On topological centre problems and SIN quantum groups

Let A be a Banach algebra with a faithful multiplication and ^∗〈A^∗A〉 be the quotient Banach algebra of A∗∗ with the left Arens product. We introduce a natural Banach algebra, which is a closed subspace of ^∗〈A^∗A〉 but equipped with a distinct multiplication. With the help of this Banach algebra, new characterizations of the topological centre Zt(^∗〈A^∗A〉) of ^∗〈A^∗A〉 are obtained, and a characterization of Zt(^∗〈A^∗A〉) by Lau and Ülger for A having a bounded approximate identity is extended to all Banach algebras. The study of this Banach algebra motivates us to introduce the notion of SIN locally compact quantum groups and the concept of quotient strong Arens irregularity. We give characterizations of co-amenable SIN quantum groups, which are even new for locally compact groups. Our study shows that the SIN property is intrinsically related to topological centre problems. We also give characterizations of quotient strong Arens irregularity for all quantum group algebras. Within the class of Banach algebras introduced recently by the authors, we characterize the unital ones, generalizing the corresponding result of Lau and Ülger. We study the interrelationships between strong Arens irregularity and quotient strong Arens irregularity, revealing the complex nature of topological centre problems. Some open questions by Lau and Ülger on Zt(^∗〈A^∗A〉) are also answered.     

Duality and operator algebras: automatic weak* continuity and applications

We investigate some subtle and interesting phenomena in the duality theory of operator spaces and operator algebras, and give several applications of the surprising fact that certain maps are always weak^*-continuous on dual spaces. In particular, if X is a subspace of a C^*-algebra A, and if a∈A satisfies aX⊂X, then we show that the function x?ax on X is automatically weak^* continuous if either (a) X is a dual operator space, or (b) a^*X⊂X and X is a dual Banach space. These results hinge on a generalization to Banach modules of Tomiyama's famous theorem on contractive projections onto a C^*-subalgebra. Applications include a new characterization of the σ-weakly closed (possibly nonunital and nonselfadjoint) operator algebras, and a generalization of the theory of W^*-modules to the framework of modules over such algebras. We also give a Banach module characterization of σ-weakly closed spaces of operators which are invariant under the action of a von Neumann algebra.     

The weak* similarity property on dual operator algebras

This paper is devoted to dual operator algebras, that isw ^*-closed algebras of bounded operators on Hilbert space. We investigate unital dual operator algebrasA with the following weak^* similarity property: for every Hilbert spaceH, anyw ^*-continuous unital homomorphism fromA intoB(H) is completely bounded and thus similar to a contractive one. We develop a notion of dual similarity degree for these algebras, in analogy with some recent work of Pisier on the similarity problem on operator algebras.     

Closed Projections and Peak Interpolation for Operator Algebras

The closed one-sided ideals of a C ^*-algebra are exactly the closed subspaces supported by the orthogonal complement of a closed projection. Let A be a (not necessarily selfadjoint) subalgebra of a unital C ^*-algebra B which contains the unit of B. Here we characterize the right ideals of A with left contractive approximate identity as those subspaces of A supported by the orthogonal complement of a closed projection in B ^** which also lies in . Although this seems quite natural, the proof requires a set of new techniques which may be viewed as a noncommutative version of the subject of peak interpolation from the theory of function spaces. Thus, the right ideals with left approximate identity are closely related to a type of peaking phenomena in the algebra. In this direction, we introduce a class of closed projections which generalizes the notion of a peak set in the theory of uniform algebras to the world of operator algebras and operator spaces.     

Weakly almost periodic functionals on certain Banach algebras

For a Lau algebra A, we study the Banach space WAP(A) of all weakly almost periodic functionals on A to obtain some equivalent conditions for the existence of topological left invariant means on a topological left introverted subspace X of A contained in WAP(A). Finally, we consider relations between the existence of a topological left invariant mean on X and a common fixed point property.     

The arens closure of a nonassociative algebra

Given a nonassociative algebra A and an Arens pair A₁, A₂, for A, we identify a subalgcbra ? of A₂ with i (A) ? A ? A₂ and show that ? better reflects the algebraic structure ot A, in parti-cular. any multilinear identity satisfied by ? is also satisfied by ? Hence, ? is commutative or Lie when A is and Jordan when A is a Jordan algebra of characteristic not 2 or 3. Also, we list examples (1) where ? = End_D(V) for A a primitive, associative algebra with commuting ring D and irreducible faithful module V,(2) where ? is the norm closure of A in the arens algebra of all bounded functionals of the bounded functionals for a normed algebra A and (3) where ? is the Arens algebra of all bounded functionals of the bounded functionals with A again normed. Note that dif-ferent Arens closures can arise form the same choice of A, A₁, , A₂ since ? is determined by A, A₁, A₂ and subspaces A₃ ? A₂ ^*, A₄,?A₃ ^*.     

Operator spaces with prescribed sets of completely bounded maps

Suppose A is a dual Banach algebra, and a representation π:A→B(?₂) is unital, weak* continuous, and contractive. We use a “Hilbert-Schmidt version” of Arveson distance formula to construct an operator space X, isometric to ?₂⊗?₂, such that the space of completely bounded maps on X consists of Hilbert-Schmidt perturbations of π(A)⊗I_?2. This allows us to establish the existence of operator spaces with various interesting properties. For instance, we construct an operator space X for which the group K₁(CB(X)) contains Z₂ as a subgroup, and a completely indecomposable operator space containing an infinite dimensional homogeneous Hilbertian subspace.     

The K-Theory of C *-Algebras with Finite Dimensional Irreducible Representations

We study the K-theory of unital C^*-algebras A satisfying the condition that all irreducible representations are finite and of some bounded dimension. We construct computational tools, but show that K-theory is far from being able to distinguish between various interesting examples. For example, when the algebra A is n-homogeneous, i.e., all irreducible representations are exactly of dimension n, then K_*(A) is the topological K-theory of a related compact Hausdorff space, this generalises the classical Gelfand-Naimark theorem, but there are many inequivalent homogeneous algebras with the same related topological space. For general A we give a spectral sequence computing K_*(A) from a sequence of topological K-theories of related spaces. For A generated by two idempotents, this becomes a 6-term long exact sequence.     

Vector measures: where are their integrals?

Let ν be a vector measure with values in a Banach space Z. The integration map $I_\nu: L^1(\nu)\to Z$ , given by $f\mapsto \int f\,d\nu$ for f ∈ L ¹(ν), always has a formal extension to its bidual operator $I_\nu^{**}: L^1(\nu)^{**}\to Z^{**}$ . So, we may consider the “integral” of any element f ^** of L ¹(ν)^** as I _ν ^** (f ^**). Our aim is to identify when these integrals lie in more tractable subspaces Y of Z ^**. For Z a Banach function space X, we consider this question when Y is any one of the subspaces of X ^** given by the corresponding identifications of X, X′′ (the Köthe bidual of X) and X′^* (the topological dual of the Köthe dual of X). Also, we consider certain kernel operators T and study the extended operator I _ν ^** for the particular vector measure ν defined by ν(A) := T(χ _A ).     

Annihilator-preserving maps, multipliers, and derivations

For a commutative subspace lattice L in a von Neumann algebra N and a bounded linear map f:N∩algL→B(H), we show that if Af(B)C=0 for all A,B,C∈N∩algL satisfying AB=BC=0, then f is a generalized derivation. For a unital C^∗-algebra A, a unital Banach A-bimodule M, and a bounded linear map f:A→M, we prove that if f(A)B=0 for all A,B∈A with AB=0, then f is a left multiplier; as a consequence, every bounded local derivation from a C^∗-algebra to a Banach A-bimodule is a derivation. We also show that every local derivation on a semisimple free semigroupoid algebra is a derivation and every local multiplier on a free semigroupoid algebra is a multiplier.     

The Second Transpose of a Derivation

Let A be a Banach algebra, and let D: A A* be a continuousderivation, where A* is the topological dual space of A. Thepaper discusses the situation when the second transpose D**:A** (A**)* is also a derivation in the case where A** has thefirst Arens product.     

Reflexive *-derivations and lattices of invariant subspaces of operator algebras associated with them

The paper studies unbounded reflexive *-derivations δ of C*-algebras of bounded operators on Hilbert spaces H whose domains D(δ) are weekly dense in B(H and contain compact operators. It describes a one-to-one correspondence between these derivations and pairs S,L, where S are symmetric densely operators on H and L are J-orthogonal π-reflexive lattices of subspaces in the deficiency spaces of S. The domains D(δ) of these *-derivations are associated with some non-selfadjoint reflexive algebras A_δ of bounded operators on H⊕H. The paper analyzes the structure of the lattices of invariant subspaces of A_δ and of the normalizers of A_δ-the largest Lie subalgebras of B(H⊕H) such that A_δ are their Lie ideals.     

Quasi-multipliers and algebrizations of an operator space

Let X be an operator space, let φ be a product on X, and let (X,φ) denote the algebra that one obtains. We give necessary and sufficient conditions on the bilinear mapping φ for the algebra (X,φ) to have a completely isometric representation as an algebra of operators on some Hilbert space. In particular, we give an elegant geometrical characterization of such products by using the Haagerup tensor product. Our result makes no assumptions about identities or approximate identities. Our proof is independent of the earlier result of Blecher, Ruan and Sinclair [D.P. Blecher, Z.-J. Ruan, A.M. Sinclair, A characterization of operator algebras, J. Funct. Anal. 89 (1) (1990) 188-201] which solved the case when the bilinear mapping has an identity of norm one, and our result is used to give a simple direct proof of this earlier result. We also develop further the connections between quasi-multipliers of operator spaces and their representations on a Hilbert space or their embeddings in the second dual, and show that the quasi-multipliers of operator spaces defined in [M. Kaneda, V.I. Paulsen, Quasi-multipliers of operator spaces, J. Funct. Anal. 217 (2) (2004) 347-365] coincide with their C^∗-algebraic counterparts.     

On the radical for some class of Banach algebras

Let A be a complex Banach algebra. It is well known that the second dual A** of A can be equipped with a multiplication that extends the original multiplication on A and makes A** a Banach algebra. We show that Rad(A) = ^⊥(A ^* · A) and Rad(A ^**) = (A ^* · A)^⊥ for some classes of Banach algebras A with scattered structure space. Some applications of these results are given.     

Weak factorizations of operators in the group von Neumann algebras of certain amenable groups and applications

Let G be a compact group whose local weight b(G) has uncountable cofinality. Let H be an amenable locally compact group and A(G × H) be the Fourier algebra of G × H. We prove that the group von Neumann algebra VN(G × H) = A(G × H)^* has the weak uniform A(G × H)^** factorization property of level b(G). As a corollary we show that A(G × H) is strongly Arens irregular, and the topological centre of UC ₂(G × H)^* is equal to the Fourier–Stieltjes algebra B(G × H).     

The lattice of closed ideals in the Banach algebra of operators on certain Banach spaces

Very few Banach spaces E are known for which the lattice of closed ideals in the Banach algebra of all (bounded, linear) operators on E is fully understood. Indeed, up to now the only such Banach spaces are, up to isomorphism, Hilbert spaces and the sequence spaces c₀ and ?_p for 1?p<∞. We add a new member to this family by showing that there are exactly four closed ideals in for the Banach space E?(⊕?₂ⁿ)_c0, that is, E is the c₀-direct sum of the finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces ?₂¹,?₂²,…,?₂ⁿ,… .     

Regularity of Segal algebras

Let A be a Banach algebra. The second dual A** can be equipped with two multiplications, each of which is a natural extension of the original multiplication in A. The algebra A is said to be Arens regular if these two multiplications coincide. We give necessary (and, for some classes of algebras, sufficient) conditions for the regularity of a Segal algebra. We also obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the weak complete continuity of a Segal algebra.     

Entropy of automorphisms arising from dynamical systems through discrete groups with amenable actions

Let G⊂Aut(A) be a discrete group which is exact, that is, admits an amenable action on some compact space. Then the entropy of an automorphism of the algebra A does not change by the canonical extension to the crossed product A×G. This is shown for the topological entropy of an exact C∗-algebra A and for the dynamical entropy of an AFD von Neumann algebra A. These have applications to the case of transformations on Lebesgue spaces.     

Linear maps between C*-algebras that are *-homomorphisms at a fixed point

Let A and B be C*-algebras. A linear map T : A → B is said to be a *-homomorphism at an element z ∈ A if ab* = z in A implies T (ab*) = T (a)T (b)* = T (z), and c*d = z in A gives T (c*d) = T (c)*T (d) = T (z). Assuming that A is unital, we prove that every linear map T : A → B which is a *-homomorphism at the unit of A is a Jordan *-homomorphism. If A is simple and infinite, then we establish that a linear map T : A → B is a *-homomorphism if and only if T is a *-homomorphism at the unit of A. For a general unital C*-algebra A and a linear map T : A → B, we prove that T is a *-homomorphism if, and only if, T is a *-homomorphism at 0 and at 1. Actually if p is a non-zero projection in A, and T is a ^?-homomorphism at p and at 1 ? p, then we prove that T is a Jordan *-homomorphism. We also study bounded linear maps that are *-homomorphisms at a unitary element in A.     

THE UNIQUENESS OF OPERATIONAL QUANTITIES IN VON NEUMANN ALGEBRAS

Abstract

Since 1970 a number of operational quantities, characteristic of either the semi-Fredholm operators or of some “ideal” of compact-like operators, have been introduced in the theory of bounded operators between Banach spaces and applied successfully to for example perturbation theory. More recently such quantities have been introduced even in the abstract setting of Fredholm theory in a von Neumann algebra relative to some closed two-sided ideal. We show that in this fairly general setting there is only one “reasonable” set of such quantities—a result which in its present form is to the best of our knowledge new even in the case of B(H), the algebra of all bounded operators on a Hilbert space H. We accomplish this by first of all introducing the concept of a (reduced) minimum modulus in the setting of C*-algebras and developing the relevant techniques. In the process we generalise a result of Nikaido [N].