We define an ultragraph, which is a generalization of a directed graph, and describe how to associate a C*-algebra to it. We show that the class of ultragraph algebras contains the C*-algebras of graphs as well as the Exel-Laca algebras. We also show that many of the techniques used for graph algebras can be applied to ultragraph algebras and that the ultragraph provides a useful tool for analyzing Exel-Laca algebras. Our results include versions of the Cuntz-Krieger Uniqueness Theorem and the Gauge-Invariant Uniqueness Theorem for ultragraph algebras.
We give various necessary and sufficient conditions for an AF-algebra to be isomorphic to a graph C*-algebra, an Exel-Laca algebra, and an ultragraph C*-algebra. We also explore consequences of these results. In particular, we show that all stable AF-algebras are both graph C*-algebras and Exel-Laca algebras, and that all simple AF-algebras are either graph C*-algebras or Exel-Laca algebras. In addition, we obtain a characterization of AF-algebras that are isomorphic to the C*-algebra of a row-finite graph with no sinks.
We prove that the classes of graph algebras, Exel-Laca algebras, and ultragraph algebras coincide up to Morita equivalence. This result answers the long-standing open question of whether every Exel-Laca algebra is Morita equivalent to a graph algebra. Given an ultragraph G we construct a directed graph E such that C*(G) is isomorphic to a full corner of C*(E). As applications, we characterize real rank zero for ultragraph algebras and describe quotients of ultragraph algebras by gauge-invariant ideals.
We show that the (Gurevich) topological entropy for the countable Markov shift associated with an infinite transition matrix $A$ coincides with the non-commutative topological entropy for the Exel--Laca algebra associated with $A$, under certain conditions on $A$. An important example satisfying the conditions is the renewal shift, which is not locally finite. We also pose interesting questions for future research on non-commutative topological entropy for non-locally finite transition matrices.
We generalize a recent construction of Exel and Pardo, from discrete groups acting on finite directed graphs to locally compact groups acting on topological graphs. To each cocycle for such an action, we construct a $C^*$-correspondence whose associated Cuntz-Pimsner algebra is the analog of the Exel-Pardo $C^*$-algebra.
We introduce the Leavitt path algebras of ultragraphs and we characterize their ideal structures. We then use this notion to introduce and study the algebraic analogous of Exel-Laca algebras.
There are many different crossed products by an endomorphism of a C*-algebra, and constructions by Exel and Stacey have proved particularly useful. Here we show that every Exel crossed product is isomorphic to a Stacey crossed product (though by a different endomorphism of a different C*-algebra), that every Stacey crossed product is an Exel crossed product, and answer some questions raised by Ionescu and Muhly. While this manuscript is not yet in its final form(s) several people have already used our results, so we are posting it now.
K-theory and Ext are computed for the C*-algebra C*(E) of any countable directed graph E. The results generalize the K-theory computations of Raeburn and Szymanski and the Ext computations of Tomforde for row-finite graphs. As a consequence, it is shown that if A is a countable {0,1} matrix and E_A is the graph obtained by viewing A as a vertex matrix, then C*(E_A) is not necessarily Morita equivalent to the Exel-Laca algebra O_A.
We consider a family of dynamical systems (A,alpha,L) in which alpha is an endomorphism of a C*-algebra A and L is a transfer operator for α. We extend Exel's construction of a crossed product to cover non-unital algebras A, and show that the C*-algebra of a locally finite graph can be realised as one of these crossed products. When A is commutative, we find criteria for the simplicity of the crossed product, and analyse the ideal structure of the crossed product.
We compute the homology of the groupoid associated to the Katsura algebras, and show that they capture the $K$-theory of the $C^*$-algebras, and hence satisfying the (HK) conjecture posted by Matui. Moreover, we show that several classifiable simple $C^*$-algebras are groupoid $C^*$-algebras of this class.
There are many different crossed products by an endomorphism of a C*-algebra, and constructions by Exel and Stacey have proved particularly useful. Here we show that every Exel crossed product is isomorphic to a Stacey crossed product, though by a different endomorphism of a different C*-algebra. We apply this result to a variety of Exel systems, including those associated to shifts on the path spaces of directed graphs.
We consider Exel's new construction of a crossed product of a C*-algebra A by an endomorphism α. We prove that this crossed product is universal for an appropriate family of covariant representations, and we show that it can be realised as a relative Cuntz-Pimsner algbera. We describe a necessary and sufficient condition for the canonical map from A into the crossed product to be injective, and present several examples to demonstrate the scope of this result. We also prove a gauge-invariant uniqueness theorem for the crossed product.
We consider Toeplitz and Cuntz-Krieger $C^*$-algebras associated with finitely aligned left cancellative small categories. We pay special attention to the case where such a category arises as the Zappa-Szép product of a category and a group linked by a one-cocycle. As our main application, we obtain a new approach to Exel-Pardo algebras in the case of row-finite graphs. We also present some other ways of constructing $C^*$-algebras from left cancellative small categories and discuss their relationship.
We use the boundary-path space of a finitely-aligned k-graph Λto construct a compactly-aligned product system X, and we show that the graph algebra C^*(Λ) is isomorphic to the Cuntz-Nica-Pimsner algebra NO(X). In this setting, we introduce the notion of a crossed product by a semigroup of partial endomorphisms and partially-defined transfer operators by defining it to be NO(X). We then compare this crossed product with other definitions in the literature.
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\…
In this paper we analyze the structure of C*-algebras associated to ultragraphs, which are generalizations of directed graphs. We characterize the simple ultragraph algebras as well as deduce necessary and sufficient conditions for an ultragraph algebra to be purely infinite and to be AF. Using these techniques we also produce an example of an ultragraph algebra which is neither a graph algebra nor an Exel-Laca algebra. We conclude by proving that the C*-algebras of ultragraphs with no sinks are Cuntz-Pimsner 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…
To an arbitrary directed graph we associate a row-finite directed graph whose C*-algebra contains the C*-algebra of the original graph as a full corner. This allows us to generalize results for C*-algebras of row-finite graphs to C*-algebras of arbitrary graphs: the uniqueness theorem, simplicity criteria, descriptions of the ideals and primitive ideal space, and conditions under which a graph algebra is AF and purely infinite. Our proofs require only standard Cuntz-Krieger techniques and do not rely on powerful constructs such as groupoids, Exel-Laca algebras, or Cuntz-Pimsner algebras.
We introduce an algebraic version of the Katsura $C^*$-algebra of a pair $A,B$ of integer matrices and an algebraic version of the Exel-Pardo $C^*$-algebra of a self-similar action on a graph. We prove a Graded Uniqueness Theorem for such algebras and construct a homomorphism of the latter into a Steinberg algebra that, under mild conditions, is an isomorphism. Working with Steinberg algebras over non-Hausdorff groupoids we prove that in the unital case, our algebraic version of Katsura $C^*$-algebras are all isomorphic to Steinberg algebras.
Given a dynamical system $(A,\al)$ where $A$ is a unital $\ca$-algebra and $\al$ is a (possibly non-unital) *-endomorphism of $A$, we examine families $(π,\{T_i\})$ such that $π$ is a representation of $A$, $\{T_i\}$ is a Toeplitz-Cuntz family and a covariance relation holds. We compute a variety of non-selfadjoint operator algebras that depend on the choice of the covariance relation, along with the smallest $\ca$-algebra they generate, namely the $\ca$-envelope. We then relate each occurrence of the $\ca$-envelope to (a full corner of) an appropriate twisted crossed product. We provide a cou…
We give a complete description of the primitive ideal space of the C*-algebra associated to the ring of integers R in a number field K as considered in a recent paper by Cuntz, Deninger and Laca.
We extend to arbitrary commutative base rings a recent result of Demeneghi that every ideal of an ample groupoid algebra over a field is an intersection of kernels of induced representations from isotropy groups, with a much shorter proof, by using the author's Disintegration Theorem for groupoid representations. We also prove that every primitive ideal is the kernel of an induced representation from an isotropy group; however, we are unable to show, in general, that it is the kernel of an irreducible induced representation. If each isotropy group is finite (e.g., if the groupoid is principal)…
We prove a version of uniqueness theorem for Cuntz-Pimsner algebras of discrete product systems over semigroups of Ore type. To this end, we introduce Doplicher-Roberts picture of Cuntz-Pimsner algebras, and the semigroup dual to a product system of 'regular' C*-correspondences. Under a certain aperiodicity condition on the latter, we obtain the uniqueness theorem and a simplicity criterion for the algebras in question. These results generalize the corresponding ones for crossed products by discrete groups, due to Archbold and Spielberg, and for Exel's crossed products, due to Exel and Vershik…
We present a different way to study the C*-algebra associated with an injective endomorphism of a group G of infinite cokernel. We follow the work of Boava and Exel to construct a partial crossed product representation of that C*-algebra and show properties only using such tools.
We investigate structural properties of the reduced cross-sectional algebra $C^*_r(\mathcal{B})$ of a Fell bundle $\mathcal{B}$ over a discrete group $G$. Conditions allowing one to determine the ideal structure of $C^*_r(\mathcal{B})$ are studied. Notions of aperiodicity, paradoxicality and $\mathcal{B}$-infiniteness for the Fell bundle $\mathcal{B}$ are introduced and investigated by themselves and in relation to the partial dynamical system dual to $\mathcal{B}$. Several criteria of pure infiniteness of $C^*_r(\mathcal{B})$ are given. It is shown that they generalize and unify corresponding…
The relative graph $C^*$-algebras introduced by Muhly and Tomforde are generalizations of both graph algebras and their Toeplitz extensions. For an arbitrary graph $E$ and a subset $R$ of the set of regular vertices of $E$ we show that the relative graph $C^*$-algebra $C^*(E, R)$ is isomorphic to a partial crossed product for an action of the free group generated by the edge set on the relative boundary path space. Given a time evolution on $C^*(E, R)$ induced by a function on the edge set, we characterize the KMS$_β$ states and ground states using an abstract result of Exel and Laca. Guided b…
We describe KMS and ground states arising from a generalized gauge action on ultragraph C*-algebras. We focus on ultragraphs that satisfy Condition~(RFUM), so that we can use the partial crossed product description of ultragraph C*-algebras recently described by the second author and Danilo Royer. In particular, for ultragraphs with no sinks, we generalize a recent result by Toke Carlsen and Nadia Larsen: Given a time evolution on the C*-algebra of an ultragraph, induced by a function on the edge set, we characterize the KMS states in five different ways and ground states in four different way…
Katsura associated a $C^*$-algebra $C^*_{A,B}$ to integral matrices $A\ge 0$ and $B$ of the same size, gave sufficient conditions on $(A,B)$ making it simple purely infinite (SPI), and proved that any separable $C^*$-algebra $KK$-isomorphic to a cone of an element $ξ\in KK(C(S^1)^n,C(S^1)^n)$ in Kasparov's $KK$ is $KK$-isomorphic to an SPI $C^*_{A,B}$. Here we introduce, for the data of a commutative ring $\ell$, matrices $A,B$ as above and $C$ of the same size with coefficients in the group $\mathcal{U}(\ell)$ of invertible elements, an $\ell$-algebra $\mathcal{O}_{A,B}^C$, the twisted Katsur…
We consider operator-algebraic dynamical systems given by actions of the real line on unital $C^*$-algebras, and especially the equilibrium states (or KMS states) of such systems. We are particularly interested in systems built from the gauge action on the Toeplitz algebra and graph algebra of a finite directed graph, and we describe a complete classification of the KMS states obtained in joint work with Laca and Sims. We then discuss applications of these results to Cuntz-Pimsner algebras associated to local homeomorphisms, obtained in collaboration with Afsar. Thomsen has given bounds on the…
Motivated by Exel's inverse semigroup approach to combinatorial C*-algebras, in a previous work the authors defined an inverse semigroup associated with a labelled space. We construct a representation of the C*-algebra of a labelled space, inspired by how one might cut or glue labelled paths together, that proves that non-zero elements in the inverse semigroup correspond to non-zero elements in the C*-algebra. We also show that the spectrum of its diagonal C*-subalgebra is homeomorphic to the tight spectrum of the inverse semigroup associated with the labelled space.
Recent results of Laca, Raeburn, Ramagge and Whittaker show that any self-similar action of a groupoid on a graph determines a 1-parameter family of self-mappings of the trace space of the groupoid C*-algebra. We investigate the fixed points for these self-mappings, under the same hypotheses that Laca et al. used to prove that the C*-algebra of the self-similar action admits a unique KMS state. We prove that for any value of the parameter, the associated self-mapping admits a unique fixed point, which is in fact a universal attractor. This fixed point is precisely the trace that extends to a K…
Let $P$ be a unital subsemigroup of a group $G$. We propose an approach to $\mathrm{C}^*$-algebras associated to product systems over $P$. We call the $\mathrm{C}^*$-algebra of a given product system $\mathcal{E}$ its covariance algebra and denote it by $A\times_{\mathcal{E}}P$, where $A$ is the coefficient $\mathrm{C}^*$-algebra. We prove that our construction does not depend on the embedding $P\hookrightarrow G$ and that a representation of $A\times_{\mathcal{E}}P$ is faithful on the fixed-point algebra for the canonical coaction of $G$ if and only if it is faithful on $A$. We compare this w…
We investigate the pure infiniteness and stable finiteness of the Exel-Pardo $C^*$-algebras $\mathcal{O}_{G,E}$ for countable self-similar graphs $(G,E,φ)$. In particular, we associate a specific ordinary graph $\widetilde{E}$ to $(G,E,φ)$ such that some properties such as simpleness, stable finiteness or pure infiniteness of the graph $C^*$-algebra $C^*(\widetilde{E})$ imply that of $\mathcal{O}_{G,E}$. Among others, this follows a dichotomy for simple $\mathcal{O}_{G,E}$: if $(G,E,φ)$ contains no $G$-circuits, then $\mathcal{O}_{G,E}$ is stably finite; otherwise, $\mathcal{O}_{G,E}$ is purel…
Let (G,P) be a quasi-lattice ordered group and let X be a compactly aligned product system over P of Hilbert bimodules. Under mild hypotheses we associate to X a C*-algebra which we call the Cuntz-Nica-Pimsner algebra of X. Our construction generalises a number of others: a sub-class of Fowler's Cuntz-Pimsner algebras for product systems of Hilbert bimodules; Katsura's formulation of Cuntz-Pimsner algebras of Hilbert bimodules; the C*-algebras of finitely aligned higher-rank graphs; and Crisp and Laca's boundary quotients of Toeplitz algebras. We show that for a large class of product systems …
We investigate KMS states of Fowler's Nica-Toeplitz algebra $\mathcal{NT}(X)$ associated to a compactly aligned product system $X$ over a semigroup $P$ of Hilbert bimodules. This analysis relies on restrictions of these states to the core algebra which satisfy appropriate scaling conditions. The concept of product system of finite type is introduced. If $(G, P)$ is a lattice ordered group and $X$ is a product system of finite type over $P$ satisfying certain coherence properties, we construct KMS$_β$ states of $\NT(X)$ associated to a scalar dynamics from traces on the coefficient algebra of t…
To a graph $Γ$ one can associate a C^*-algebra $C^*(Γ)$ generated by isometries. Such $C^*$-algebras were studied recently by Crisp and Laca. They are a special case of the Toeplitz C^*-algebras $\mathcal{T}(G, P)$ associated to quasi-latice ordered groups (G, P) introduced by Nica. Crisp and Laca proved that the so called "boundary quotients" $C^*_q(Γ)$ of $C^*(Γ)$ are simple and purely infinite. For a certain class of finite graphs $Γ$ we show that $C^*_q(Γ)$ can be represented as a full corner of a crossed product of an appropriate C^*-subalgebra of $C^*_q(Γ)$ built by using $C^*(Γ')$, wher…
In this paper, we introduce a notion of a self-similar action of a group $G$ on a $k$-graph $Λ$, and associate it a universal C*-algebra $Ø_{G,Λ}$. We prove that $Ø_{G,Λ}$ can be realized as the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra of a product system. If $G$ is amenable and the action is pseudo free, then $Ø_{G,Λ}$ is shown to be isomorphic to a "path-like" groupoid C*-algebra. This facilitates studying the properties of $Ø_{G,Λ}$. We show that $Ø_{G,Λ}$ is always nuclear and satisfies the Universal Coefficient Theorem; we characterize the simplicity of $Ø_{G,Λ}$ in terms of the underlying action; and we pr…
In this article, we use Exel's construction to associate a C*-algebra to every shift space. We show that it has the C*-algebra defined in [Carlsen and Matsumoto: Some remarks on the C*-algebras associated with subshifts] as a quotient, and possesses properties indicating that it can be thought of as the universal C*-algebra associated to a shift space. We also consider its representations, relationship to other C*-algebras associated to shift spaces, show that it can be viewed as a generalization of the universal Cuntz-Krieger algebra, discuss uniqueness and a faithful representation, provide …
In this paper we give a formula for the $K$-theory of the $C^*$-algebra of a weakly left-resolving labelled space. This is done by realising the $C^*$-algebra of a weakly left-resolving labelled space as the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra of a $C^*$-correspondence. As a corollary we get a gauge invariant uniqueness theorem for the $C^*$-algebra of any weakly left-resolving labelled space. In order to achieve this we must modify the definition of the $C^*$-algebra of a weakly left-resolving labelled space. We also establish strong connections between the various classes of $C^*$-algebras which are assoc…
The structure of KMS states of Toeplitz algebras associated to finite graphs equipped with the gauge action is determined by an Huef--Laca--Raeburn--Sims. Their results imply that extremal KMS states of type I correspond to vertices, while extremal KMS states at critical inverse temperatures correspond to minimal strongly connected components. The purpose of this article is to clarify the role of non-minimal components and the relation between vertices and minimal components in the KMS-structure. For each component $C_0$ and each vertex $v \in C_0$, the KMS states at the critical inverse tempe…
We provide a Cuntz-Pimsner model for graph of groups $C^*$-algebras. This allows us to compute the $K$-theory of a range of examples and show that graph of groups $C^*$-algebras can be realised as Exel-Pardo algebras. We also make a preliminary investigation of whether the crossed product algebra of Baumslag-Solitar groups acting on the boundary of certain trees satisfies Poincaré duality in $KK$-theory. By constructing a $K$-theory duality class we compute the $K$-homology of these crossed products.
We review Kajiwara and Watatani's construction of a C*-algebra from an iterated function system (IFS). If the IFS satisfies the finite branch condition or the open set condition, we build an injective homomorphism from Kajiwara-Watatani algebras to the Cuntz algebra, which can be thought as the algebra of the lifted system, and we give the description of its image. Finally, if the IFS admits a left inverse we show that the Kajiwara-Watatani algebra is isomorphic to an Exel's crossed product.
The graph product of a family of groups lies somewhere between their direct and free products, with the graph determining which pairs of groups commute and which do not. We show that the graph product of quasi-lattice ordered groups is quasi-lattice ordered, and, when the underlying groups are amenable, that it satisfies Nica's amenability condition for quasi-lattice orders. As a consequence the Toeplitz algebras of these groups are universal for covariant isometric representations on Hilbert space, and their representations are faithful if the isometries satisfy a properness condition given b…
We consider a free action of an Ore semigroup on a higher-rank graph, and the induced action by endomorphisms of the $C^*$-algebra of the graph. We show that the crossed product by this action is stably isomorphic to the $C^*$-algebra of a quotient graph. Our main tool is Laca's dilation theory for endomorphic actions of Ore semigroups on $C^*$-algebras, which embeds such an action in an automorphic action of the enveloping group on a larger $C^*$-algebra.
We introduce and analyze the full $\mathcal{NT}_{\mathcal{L}}(\mathcal{K})$ and the reduced $\mathcal{NT}_{\mathcal{L}}^r(\mathcal{K})$ Nica-Toeplitz algebra associated to an ideal $\mathcal{K}$ in a right tensor $C^*$-precategory $\mathcal{L}$ over a right LCM semigroup $P$. Our main results are uniqueness theorems in the spirit of classical Coburn's theorem, generalizing uniqueness results for Toeplitz-type $C^*$-algebras associated to single $C^*$-correspondences, quasi-lattice ordered semigroups, and crossed products twisted by product systems of $C^*$-correspondences obtained by Fowler, L…
The notion of a labelled space was introduced by Bates and Pask in generalizing certain classes of C*-algebras. Motivated by Exel's work on inverse semigroups and combinatorial C*-algebras, we associate each weakly left resolving labelled space with an inverse semigroup, and characterize the tight spectrum of the latter in a way that is reminiscent of the description of the boundary path space of a directed graph.
In this article, we provide an explicit description of a set of generators for any ideal of an ultragraph Leavitt path algebra. We provide several additional consequences of this description, including information about generating sets for graded ideals, the graded uniqueness and Cuntz-Krieger theorems, the semiprimeness, and the semiprimitivity of ultragraph Leavitt path algebras, a complete characterization of the prime and primitive ideals of an ultragraph Leavitt path algebra. We also show that every primitive ideal of an ultragraph Leavitt path algebra is exactly the annihilator of a Chen…
We study KMS states on finite-graph C*-algebras with sinks and sources. We compare finite-graph C*-algebras with C*-algebras associated with complex dynamical systems of rational functions. We show that if the inverse temperature $β$ is large, then the set of extreme $β$-KMS states is parametrized by the set of sinks of the graph. This means that the sinks of a graph correspond to the branched points of a rational funcition from the point of KMS states. Since we consider graphs with sinks and sources, left actions of the associated bimodules are not injective. Then the associated graph C*-alge…
We unify various étale groupoid reconstruction theorems such as: 1) Kumjian-Renault's reconstruction from a groupoid C*-algebra. 2) Exel's reconstruction from an ample inverse semigroup. 3) Steinberg's reconstruction from a groupoid ring. 4) Choi-Gardella-Thiel's reconstruction from a groupoid L^p-algebra. We do this by working with certain bumpy semigroups S of functions defined on an étale groupoid G. The semigroup structure of S together with the diagonal subsemigroup D then yields a natural domination relation < on S. The groupoid of <-ultrafilters is then isomorphic to the original groupo…
