The graph C*-algebra of a directed graph E is the universal C*-algebra generated by a family of partial isometries satisfying relations which reflect the path structure of E. In the first part of this paper we consider coverings of directed graphs: morphisms p:F->E which are local isomorphisms. We show that the graph algebra C*(F) can be recovered from C*(E) as a crossed product by a coaction of a homogeneous space associated to the fundamental group π_1 (E). These crossed products provide a good model for a general theory of crossed products by homogeneous spaces. The second part of the paper is devoted to building a framework for studying crossed products by homogeneous spaces using Rieffel's theory of proper actions.
We investigate approximation properties for $C^*$-algebras and their crossed products by actions and coactions by locally compact groups. We show that Haagerup's approximation constant is preserved for crossed products by arbitrary amenable groups, and we show why this is not always true in the non-amenable case. We also examine similar questions for other forms of the approximation property.
Consider a projective limit G of finite groups G_n. Fix a compatible family δ^n of coactions of the G_n on a C*-algebra A. From this data we obtain a coaction δof G on A. We show that the coaction crossed product of A by δis isomorphic to a direct limit of the coaction crossed products of A by the δ^n. If A = C*(Λ) for some k-graph Λ, and if the coactions δ^n correspond to skew-products of Λ, then we can say more. We prove that the coaction crossed-product of C*(Λ) by δmay be realised as a full corner of the C*-algebra of a (k+1)-graph. We then explore connections with Yeend's topological high…
For a discrete group $G$, we develop a `$G$-balanced tensor product' of two coactions $(A,δ)$ and $(B,ε)$, which takes place on a certain subalgebra of the maximal tensor product $A\otimes_{\max} B$. Our motivation for this is that we are able to prove that given two actions of $G$, the dual coaction on the crossed product of the maximal-tensor-product action is isomorphic to the $G$-balanced tensor product of the dual coactions. In turn, our motivation for this is to give an analogue, for coaction functors, of a crossed-product functor originated by Baum, Guentner, and Willett, and further de…
For any maximal coaction (A, G, delta) and any closed normal subgroup N of G, there exists an imprimitivity bimodule Y between the full crossed product A x G x N and A x G/N, together with a compatible coaction delta_Y of G. The assignment (A, delta) -> (Y, delta_Y) implements a natural equivalence between the crossed-product functors "x G x N" and "x G/N", in the category whose objects are maximal coactions of G and whose morphisms are isomorphism classes of right-Hilbert bimodule coactions of G.
We present definitions of both Connes spectrum and strong Connes spectrum for actions of compact quantum groups on C*-algebras and obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for a crossed product to be a prime or a simple C*-algebra. Our results extend to the case of compact quantum actions the results in [8] which in turn, generalize results by Connes, Olesen and Pedersen and Kishimoto for abelian group actions. We prove in addition that the Connes spectra are closed under tensor products. These results are new for compact nonabelian groups as well.
In further study of the application of crossed-product functors to the Baum-Connes Conjecture, Buss, Echterhoff, and Willett introduced various other properties that crossed-product functors may have. Here we introduce and study analogues of these properties for coaction functors, making sure that the properties are preserved when the coaction functors are composed with the full crossed product to make a crossed-product functor. The new properties for coaction functors studied here are functoriality for generalized homomorphisms and the correspondence property. We particularly study the connec…
Let B be a C*-algebra with a maximal coaction of a locally compact group G, and let N and H be closed normal subgroups of G with N contained in H. We show that the process Ind_(G/H)^G which uses Mansfield's bimodule to induce representations of the crossed product of B by G from those of the restricted crossed product of B by (G/H) is equivalent to the two-stage induction process: Ind_(G/N)^G composed with Ind_(G/H)^(G/N). The proof involves a calculus of symmetric imprimitivity bimodules which relates the bimodule tensor product to the fibred product of the underlying spaces.
A coaction d of a locally compact group G on a C*-algebra A is maximal if a certain natural map from A times_d G times_{d hat} G onto A otimes K(L^2(G)) is an isomorphism. All dual coactions on full crossed products by group actions are maximal; a discrete coaction is maximal if and only if A is the full cross-sectional algebra of the corresponding Fell bundle. For every nondegenerate coaction of G on A, there is a maximal coaction of G on an extension of A such that the quotient map induces an isomorphism of the crossed products.
Using the strong relation between coactions of a discrete group G on C*-algebras and Fell bundles over G, we prove a new version of Mansfield's imprimitivity theorem for coactions of discrete groups. Our imprimitivity theorem works for the universally defined full crossed products and arbitrary subgroups of G, as opposed to the usual theory which uses the spatially defined reduced crossed products and normal subgroups of G. Moreover, our theorem factors through the usual one by passing to appropriate quotients. As applications we show that a Fell bundle over a discrete group is amenable in the…
Mansfield showed how to induce representations of crossed products of C*-algebras by coactions from crossed products by quotient groups and proved an imprimitivity theorem characterising these induced representations. We give an alternative construction of his bimodule in the case of dual coactions, based on the symmetric imprimitivity theorem of the third author; this provides a more workable way of inducing representations of crossed products of C*-algebras by dual coactions. The construction works for homogeneous spaces as well as quotient groups, and we prove an imprimitivity theorem for t…
A certain type of functor on a category of coactions of a locally compact group on C*-algebras is introduced and studied. These functors are intended to help in the study of the crossed-product functors that have been recently introduced in relation to the Baum-Connes conjecture. The most important coaction functors are the ones induced by large ideals of the Fourier-Stieltjes algebra. It is left as an open problem whether the "minimal exact and Morita compatible crossed-product functor" is induced by a large ideal.
If a locally compact group G acts on a C*-algebra B, we have both full and reduced crossed products, and each has a coaction of G. We investigate "exotic" coactions in between, that are determined by certain ideals E of the Fourier-Stieltjes algebra B(G) -- an approach that is inspired by recent work of Brown and Guentner on new C*-group algebra completions. We actually carry out the bulk of our investigation in the general context of coactions on a C*-algebra A. Buss and Echterhoff have shown that not every coaction comes from one of these ideals, but nevertheless the ideals do generate a wid…
Given a labeling c of the edges of a directed graph E by elements of a discrete group G, one can form a skew-product graph E cross_c G. We show, using the universal properties of the various constructions involved, that there is a coaction delta of G on C*(E) such that C*(E cross_c G) is isomorphic to the crossed product C*(E) cross_delta G. This isomorphism is equivariant for the dual action deltahat and a natural action gamma of G on C*(E cross_c G); following results of Kumjian and Pask, we show that C*(E cross_c G) cross_gamma G is isomorphic to C*(E cross_c G) cross_{gamma,r} G, which in …
We present a new construction of crossed-product duality for maximal coactions that uses Fischer's work on maximalizations. Given a group $G$ and a coaction $(A,δ)$ we define a generalized fixed-point algebra as a certain subalgebra of $M(A\rtimes_δ G \rtimes_{\widehatδ} G)$, and recover the coaction via this double crossed product. Our goal is to formulate this duality in a category-theoretic context, and one advantage of our construction is that it breaks down into parts that are easy to handle in this regard. We first explain this for the category of nondegenerate *-homomorphisms, and then …
We investigate how a correspondence coaction gives rise to a coaction on the associated Cuntz-Pimsner algebra. We apply this to recover a recent result of Hao and Ng concerning Cuntz-Pimsner algebras of crossed products of correspondences by actions of amenable groups.
We survey the results required to pass between full and reduced coactions of locally compact groups on C*-algebras, which say, roughly speaking, that one can always do so without changing the crossed-product C*-algebra. Wherever possible we use definitions and constructions that are well-documented and accessible to non-experts, and otherwise we provide full details. We then give a series of applications to illustrate the use of these techniques. We obtain in particular a new version of Mansfield's imprimitivity theorem for full coactions, and prove that it gives a natural isomorphism between …
Full C*-crossed products by actions of locally compact groups are characterized via the existence of suitable maximal coactions, in analogy with Landstad's characterization of reduced crossed products.
Following Jansen and Waldmann, and Kajiwara and Watatani, we shall introduce notions of coactions of a finite dimensional $C^*$-Hopf algebra on a Hilbert $C^*$-bimodule of finite type in the sense of Kajiwara and Watatani and define their crossed product. We shall investigate their basic properties and show that the strong Morita equivalence for coactions preserves the Rohlin property for coactions of a finite dimensional $C^*$-Hopf algebra on unital $C^*$-algebras.
We show that if $Å$ is a Fell bundle over a locally compact group $G$, then there is a natural coaction $δ$ of $G$ on the Fell-bundle $C^*$-algebra $C^*(G,Å)$ such that if $\hatδ$ is the dual action of $G$ on the crossed product $C^*(G,Å) \rtimes_δ G$, then the full crossed product $(C^*(G,Å) \rtimes_δG)\rtimes_{\hatδ}G$ is canonically isomorphic to $C^*(G,Å) \otimes\KK(L^2(G))$. Hence the coaction $δ$ is maximal.
We prove that if E and F are large ideals of B(G) for which the associated coaction functors are exact, then the same is true for the intersection of E and F. We also give an example of a coaction functor whose restriction to the maximal coactions does not come from any large ideal.
Let U, V, and W be multiplicative unitaries coming from discrete Kac systems such that W is an amenable normal submultiplicative unitary of V with quotient U. We define notions for right-Hilbert bimodules of coactions of S_V and (S_V)^, their restrictions to S_W and (S_U)^, their dual coactions, and their full and reduced crossed products. If N(A) denotes the imprimitivity bimodule associated to any coaction of S_V on a C*-algebra A by Ng's imprimitivity theorem, then for any suitably nondegenerate injective coaction of S_V on a right-Hilbert A - B bimodule X we establish an isomorphism betwee…
In this paper we give a simple proof of the maximality of dual coactions on full cross-sectional C*-algebras of Fell bundles over locally compact groups. As applications we extend certain exotic crossed-product functors in the sense of Baum, Guentner and Willett to the category of Fell bundles and the category of partial actions and we obtain results about the K-theory of (exotic) cross-sectional algebras of Fell-bundles over K-amenable groups. As a bonus, we give a characterisation of maximal coactions of discrete groups in terms of maximal tensor products.
We show that the category A(G) of actions of a locally compact group G on C*-algebras (with equivariant nondegenerate *-homomorphisms into multiplier algebras) is equivalent, via a full-crossed-product functor, to a comma category of maximal coactions of G under the comultiplication (C*(G),delta_G); and also that A(G) is equivalent, via a reduced-crossed-product functor, to a comma category of normal coactions under the comultiplication. This extends classical Landstad duality to a category equivalence, and allows us to identify those C*-algebras which are isomorphic to crossed products by G a…
In this partly expository paper we compare three different categories of C*-algebras in which crossed-product duality can be formulated, both for actions and for coactions of locally compact groups. In these categories, the isomorphisms correspond to C*-algebra isomorphisms, imprimitivity bimodules, and outer conjugacies, respectively. In each case, a variation of the fixed-point functor that arises from classical Landstad duality is used to obtain a quasi-inverse for a crossed-product functor. To compare the various cases, we describe in a formal way our view of the fixed-point functor as an …
Imprimitivity theorems provide a fundamental tool for studying the representation theory and structure of crossed-product C*-algebras. In this work, we show that the Imprimitivity Theorem for induced algebras, Green's Imprimitivity Theorem for actions of groups, and Mansfield's Imprimitivity Theorem for coactions of groups can all be viewed as natural equivalences between various crossed-product functors among certain equivariant categories. The categories involved have C*-algebras with actions or coactions (or both) of a fixed locally compact group G as their objects, and equivariant equivale…
In this paper, we will prove that if $A$ is a $C^*$-algebra with an effective coaction $ε$ by a compact quantum group, then the fixed point algebra and the reduced crossed product are Morita equivalent. As an application, we prove an imprimitivity type theorem for crossed products of coactions by discrete Kac $C^*$-algebras.
Partial actions of groups on C*-algebras and the closely related actions and coactions of Hopf algebras received much attention over the last decades. They arise naturally as restrictions of their global counterparts to non-invariant subalgebras, and the ambient eveloping global (co)actions have proven useful for the study of associated crossed products. In this article, we introduce the partial coactions of C*-bialgebras, focussing on C*-quantum, and prove existence of an enveloping global coaction under mild technical assumptions. The construction of the latter provides a left adjoint to the…
Coactions of Hopf C*-bimodules simultaneously generalize coactions of Hopf C*-algebras and actions of groupoids. Following an approach of Baaj and Skandalis, we construct reduced crossed products and establish a duality for fine coactions. Examples of coactions arise from Fell bundles on groupoids and actions of a groupoid on bundles of C*-algebras. Continuous Fell bundles on an etale groupoid correspond to coactions of the reduced groupoid algebra, and actions of a groupoid on a continuous bundle of C*-algebras correspond to coactions of the function algebra.
Let $A$ be a $C^*$-algebra and $H$ a finite dimensional $C^*$-Hopf algebra with its dual $C^*$-Hopf algebra $H^0$. Let $(ρ, u)$ be a twisted coaction of $H^0$ on $A$. We shall define the $(ρ, u, H)$-equivariant Picard group of $A$, which is denoted by $\Pic_H^{ρ, u}(A)$, and discuss basic properties of $\Pic_H^{ρ, u}(A)$. Also, we suppose that $(ρ, u)$ is the coaction of $H^0$ on the unital $C^*$-algebra $A$, that is, $u=1\otimes 1^0$. We investigate the relation between $\Pic(A^s )$, the ordinary Picard group of $A^s$ and $\Pic_H^{ρ^s}(A^s )$ where $A^s$ is the stable $C^*$-algebra of $A$ and…
Using the close relationship between coactions of discrete groups and Fell bundles, we introduce a procedure for inducing a C*-coaction of a quotient group G/N of a discrete group G to a C*-coaction of G itself on an induced C*-algebra. We show that induced coactions behave in many respects similarly to induced actions. In particular, as an analogue of the well known imprimitivity theorem for induced actions we prove that the crossed products of the original and the induced coactions are always Morita equivalent. We also obtain nonabelian analogues of a theorem of Olesen and Pedersen which sho…
Unifying two notions of an action and coaction of a locally compact group on a $C^*$-cor\-re\-spond\-ence we introduce a coaction $(σ,δ)$ of a Hopf $C^*$-algebra $S$ on a $C^*$-cor\-re\-spond\-ence $(X,A)$. We show that this coaction naturally induces a coaction $ζ$ of $S$ on the associated Cuntz-Pimsner algebra $\mathcal{O}_X$ under the weak $δ$-invariancy for the ideal $J_X$. When the Hopf $C^*$-algebra $S$ is defined by a well-behaved multiplicative unitary, we construct a $C^*$-cor\-re\-spond\-ence $(X\rtimes_σ\widehat{S},A\rtimes_δ\widehat{S})$ from $(σ,δ)$ and show that it has a represen…
We extend the construction of generalized fixed point algebras to the setting of locally compact quantum groups - in the sense of Kustermans and Vaes - following the treatment of Marc Rieffel, Ruy Exel and Ralf Meyer in the group case. We mainly follow Meyer's approach analyzing the constructions in the realm of equivariant Hilbert modules. We generalize the notion of continuous square-integrability, which is exactly what one needs in order to define generalized fixed point algebras. As in the group case, we prove that there is a correspondence between continuously square-integrable Hilbert mo…
We consider the following problem. Suppose $α$ is an action of a locally compact group $G$ on a $C^*$-algebra $A$, $H$ is a closed subgroup of $G$, and $(π,U)$ is a covariant representation of $(A,H,α)$. For which closed subgroups $K$ containing $H$ is there a covariant representation $(π,V)$ of $(A,K,α)$ such that $V|_H=U$? We answer this problem by providing a criterion involving the induced representation of $(A,G,α)$. We then consider the dual problem for coactions of locally compact groups.
Connes showed that spectral triples encode (noncommutative) metric information. Further, Connes and Moscovici in their metric bundle construction showed that, as with the Takesaki duality theorem, forming a crossed product spectral triple can substantially simplify the structure. In a recent paper, Bellissard, Marcolli and Reihani (among other things) studied in depth metric notions for spectral triples and crossed product spectral triples for $Z$-actions, with applications in number theory and coding theory. In the work of Connes and Moscovici, crossed products involving groups of diffeomorph…
Partial actions of discrete groups on $C^*$-algebras and the associated crossed products have been studied by Exel and McClanahan. We characterise these crossed products in terms of the spectral subspaces of the dual coaction, generalising and simplifying a theorem of Exel for single partial automorphisms. We then use this characterisation to identify the Cuntz algebras and the Toeplitz algebras of Nica as crossed products by partial actions.
Given a C*-dynamical system (A,G,α), we say that A is a weakly proper (X\rtimes G)-algebra if there exists a proper G-space X together with a nondegenerate G-equivariant *-homomorphism ϕ:C_0(X)->M(A). Weakly proper G-algebras form a large subclass of the class of proper G-algebras in the sense of Rieffel. In this paper we show that weakly proper (X\rtimes G)-algebras allow the construction of full fixed-point algebras A^G corresponding to the full crossed product A\rtimes_αG, thus solving, in this setting, a problem stated by Rieffel in his 1988's original article on proper actions. As an appl…
For discrete Hecke pairs $(G,H)$, we introduce a notion of covariant representation which reduces in the case where $H$ is normal to the usual definition of covariance for the action of $G/H$ on $c_0(G/H)$ by right translation; in many cases where $G$ is a semidirect product, it can also be expressed in terms of covariance for a semigroup action. We use this covariance to characterise the representations of $c_0(G/H)$ which are multiples of the multiplication representation on $\ell^2(G/H)$, and more generally, we prove an imprimitivity theorem for regular representations of certain crossed pr…
We show that for a locally compact group G there is a one-to-one correspondence between G-invariant weak*-closed subspaces E of the Fourier-Stieltjes algebra B(G) containing B_r(G) and quotients C*_E(G) of C*(G) which are intermediate between C*(G) and the reduced group algebra C*_r(G). We show that the canonical comultiplication on C*(G) descends to a coaction or a comultiplication on C*_E(G) if and only if E is an ideal or subalgebra, respectively. When αis an action of G on a C*-algebra B, we define "E-crossed products" B\rtimes_{α,E} G lying between the full crossed product and the reduced…
We introduce the labelling map and the quasi-free action of a locally compact abelian group on a graph $C^*$-algebra of a row-finite directed graph. Some necessary conditions for embedding the crossed product to an $AF$ algebra are discussed, and one sufficient condition is proved that if the row-finite directed graph is constructed by possibly attaching some 1-loops to a row-finite directed graph whose each weak connected component is a rooted (possibly infinite) directed tree, and the labelling map is almost proper, which is proved to be a reasonable generalization of the earlier case, then …
Given a group cocycle on a finitely aligned left cancellative small category (LCSC) we investigate the associated skew product category and its Cuntz-Krieger algebra, which we describe as the crossed product of the Cuntz-Krieger algebra of the original category by an induced coaction of the group. We use our results to study Cuntz-Krieger algebras arising from free actions of groups on finitely aligned LCSC's, and to construct coactions of groups on Exel-Pardo algebras. Finally we discuss the universal group of a small category and connectedness of skew product categories.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a consistent notion of universal and reduced crossed products by actions and coactions of groups on operator systems and operator spaces. In particular we shall put emphasis to reveal the full power of the universal properties of the the universal crossed products. It turns out that to make things consistent, it seems useful to perform our constructions on some bigger categories which allow the right framework for studying the universal properties and which are stable under the construction of crossed products even for non-discrete groups. In the case …
Given two correspondences X and Y, we show that (under mild hypotheses) the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra of the tensor product of X and Y embeds as a certain subalgebra of the tensor product of the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra of X and the Cuntz=Pimsner algebra of Y. Furthermore, this subalgebra can be described in a natural way in terms of the gauge actions on the Cuntz-Pimsner algebras. We explore implications for graph algebras, crossed products by the integers, and crossed products by completely positive maps. We also give a new proof of a result of Kaliszewski and Quigg related to coactions on correspo…
We consider a fixed free and proper action of a locally compact group $G$ on a space $T$, and actions $α:G\to \Aut A$ on $C^*$-algebras for which there is an equivariant embedding of $(C_0(T),\rt)$ in $(M(A),α)$. A recent theorem of Rieffel implies that $α$ is proper and saturated with respect to the subalgebra $C_0(T)AC_0(T)$ of $A$, so that his general theory of proper actions gives a Morita equivalence between $A\rtimes_{α,r}G$ and a generalised fixed-point algebra $A^α$. Here we investigate the functor $(A,α)\mapsto A^α$ and the naturality of Rieffel's Morita equivalence, focusing in parti…
Given two correspondences $X$ and $Y$ and a discrete group $G$ which acts on $X$ and coacts on $Y$, one can define a twisted tensor product $X\boxtimes Y$ which simultaneously generalizes ordinary tensor products and crossed products by group actions and coactions. We show that, under suitable conditions, the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra of this product, $\mathcal O_{X\boxtimes Y}$, is isomorphic to a "balanced" twisted tensor product $\mathcal O_X\boxtimes_\mathbb T\mathcal O_Y$ of the Cuntz-Pimsner algebras of the original correspondences. We interpret this result in several contexts and connect it…
Let $δ$ be a nondegenerate coaction of G on a C*-algebra B, and let H be a closed subgroup of G. The dual action of H on $B\times_δG$ is proper and saturated in the sense of Rieffel, and the generalised fixed-point algebra is the crossed product of B by the homogeneous space G/H. The resulting Morita equivalence is a version of Mansfield's imprimitivity theorem which requires neither amenability nor normality of H.
Suppose that a locally compact group $G$ acts freely and properly on the right of a locally compact space $T$. Rieffel proved that if $α$ is an action of $G$ on a $C^*$-algebra $A$ and there is an equivariant embedding of $C_0(T)$ in $M(A)$, then the action $α$ of $G$ on $A$ is proper, and the crossed product $A\rtimes_{α,r}G$ is Morita equivalent to a generalised fixed-point algebra $\Fix(A,α)$ in $M(A)^α$. We show that the assignment $(A,α)\mapsto\Fix(A,α)$ extends to a functor $\Fix$ on a category of $C^*$-dynamical systems in which the isomorphisms are Morita equivalences, and that Rieffel…
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.
Let X be a product system over a quasi-lattice ordered group. Under mild hypotheses, we associate to X a C*-algebra which is co-universal for injective Nica covariant Toeplitz representations of X which preserve the gauge coaction. Under appropriate amenability criteria, this co-universal C*-algebra coincides with the Cuntz-Nica-Pimsner algebra introduced by Sims and Yeend. We prove two key uniqueness theorems, and indicate how to use our theorems to realise a number of reduced crossed products as instances of our co-universal algebras. In each case, it is an easy corollary that the Cuntz-Nica…
In this paper we study free actions of groups on separated graphs and their \cstar{}algebras, generalizing previous results involving ordinary (directed) graphs. We prove a version of the Gross-Tucker Theorem for separated graphs yielding a characterization of free actions on separated graphs via a skew product of the (orbit) separated graph by a group labeling function. Moreover, we describe the C*-algebras associated to these skew products as crossed products by certain coactions coming from the labeling function on the graph. Our results deal with both the full and the reduced C*-algebras o…
It is known that given a directed graph E and a subset X of vertices, the sum of the projections associated to the vertices in X in the C*-algebra of E converges strictly in the multiplier algebra to a projection P. Here we give a construction which, in certain cases, produces a directed graph F whose C*-algebra is isomorphic to the corner P(C*(E))P. Corners of this type arise naturally as the fixed point algebras of discrete coactions on graph algebras related to labellings. We prove this fact, and show that our construction is applicable to such a case whenever the labelling satisfies an ana…
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…
k-graphs are higher-rank analogues of directed graphs which were first developed to provide combinatorial models for operator algebras of Cuntz-Krieger type. Here we develop the theory of covering spaces for k-graphs, obtaining a satisfactory version of the usual topological classification in terms of subgroups of a fundamental group. We then use this classification to describe the C*-algebras of covering k-graphs as crossed products by coactions of homogeneous spaces, generalizing recent results on the C*-algebras of graphs.