Traces,Dispersions of States and Hidden Variables

No Heading The interplay between the tracial property and minimality of dispersions of states on projections of von Neumann algebras and C^*-algebras is investigated. Let be a state on a C^*-algebra A with the projection structure P(A). The dispersion () is defined as () = sup{(p) – (p)² | p P(A)}. It is proved that () 2/9 whenever is a state on a real rank zero C^*-algebra with no nonzero abelian representation. New characterization of traces in terms of dispersions is proved: A state on a von Neumann algebra without abelian and Type I₂ direct summands is a trace if and only if has the minimal dispersion on all 3x3 matrix substructures. A similar characterization of semifinite normal traces on von Neumann algebras is obtained. The connection between unitary invariance of states and minimal dispersion property on C^*-algebras is studied. Besides providing a new characterization of trace in terms of physically relevant properties, the existing results on hidden variables in W^*- and C^*-formalism of quantum mechanics are strengthen.