collection of all C*-subalgebras of the bounded operators on a separable Hilbert space. They conjectured that sufficiently close algebras are unitarily conjugate. We establish this conjecture when one algebra is separable and nuclear. We also consider one-sided versions of these notions, and we obtain embeddings from certain near inclusions involving separable nuclear C*-algebras. At the end of the paper we demonstrate how our methods lead to improved characterisations of some of the types of algebras that are of current interest in the cl…
We investigate maximal abelian subalgebras (masas) in separably acting type $II_1$ factors. We use the notion of distance between masas which we introduced in an earlier paper in this archive, OA/0107075. The main result of the paper is to show that for any unitary u and a masa A, the distance between A and uAu* is comparable to the distance in 2-norm from u to the unitary normalizer N(A) of A. In qualitative terms, this says that a unitary almost normalizes A if and only if it is close to a normalizing unitary. Inequalities in the paper make this statement quantitatively precise. As a consequ…
