Perturbations of flows on Banach spaces and operator algebras

For automorphism groups of operator algebras we show how properties of the difference _t – ' _t are reflected in relations between the generators , . Indeed for a von Neumann algebraM with separable predual we show that if _t – '_t 0.28 for smallt, then = 0(+)°^-1 where is an inner automorphism ofM and is a bounded derivation ofM. If the difference _t – ' _t =O(t) ast ; 0, then = + and if _t – ' _t 0.28 for allt then =. We prove analogous results for unitary groups on a Hilbert space andC ₀,C ₀ ^* groups on a Banach space.This paper subsumes an earlier work of the same title which appeared as a report from Z.I.F. der Universität BielefeldWith partial support of the U.S. National Science Foundation