Discriminant algebras of finite rank algebras and quadratic trace modules

Based on the construction of the discriminant algebra of an even-ranked quadratic form and Rost’s method of shifting quadratic algebras, we give an explicit rational construction of the discriminant algebra of finite-rank algebras and, more generally, of quadratic trace modules, over arbitrary commutative rings. The discriminant algebra is a tensor functor with values in quadratic algebras, and a symmetric tensor functor with values in quadratic algebras with parity. The automorphism group of a separable quadratic trace module is a smooth, but in general not reductive, group scheme admitting a Dickson type homomorphism into the constant group scheme Z ₂.     

Cohomological invariants of quaternionic skew-hermitian forms

We define a complete system of invariants e _n,Q ,n ≥ 0 for quaternionic skew-hermitian forms, which are twisted versions of the invariants e _n for quadratic forms. We also show that quaternionic skew-hermitian forms defined over a field of 2-cohomological dimension at most 3 are classified by rank, discriminant, Clifford invariant and Rost invariant. Received: 30 April 2006     

Construction method for some real division algebras with <Emphasis Type="Italic">su</Emphasis>(3) as derivation algebra

We obtain a family of eight-dimensional unital division algebras over a field F out of a separable quadratic field extension S of F, a three-dimensional anisotropic hermitian form h over S of determinant one and an element c ∈ S ^× not contained in F. These algebras are not third-power associative.     

Algebras with involution that become hyperbolic over the function field of a conic

We study central simple algebras with involution of the first kind that become hyperbolic over the function field of the conic associated to a given quaternion algebra Q. We classify these algebras in degree 4 and give an example of such a division algebra with orthogonal involution of degree 8 that does not contain (Q,⁻), even though it contains Q and is totally decomposable into a tensor product of quaternion algebras.     

Strict comparison and $$ \mathcal{Z} $$-absorption of nuclear C∗-algebras

For any unital separable simple infinite-dimensional nuclear C ^∗-algebra with finitely many extremal traces, we prove that -absorption, strict comparison and property (SI) are equivalent. We also show that any unital separable simple nuclear C ^∗-algebra with tracial rank zero is approximately divisible, and hence is -absorbing.     

K-theoretic rigidity and slow dimension growth

Let A be an approximately subhomogeneous (ASH) C^∗-algebra with slow dimension growth. We prove that if A is unital and simple, then the Cuntz semigroup of A agrees with that of its tensor product with the Jiang-Su algebra Z\mathcal{Z}. In tandem with a result of W. Winter, this yields the equivalence of Z\mathcal{Z}-stability and slow dimension growth for unital simple ASH algebras. This equivalence has several consequences, including the following classification theorem: unital ASH algebras which are simple, have slow dimension growth, and in which projections separate traces are determined up to isomorphism by their graded ordered K-theory, and none of the latter three conditions can be relaxed in general.     

The smallness problem for -algebras

Akemann showed that any von Neumann algebra with a weak^* separable dual space has a faithful normal representation on a separable Hilbert space. He posed the question: If a C^*-algebra has a weak^* separable state space, must it have a faithful representation on a separable Hilbert space? Wright solved this question negatively and showed that a unital C^*-algebra has the weak^* separable state space if and only if it has a unital completely positive map, into a type I factor on a separable Hilbert space, whose restriction to the self-adjoint part induces an order isomorphism. He called such a C^*-algebra almost separably representable. We say that a unital C^*-algebra is small if it has a unital complete isometry into a type I factor on a separable Hilbert space. In this paper we show that a unital C^*-algebra is small if and only if the state spaces of all n by n matrix algebras over the C^*-algebra are weak^*-separable. It is natural to ask whether almost separably representable algebras are small or not. We settle this question positively for simple C^*-algebras but the general question remains open.     

Topological free entropy dimension in unital C-algebras

The notion of topological free entropy dimension of n-tuple of elements in a unital C^∗ algebra was introduced by Voiculescu. In the paper, we compute topological free entropy dimension of one self-adjoint element and topological free orbit dimension of one self-adjoint element in a unital C^∗ algebra. We also calculate the values of topological free entropy dimensions of any families of self-adjoint generators of some unital C^∗ algebras, including irrational rotation C^∗ algebra, UHF algebra, and minimal tensor product of two reduced C^∗ algebras of free groups.     

A Note on the Double Affine Hecke Algebra of Type GL2

We express the double affine Hecke algebra ? associated to the general linear group GL₂(k) (here, k is a field with char(k) ≠ 2) as an amalgamated free product of quadratic extensions over the three-dimensional quantum torus 𝒪_q((k^×)³). With an eye towards proving ring-theoretic results pertaining to ?, a general treatment of amalgamated products of Ore and quadratic extensions is given. We prove an analogue of the Hilbert Basis Theorem for an amalgamated product Q of quadratic extensions and determine conditions for when the one-sided ideals of Q are principal or doubly-generated. Furthermore, we determine sufficient conditions which imply Q is a principal ideal ring. Finally, we construct an explicit isomorphism from ? to the amalgamated free product ring of quadratic extensions over 𝒪_q((k^×)³), a ring known to be noetherian. Therefore, it follows that ? is noetherian.     

Systems of quadratic Diophantine inequalities and the value distribution of quadratic forms

Let Q ₁,…,Q _r be quadratic forms with real coefficients. We prove that the set {(Q₁(x),?,Q_r(x)) | x ? \Bbb Z^s}\{(Q_1(x),\ldots ,Q_r(x))\,\vert\, x\in{\Bbb Z}^s\} is dense in \Bbb R^r{\Bbb R}^r , provided that the system Q ₁(x) = 0,…,Q _r (x) = 0 has a nonsingular real solution and all forms in the real pencil generated by Q ₁,…,Q _r are irrational and have rank larger than 8r. Moreover, we give a quantitative version of the above assertion. As an application we study higher correlation functions of the value distribution of a positive definite irrational quadratic form.     

Unitary similarity of algebras generated by pairs of orthoprojectors

It is shown that the unitary similarity of two matrix algebras generated by pairs of orthoprojectors { P₁, Q₁} and {P₂,Q₂} can be verified by comparing the traces of P₁, Q₁, and (P₁Q₁)ⁱ, i = 1, 2, …, n, with those of P₂, Q₂, and (P₂Q₂)ⁱ. The conditions of the unitary similarity of two matrices with quadratic minimal polynomials presented in [A. George and Kh. D. Ikramov, Unitary similarity of matrices with quadratic minimal polynomials, Linear Algebra Appl., 349, 11–16 (2002)] are refined. Bibliography: 10 titles. __________ Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 323, 2005, pp. 5–14.     

Witt equivalence of central simple algebras with involution

The notion of Witt equivalence of central simple algebras with involution is introduced. It is shown that the standard invariants, i.e. the discriminant, the signature and the Clifford algebra, depend only on the Witt class of the algebra with involution. For a given filedF the tensor product is used to construct a semigroup and this semigroup is shown to have properties analogous to the multiplicative properties of the Witt ring of quadratic forms overF.     

Codepth Two and Related Topics

A depth two extension A | B is shown to be weak depth two over its double centralizer V _A (V _A (B)) if this is separable over B. We consider various examples and non-examples of depth one and two properties. Depth two and its relationship to direct and tensor product of algebras as well as cup product of relative Hochschild cochains is examined. Section 6 introduces a notion of codepth two coalgebra homomorphism g : C → D, dual to a depth two algebra homomorphism. It is shown that the endomorphism ring of bicomodule endomorphisms End ^D C ^D forms a right bialgebroid over the centralizer subalgebra g ^* : D ^* → C ^* of the dual algebra C ^*. Dedicated to Daniel Kastler on his eightieth birthday.     

Ramified partition algebras

For each natural number n, poset T, and |T|–tuple of scalars Q, we introduce the ramified partition algebra P _n ^(T) (Q), which is a physically motivated and natural generalization of the partition algebra [24, 25] (the partition algebra coincides with case |T|=1). For fixed n and T these algebras, like the partition algebra, have a basis independent of Q. We investigate their representation theory in case ${{T=\underline{{2}}:=({1,2},\leq)}}$. We show that ${{P_n^{(\underline{{2}})$ (Q) is quasi–hereditary over field k when Q ₁ Q ₂ is invertible in k and k is such that certain finite group algebras over k are semisimple (e.g. when k is algebraically closed, characteristic zero). Under these conditions we determine an index set for simple modules of ${{P_n^{(\underline{{2}})$ (Q), and construct standard modules with this index set. We show that there are unboundedly many choices of Q such that ${{P_n^{(\underline{{2}})$ (Q) is not semisimple for sufficiently large n, but that it is generically semisimple for all n. We construct tensor space representations of certain non–semisimple specializations of ${{P_n^{(\underline{{2}})$ (Q), and show how to use these to build clock model transfer matrices [24] in arbitrary physical dimensions. Sadly Ahmed died before this work was completed. His memory lives on.     

Hecke Algebras of Group Extensions

Abstract

We describe the Hecke algebra ?(Γ,Γ₀) of a Hecke pair (Γ,Γ₀) in terms of the Hecke pair (N,Γ₀) where N is a normal subgroup of Γ containing Γ₀. To do this, we introduce twisted crossed products of unital *-algebras by semigroups. Then, provided a certain semigroup S ? Γ/N satisfies S ^?1 S = Γ/N, we show that ? (Γ,Γ₀) is the twisted crossed product of ? (N,Γ₀) by S. This generalizes a recent theorem of Laca and Larsen about Hecke algebras of semidirect products.     

Systems of quadratic Diophantine inequalities and the value distribution of quadratic forms

Let Q ₁,…,Q _r be quadratic forms with real coefficients. We prove that the set is dense in , provided that the system Q ₁(x) = 0,…,Q _r (x) = 0 has a nonsingular real solution and all forms in the real pencil generated by Q ₁,…,Q _r are irrational and have rank larger than 8r. Moreover, we give a quantitative version of the above assertion. As an application we study higher correlation functions of the value distribution of a positive definite irrational quadratic form. Author’s address: Institut für Statistik, Technische Universit?t Graz, A-8010 Graz, Austria     

HIGHER DEGREE HYPERBOLIC FORMS

Abstract

We define higher degree hyperbolic forms, analogous to the quadratic hyperbolic forms. We prove the following descent result. Let f be a form of degree d ≥ 3 over a field F of characteristic 0, and let K|f be a field extension. Then if f is equivalent over K to a hyperbolic form, f must already be equivalent to it over F. We also prove that in the monoid of equivalence classes of forms defined over F of a fixed degree d ≥ 3, under the tensor product, the submonoid generated by the equivalence classes of the hyperbolic forms is free. The proofs of these results involve the calculation of the centres and the Lie algebras of the higher degree hyperbolic forms. For the convenience of the reader we expound some of Harrison's seminal paper [5].     

Q-curves of degree 5 and jacobian surfaces of GL2-type

We construct a parametric family {E ^(±)(s,t,u)} of minimal Q-curves of degree 5 over the quadratic fields Q , and the family {C(s,t,u)} of genus two curves over Q covering E ^{(+)(s,t,u) whose jacobians are abelian surfaces of GL₂-type. We also discuss the modularity for them and the sign change between E ^{(+)(s,t,u) and its twist E ⁽⁻⁾(s,t,u), which correspond by modularity to cusp forms of trivial and non-trivial Neben type characters, respectively. We find in {C(s,t,u)} concrete equations of curves over Q whose jacobians are isogenous over cyclic quartic fields to Shimura's abelian surfaces A _f attached to cusp forms of Neben type character of level N= 29, 229, 349, 461, and 509. Received: 23 September 1997 / Revised version: 26 May 1998     

Embedding an AH-Algebra into a Simple C*-Algebra with Prescribed KK-Data

Let X be a connected finite CW complex. We show that, given a positive homomorphism Hom(K _*(C(X)), K _*(A)) with [1 _C(X)][1 _A ], where A is a unital separable simple C ^*-algebra with real rank zero, stable rank one and weakly unperforated K ₀(A), there exists a homomorphism h: C(X)A such that h induces . We also prove a structure result for unital separable simple C ^*-algebras A with real rank zero, stable rank one and weakly unperforated K ₀(A), namely, there exists a simple AH-algebra of real rank zero contained in A which determines the K-theory of A.     

Compatible actions of Lie algebras

Abstract

We study compatible actions (introduced by Brown and Loday in their work on the non-abelian tensor product of groups) in the category of Lie algebras over a fixed ring. We describe the Peiffer product via a new diagrammatic approach, which specializes to the known definitions both in the case of groups and of Lie algebras. We then use this approach to transfer a result linking compatible actions and pairs of crossed modules over a common base object L from groups to Lie algebras. Finally, we show that the Peiffer product, naturally endowed with a crossed module structure, has the universal property of the coproduct in XMod_L(Lie_R).