Abstract: | UniversalC*-algebrasC*(A) exist for certain topological *-algebras called algebras with aC*-enveloping algebra. A Frechet *-algebraA has aC*-enveloping algebra if and only if every operator representation ofA mapsA into bounded operators. This is proved by showing that every unbounded operator representation π, continuous in the uniform topology, of a topological *-algebraA, which is an inverse limit of Banach *-algebras, is a direct sum of bounded operator representations, thereby factoring through the enveloping pro-C*-algebraE(A) ofA. Given aC*-dynamical system (G,A,α), any topological *-algebraB containingC c (G,A) as a dense *-subalgebra and contained in the crossed productC*-algebraC*(G,A,α) satisfiesE(B) =C*(G,A,α). IfG = ℝ, ifB is an α-invariant dense Frechet *-subalgebra ofA such thatE(B) =A, and if the action α onB ism-tempered, smooth and by continuous *-automorphisms: then the smooth Schwartz crossed productS(ℝ,B,α) satisfiesE(S(ℝ,B,α)) =C*(ℝ,A,α). WhenG is a Lie group, theC ∞-elementsC ∞(A), the analytic elementsC ω(A) as well as the entire analytic elementsC є(A) carry natural topologies making them algebras with aC*-enveloping algebra. Given a non-unitalC*-algebraA, an inductive system of idealsI α is constructed satisfyingA =C*-ind limI α; and the locally convex inductive limit ind limI α is anm-convex algebra with theC*-enveloping algebraA and containing the Pedersen idealK a ofA. Given generatorsG with weakly Banach admissible relationsR, we construct universal topological *-algebraA(G, R) and show that it has aC*-enveloping algebra if and only if (G, R) isC*-admissible. |