The "similarity" degree of a unital operator algebra $A$ was defined and studied in two recent papers of ours, where in particular we showed that it coincides with the "length" of an operator algebra. This paper brings several complements: we give direct proofs (with slight improvements) of several known facts on the length which were only known via the degree, and we show that the length of a type $II_1$ factor with property $Γ$ is at most 5, improving on a previous bound ($\le 44$) due to E. Christensen.
Given two multiplicity-free operators $T_1$ and $T_2$ of class $C_0$ having the same finite Blaschke product as minimal function, the operator algebras $H^\infty(T_1)$ and $H^\infty(T_2)$ are isomorphic and $T_1$ is similar to $T_2$. We find conditions under which the norm of the similarity between the operators can be controlled by the norm of the algebra isomorphism. As an application, we improve upon earlier work and obtain results regarding similarity when the minimal function is an infinite product of finite Blaschke products satisfying the generalized Carleson condition.
We show that for a locally compact group $G$, amongst a class which contains amenable and small invariant neighbourhood groups, that its Fourier algebra $A(G)$ satisfies a completely bounded version Pisier's similarity property with similarity degree at most $2$. Specifically, any completely bounded homomorphism $π: A(G)\to B(H)$ admits an invertible $S$ in $B(H)$ for which $\|S\|\|S^{-1}\|\leq ||π||_{cb}^2$ and $S^{-1}π(\cdot)S$ extends to a $*$-representation of the $C^*$-algebra $C_0(G)$. This significantly improves some results due to Brannan and Samei (J. Funct. Anal. 259, 2010) and Brann…
We show that a $C^*$-algebra $A$ is nuclear iff there is a constant $K$ and $α<3$ such that, for any bounded homomorphism $u\colon A \to B(H)$, there is an isomorphism $ξ\colon H\to H$ satisfying $\|ξ^{-1}\|\|ξ\| \le K\|u\|^α$ and such that $ ξ^{-1} u(.) ξ$ is a $*$-homomorphism. In other words, an infinite dimensional $A$ is nuclear iff its length (in ths sense of our previous work on the Kadison similarity problem) is equal to 2.
We address two errors made in our paper arXiv:1511.03423. The most significant error is in Theorem 1.1. We repair this error, and show that the main result, Theorem 2.5 of arXiv:1511.03423, is true. The second error is in one of our examples, Remark 2.4 (iv), and we partially resolve it.
We will investigate the norm closure of the unitary and similarity orbits of normal operators in unital, simple, purely infinite C*-algebras. An operator theoretic proof will be given to the classification of when two normal operators are approximately unitarily equivalent in said algebras with trivial K_1-group. Some upper and lower bounds for the distance between unitary orbits will be obtained based on these methods. In addition, a complete characterization of when one normal operator is in the closed similarity orbit of another normal operator will be given for unital, simple, purely infin…
For every integer $d\ge 1$, there is a unital closed subalgebra $A_d\subset B(H)$ with similarity degree equal precisely to $d$, in the sense of our previous paper. This means that for any unital homomorphism $u\colon A_d\to B(H)$ we have $\|u\|_{cb} \le K\|u\|^d$ with $K>0$ independent of $u$, and the exponent $d$ in this estimate cannot be improved. The proof that the degree is larger than $d-1$ crucially uses an upper bound for the norms of certain Gaussian random matrices due to Haagerup and Thorbjørnsen. We also include several complements to our previous publications on the same subject.
In this note we include two remarks about bounded ($\underline{not}$ necessarily contractive) linear projections on a von Neumann-algebra. We show that if $M$ is a von Neumann-subalgebra of $B(H)$ which is complemented in B(H) and isomorphic to $M \otimes M$ then $M$ is injective (or equivalently $M$ is contractively complemented). We do not know how to get rid of the second assumption on $M$. In the second part,we show that any complemented reflexive subspace of a $C^*$- algebra is necessarily linearly isomorphic to a Hilbert space.
This is a survey of the author's recent results on the Kadison and Halmos similarity problems and the closely connected notion of ``length'' of an operator algebra.
This paper is concerned with derivations in algebras of (unbounded) operators affiliated with a von Neumann algebra $\mathcal{M}$. Let $\mathcal{% A}$ be one of the algebras of measurable operators, locally measurable operators or, $τ$-measurable operators. We present a complete description of von Neumann algebras $\mathcal{M}$ of type $I$ in terms of their central projections such that every derivation in $\mathcal{A}$ is inner. It is also shown that every derivation in the algebra $LS(\mathcal{M})$ of all locally measurable operators with respect to a properly infinite von Neumann algebra $\…
A well-known theorem of Paulsen says that if $\mathcal{A}$ is a unital operator algebra and $ϕ:\mathcal{A}\to B(\mathcal{H})$ is a unital completely bounded homomorphism, then $ϕ$ is similar to a completely contractive map $ϕ'$. Motivated by classification problems for Hilbert space contractions, we are interested in making the inverse $ϕ'^{-1}$ completely contractive as well whenever the map $ϕ$ has a completely bounded inverse. We show that there exist invertible operators $X$ and $Y$ such that the map $$ XaX^{-1}\mapsto Yϕ(a)Y^{-1} $$ is completely contractive and is "almost" isometric on a…
For $1<p<\infty$, we prove (i) a version of Voiculescu's absorption theorem for operators on $l^{p}$, (ii) that $\mathrm{Ext}_{\sim,s}(\mathcal{A},K(l^{p}))$ is a group for certain Banach algebra $\mathcal{A}$, and (iii) homotopy invariance of $\mathrm{Ext}_{\sim,s}(\mathcal{A},K(l^{p}))^{-1}$ in $\mathcal{A}$ for separable Banach algebra $\mathcal{A}$ that is isomorphic to a subalgebra of $B(l^{p})$.
On page 43 in \cite{Po83} Sorin Popa asked whether the following property holds: \emph{If $ω$ is a free ultrafilter on $\mathbb N$ and $\mathcal R_1\subseteq \mathcal R$ is an irreducible inclusion of hyperfinite II$_1$ factors such that $\mathcal R'\cap \mathcal R^ω\subseteq \mathcal R^ω_1$ does it follows that $\mathcal R_1=\mathcal R$?} In this short note we provide an affirmative answer to this question.
We determine numerically the self-similarity maps for spectra of the almost Mathieu operators, a two-dimensional fractal-like structure known as the Hofstadter butterfly. The similarity maps each have a horizontal component determined by certain algebraic maps, and vertical component determined by a Mobius transformation, indexed by a semigroup of the matrix group $GL_2(\Z)$. Based on the numerical evidence, we state and prove a continuity result for the similarity maps. We note a connection between the indexing of the similarity maps and Morita equivalence of rotation algebras $A_θ$, a contin…
In this paper we study the operator inequality ϕ(X)\leq X and the operator equation ϕ(X)= X, where ϕis a w^*-continuous positive (resp. completely positive) linear map on B(H). We show that their solutions are in one-to-one correspondence with a class of Poisson transforms on Cuntz-Toeplitz C^*-algebras, if ϕis completely positive. Canonical decompositions, ergodic type theorems, and lifting theorems are obtained and used to provide a complete description of all solutions, when ϕ(I)\leq I. We show that the above-mentioned inequality (resp. equation) and the structure of its solutions have stro…
It is a longstanding problem whether every contractible Banach algebra is necessarily finite-dimensional. In this note, we confirm this for Banach algebras acting on Banach spaces with the uniform approximation property. This generalizes a result of Paulsen and Smith who proved the same for Banach algebras acting on Hilbert spaces.
Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for the similarity between two perturbations of the (backward) shift by rank one operators, under certain assumptions on the perturbations. The proof of similarity is based on an explicit construction of intertwiners between the perturbations. These intertwiners, in turn, are parametrized by the elements of a certain algebra, with the group of "circle invertible" elements of this algebra giving rise to invertible intertwiners.
Using a variation of the Murphy-Varopoulos Theorem, we give a new proof of the following R.J.Loy Theorem: Let A be a separable Banach*-algebra with center Z such that ZA has at most countable codimension, then every positive linear functional on A is continuous.
Let $A$ be a unital operator algebra. Let us assume that every {\it bounded\/} unital homomorphism $u\colon \ A\to B(H)$ is similar to a {\it contractive\/} one. Let $\text{\rm Sim}(u) = \inf\{\|S\|\, \|S^{-1}\|\}$ where the infimum runs over all invertible operators $S\colon \ H\to H$ such that the ``conjugate'' homomorphism $a\to S^{-1}u(a)S$ is contractive. Now for all $c>1$, let $Φ(c) = \sup\text{\rm Sim}(u)$ where the supremum runs over all unital homomorphism $u\colon\ A\to B(H)$ with $\|u\|\le c$. Then, there is $α\ge 0$ such that for some constant $K$ we have: $$Φ(c) \le Kc^α.\leqno (*…
For a Banach algebra $A$, we say that an element $M$ in $A\otimes^γA$ is a hyper-commutator if $(a\otimes 1)M=M(1\otimes a)$ for every $a\in A$. A diagonal for a Banach algebra is a hyper-commutator which its image under diagonal mapping is $1$. It is well-known that a Banach algebra is contractible iff it has a diagonal. The main aim of this note is to show that for any Banach subalgebra $A\subseteq\mathcal{L}(X)$ of bounded linear operators on infinite-dimensional Banach space $X$, which contains the ideal of finite-rank operators, the image of any hyper-commutator of $A$ under the canonical…
We study the structure of the generator of a symmetric, conservative quantum dynamical semigroup with norm-bounded generator on a von Neumann algebra equipped with a faithful semifinite trace. For von Neumann algebras with abelian commutant (i.e. type I von Neumann algebras), we give a necessary and sufficient algebraic condition for the generator of such a semigroup to be written as a sum of square of self-adjoint derivations of the von Neumann algebra. This generalizes some of the results obtained by Albeverio, H(phi)egh-Krohn and Olsen [Alb] for the special case of the finite dimensional ma…
