Derivations on Real and Complex JB*-Triples

At the regional conference held at the University of California,Irvine, in 1985 [24], Harald Upmeier posed three basic questionsregarding derivations on JB*-triples: (1) Are derivations automatically bounded? (2) When are all bounded derivations inner? (3) Can bounded derivations be approximated by inner derivations? These three questions had all been answered in the binary cases.Question 1 was answered affirmatively by Sakai [17] for C*-algebrasand by Upmeier [23] for JB-algebras. Question 2 was answeredby Sakai [18] and Kadison [12] for von Neumann algebras andby Upmeier [23] for JW-algebras. Question 3 was answered byUpmeier [23] for JB-algebras, and it follows trivially fromthe Kadison–Sakai answer to question 2 in the case ofC*-algebras. In the ternary case, both question 1 and question 3 were answeredby Barton and Friedman in [3] for complex JB*-triples. In thispaper, we consider question 2 for real and complex JBW*-triplesand question 1 and question 3 for real JB*-triples. A real orcomplex JB*-triple is said to have the inner derivation propertyif every derivation on it is inner. By pure algebra, every finite-dimensionalJB*-triple has the inner derivation property. Our main results,Theorems 2, 3 and 4 and Corollaries 2 and 3 determine whichof the infinite-dimensional real or complex Cartan factors havethe inner derivation property.     

Continuité des dérivations et des épimorphismes dans certaines algèbres de Banach

Extending results by R. V. Garimella ([8], [9]) and V. Runde ([14]), we give conditions for a commutative Banach algebraA without divisors of zero which force every derivation onA and every epimorphism from another Banach algebra ontoA to be continuous.     

Even infinite-dimensional real Banach spaces

This article is a continuation of a paper of the first author [V. Ferenczi, Uniqueness of complex structure and real hereditarily indecomposable Banach spaces, Adv. Math. 213 (1) (2007) 462–488] about complex structures on real Banach spaces. We define a notion of even infinite-dimensional real Banach space, and prove that there exist even spaces, including HI or unconditional examples from [V. Ferenczi, Uniqueness of complex structure and real hereditarily indecomposable Banach spaces, Adv. Math. 213 (1) (2007) 462–488] and C(K) examples due to Plebanek [G. Plebanek, A construction of a Banach space C(K) with few operators, Topology Appl. 143 (2004) 217–239]. We extend results of [V. Ferenczi, Uniqueness of complex structure and real hereditarily indecomposable Banach spaces, Adv. Math. 213 (1) (2007) 462–488] relating the set of complex structures up to isomorphism on a real space to a group associated to inessential operators on that space, and give characterizations of even spaces in terms of this group. We also generalize results of [V. Ferenczi, Uniqueness of complex structure and real hereditarily indecomposable Banach spaces, Adv. Math. 213 (1) (2007) 462–488] about totally incomparable complex structures to essentially incomparable complex structures, while showing that the complex version of a space defined by S. Argyros and A. Manoussakis [S. Argyros, A. Manoussakis, An indecomposable and unconditionally saturated Banach space, Studia Math. 159 (1) (2003) 1–32] provides examples of essentially incomparable complex structures which are not totally incomparable.     

BANACH ALGEBRAS WITH LARGE GROUPS OF UNITARY ELEMENTS

We study unitary Banach algebras, as defined by M. L. Hansenand R. V. Kadison in 1996, as well as some related conceptslike maximal or uniquely maximal Banach algebras. We show thata norm-unital Banach algebra is uniquely maximal if and onlyif it is unitary and has minimality of the equivalent norm.We prove that every unitary semisimple commutative complex Banachalgebra has a conjugate-linear involution mapping each unitaryelement to its inverse, and that, endowed with such an involution,becomes a hermitian *-algebra. The possibility of removing therequirement of commutativity in the above statement is alsoconsidered. The paper concludes by translating to real algebrassome results previously known in the complex case. In particular,we show that every maximal semisimple finite-dimensional realBanach algebra is isometrically isomorphic to a real C*-algebra.     

REAL AND COMPLEX OPERATOR IDEALS

Abstract

The powerful concept of an operator ideal on the class of all Banach spaces makes sense in the real and in the complex case. In both settings we may, for example, consider compact, nuclear, or 2-summing operators, where the definitions are adapted to each other in a natural way. This paper deals with the question whether or not that fact is based on a general philosophy. Does there exists a one-to-one correspondence between “real properties” and “complex properties” defining an operator ideal? In other words, does there exist for every real operator ideal a uniquely determined corresponding complex ideal and vice versa?

Unfortunately, we are not abel to give a final answer. Nevertheless, some preliminary results are obtained. In particular, we construct for every real operator ideal a corresponding complex operator ideal and for every complex operator ideal a corresponding real one. However, we conjecture that there exists a complex operator ideal which can not be obtained from a real one by this construction.

The following approach is based on the observation that every complex Banach space can be viewed as a real Banach space with an isometry acting on it like the scalar multiplication by the imaginary unit i.     

Theorems of Gelfand-Mazur type and continuity of epimorphisms from b(K)

We prove that a commutative unital Banach algebra which is a valuation ring must reduce to the field of complex numbers, which implies that every homomorphism from l^∞ onto a Banach algebra is continuous. We show also that if b? [b Rad B]^? for some nonnilpotent element b of the radical of a commutative Banach algebra B, then the set of all primes of B cannot form a chain, and we deduce from this result that every homomorphism from $\text{b}$(K) onto a Banach algebra is continuous.     

Convexity properties of gradient maps

We consider the action of a real reductive group G on a Kähler manifold Z which is the restriction of a holomorphic action of a complex reductive group H. We assume that the action of a maximal compact subgroup U of H is Hamiltonian and that G is compatible with a Cartan decomposition of H. We have an associated gradient map μp:Z→p where g=k⊕p is the Cartan decomposition of g. For a G-stable subset Y of Z we consider convexity properties of the intersection of μp(Y) with a closed Weyl chamber in a maximal abelian subspace a of p. Our main result is a Convexity Theorem for real semi-algebraic subsets Y of Z=P(V) where V is a unitary representation of U.     

Adapted algebras for the Berenstein-Zelevinsky conjecture

Let G be a simply connected semisimple complex Lie group and fix a maximal unipotent subgroup U^- of G. Let q be an indeterminate and let B* denote the dual canonical basis (cf. [19]) of the quantized algebra Cq[U^-] of regular functions on U^-. Following [20], fix a Z^N_≧0-parametrization of this basis, where N = dim U^-. In [2], A. Berenstein and A. Zelevinsky conjecture that two elements of B* q-commute if and only if they are multiplicative, i.e., their product is an element of B* up to a power of q. To any reduced decomposition w₀ of the longest element of the Weyl group of g, we associate a subalgebra A_w0, called adapted algebra, of Cq[U^-] such that (1) A_w0 is a q-polynomial algebra which equals Cq[U^-] up to localization, (2) A_w0 is spanned by a subset of B*, (3) the Berenstein–Zelevinsky conjecture is true on A_w0. Then we test the conjecture when one element belongs to the q-center of Cq[U^-].     

The existence of soliton metrics for nilpotent Lie groups

We show that a left-invariant metric g on a nilpotent Lie group N is a soliton metric if and only if a matrix U and vector v associated the manifold (N, g) satisfy the matrix equation U v = [1], where [1] is a vector with every entry a one. We associate a generalized Cartan matrix to the matrix U and use the theory of Kac–Moody algebras to analyze the solution spaces for such linear systems. An application to the existence of soliton metrics on certain filiform Lie groups is given.     

Description of Real AW*-Factors of Type I

In the paper, real AW*-algebras are considered, i.e., real C*-algebras which are Baer *-rings. It is proved that every real AW*-factor of type I (i.e., having a minimal projection) is isometrically *-isomorphic to the algebra B(H) of all bounded linear operators on a real or quaternionic Hilbert space H and, in particular, is a real W*-factor. In the case of complex AW*-algebras, a similar result was proved by Kaplansky.     

Interpolation of Banach algebras and tensor products of Banach couples

Using tensor products of Banach couples we study a class of interpolation functors with the property that to every Banach couple of Banach algebras they give an interpolation space which is a Banach algebra. For the real θ,1-method we give a complete answer to the question of when the interpolation space is unital.     

The approximation property for spaces of holomorphic functions on infinite dimensional spaces II

Let H(U) denote the vector space of all complex-valued holomorphic functions on an open subset U of a Banach space E. Let τω and τδ respectively denote the compact-ported topology and the bornological topology on H(U). We show that if E is a Banach space with a shrinking Schauder basis, and with the property that every continuous polynomial on E is weakly continuous on bounded sets, then (H(U),τω) and (H(U),τδ) have the approximation property for every open subset U of E. The classical space c₀, the original Tsirelson space T^∗ and the Tsirelson^∗-James space are examples of Banach spaces which satisfy the hypotheses of our main result. Our results are actually valid for Riemann domains.     

Analytic mappings between LB-spaces and applications in infinite-dimensional Lie theory

We give a sufficient criterion for complex analyticity of nonlinear maps defined on direct limits of normed spaces. This tool is then used to construct new classes of (real and complex) infinite dimensional Lie groups: The group DiffGerm (K, X) of germs of analytic diffeomorphisms around a compact set K in a Banach space X and the group ${\bigcup_{n\in\mathbb {N}}G_n}We give a sufficient criterion for complex analyticity of nonlinear maps defined on direct limits of normed spaces. This tool is then used to construct new classes of (real and complex) infinite dimensional Lie groups: The group DiffGerm (K, X) of germs of analytic diffeomorphisms around a compact set K in a Banach space X and the group è_{n ? \mathbb N}G_n{\bigcup_{n\in\mathbb {N}}G_n} where the G _n are Banach Lie groups.     

Distortion theorems for convex mappings on homogeneous balls

Let B be the open unit ball of a complex Banach space X and let B be homogeneous. We prove distortion results for normalized convex mappings f:B→X which generalize various finite dimensional distortion theorems and improve some infinite dimensional ones. In particular, our results are valid for the open unit balls of complex Hilbert spaces and the Cartan domains.     

On simultaneous reduction of families of matrices to triangular or diagonal form by unitary congruences

Let {A_i }and {B_i } be two given families of n-by-n matrices. We give conditions under which there is a unitary U such that every matrix UA_iU ¹ is upper triangular. We give conditions, weaker than the classical conditions of commutativity of the whole family, under which there is a unitary U such that every matrix UA_jU ^? is upper triangular. We also give conditions under which there is one single unitary U such that every UA_iU ¹ and every UB_jU ^? is upper triangular. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for simultaneous unitary reduction to diagonal form in this way when all the A_j's are complex symmetric and all theB_j 's are Hermitian.     

Uniqueness of complex structure and real hereditarily indecomposable Banach spaces

There exists a real hereditarily indecomposable Banach space X=X(C) (respectively X=X(H)) such that the algebra L(X)/S(X) is isomorphic to C (respectively to the quaternionic division algebra H).Up to isomorphism, X(C) has exactly two complex structures, which are conjugate, totally incomparable, and both hereditarily indecomposable. So there exist two Banach spaces which are isometric as real spaces but totally incomparable as complex spaces. This extends results of J. Bourgain and S. Szarek [J. Bourgain, Real isomorphic complex Banach spaces need not be complex isomorphic, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 96 (2) (1986) 221-226; S. Szarek, On the existence and uniqueness of complex structure and spaces with “few” operators, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 293 (1) (1986) 339-353; S. Szarek, A superreflexive Banach space which does not admit complex structure, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 97 (3) (1986) 437-444], and proves that a theorem of G. Godefroy and N.J. Kalton [G. Godefroy, N.J. Kalton, Lipschitz-free Banach spaces, Studia Math. 159 (1) (2003) 121-141] about isometric embeddings of separable real Banach spaces does not extend to the complex case.The quaternionic example X(H), on the other hand, has unique complex structure up to isomorphism; other examples with a unique complex structure are produced, including a space with an unconditional basis and non-isomorphic to l₂. This answers a question of S. Szarek in [S. Szarek, A superreflexive Banach space which does not admit complex structure, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 97 (3) (1986) 437-444].     

Prime ideals and automatic continuity problems for Banach algebras

Conditions are given for Banach algebras $\text{U}$ and commutative Banach algebras $\text{B}$ which insure that every homomorphism v from $\text{U}$ into $\text{B}$ is continuous. Similar results are obtained for derivations which either map the algebra $\text{U}$ into itself or map the algebra into a suitable $\text{U}$-module.     

Nice connecting paths in connected components of sets of algebraic elements in a Banach algebra

Generalizing earlier results about the set of idempotents in a Banach algebra, or of self-adjoint idempotents in a C*-algebra, we announce constructions of nice connecting paths in the connected components of the set of elements in a Banach algebra, or of self-adjoint elements in a C*-algebra, that satisfy a given polynomial equation, without multiple roots. In particular, we prove that in the Banach algebra case every such non-central element lies on a complex line, all of whose points satisfy the given equation. We also formulate open questions.     

On simultaneous triangularization of collections of compact operators

In this paper we consider collections of compact (resp. C_p class) operators on arbitrary Banach (resp. Hilbert) spaces. For a subring R of reals, it is proved that an R-algebra of compact operators with spectra in R on an arbitrary Banach space is triangularizable if and only if every member of the algebra is triangularizable. It is proved that every triangularizability result on certain collections, e.g., semigroups, of compact operators on a complex Banach (resp. Hilbert) space gives rise to its counterpart on a real Banach (resp. Hilbert) space. We use our main results to present new proofs as well as extensions of certain classical theorems (e.g., those due to Kolchin, McCoy, and others) on arbitrary Banach (resp. Hilbert) spaces.