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.     

Sigma-locally uniformly rotund and sigma-weak Kadets dual norms

The dual X^∗ of a Banach space X admits a dual σ-LUR norm if (and only if) X^∗ admits a σ-weak^∗ Kadets norm if and only if X^∗ admits a dual weak^∗ LUR norm and moreover X is σ-Asplund generated.     

Duality and normal parts of operator modules

For an operator bimodule X over von Neumann algebras A⊆B(H) and B⊆B(K), the space of all completely bounded A,B-bimodule maps from X into B(K,H), is the bimodule dual of X. Basic duality theory is developed with a particular attention to the Haagerup tensor product over von Neumann algebras. To X a normal operator bimodule X_n is associated so that completely bounded A,B-bimodule maps from X into normal operator bimodules factorize uniquely through X_n. A construction of X_n in terms of biduals of X, A and B is presented. Various operator bimodule structures are considered on a Banach bimodule admitting a normal such structure.     

Duality and operator algebras II: operator algebras as Banach algebras

We answer, by counterexample, several questions concerning algebras of operators on a Hilbert space. The answers add further weight to the thesis that, for many purposes, such algebras ought to be studied in the framework of operator spaces, as opposed to that of Banach spaces and Banach algebras. In particular, the ‘nonselfadjoint analogue’ of a w*-algebra resides naturally in the category of dual operator spaces, as opposed to dual Banach spaces. We also show that an automatic w*-continuity result in the preceding paper of the authors, is sharp.     

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.     

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.     

Positive one-parameter semigroups on ordered banach spaces

In this review we describe the basic structure of positive continuous one-parameter semigroups acting on ordered Banach spaces. The review is in two parts.First we discuss the general structure of ordered Banach spaces and their ordered duals. We examine normality and generation properties of the cones of positive elements with particular emphasis on monotone properties of the norm. The special cases of Banach lattices, order-unit spaces, and base-norm spaces, are also examined.Second we develop the theory of positive strongly continuous semigroups on ordered Banach spaces, and positive weak^*-continuous semigroups on the dual spaces. Initially we derive analogues of the Feller-Miyadera-Phillips and Hille-Yosida theorems on generation of positive semigroups. Subsequently we analyse strict positivity, irreducibility, and spectral properties, in parallel with the Perron-Frobenius theory of positive matrices.     

Maps preserving peripheral spectrum of Jordan semi-triple products of operators

Let A and B be (not necessarily unital or closed) standard operator algebras on complex Banach spaces X and Y, respectively. For a bounded linear operator A on X, the peripheral spectrum σ_π(A) of A is the set σ_π(A)={z∈σ(A):|z|=max_ω∈σ(A)|ω|}, where σ(A) denotes the spectrum of A. Assume that Φ:A→B is a map the range of which contains all operators of rank at most two. It is shown that the map Φ satisfies the condition that σ_π(BAB)=σ_π(Φ(B)Φ(A)Φ(B)) for all A,B∈A if and only if there exists a scalar λ∈C with λ³=1 and either there exists an invertible operator T∈B(X,Y) such that Φ(A)=λTAT^-1 for every A∈A; or there exists an invertible operator T∈B(X^∗,Y) such that Φ(A)=λTA^∗T^-1 for every A∈A. If X=H and Y=K are complex Hilbert spaces, the maps preserving the peripheral spectrum of the Jordan skew semi-triple product BA^∗B are also characterized. Such maps are of the form A?UAU^∗ or A?UA^tU^∗, where U∈B(H,K) is a unitary operator, A^t denotes the transpose of A in an arbitrary but fixed orthonormal basis of H.     

On a conjecture by Ghahramani-Lau and related problems concerning topological centres

Let A be a Banach algebra, and consider A^** equipped with the first Arens product. We establish a general criterion which ensures that A is left strongly Arens irregular, i.e., the first topological centre of A^** is reduced to A itself. Using this criterion, we prove that for a very large class of locally compact groups, Ghahramani-Lau's conjecture (cf. [Lau 94] and [Gha-Lau 95]) stating the left strong Arens irregularity of the measure algebra M(G), holds true. (Our methods obviously yield as well the right strong Arens irregularity in the situation considered.)Furthermore, the same condition used above implies that every linear left A^**-module homomorphism on A^* is automatically bounded and w^*-continuous. We finally show that our criterion also yields a partial answer to a question raised by Lau-Ülger (Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 348 (3) (1996) 1191) on the topological centre of the algebra (A^*⊙A)^*, for A having a right approximate identity bounded by 1.     

Norming sets and integration with respect to vector measures

Let v be a countably additive measure defined on a measurable space (Ω, Σ) and taking values in a Banach space X. Let f : Ω → ? be a measurable function. In order to check the integrability (respectively, weak integrability) of f with respect to v it is sometimes enough to test on a norming set Λ ⊂ X^*. In this paper we show that this is the case when A is a James boundary for BX^* (respectively, Λ is weak^*-thick). Some examples and applications are given as well.     

Operator space structure and amenability for Figà-Talamanca-Herz algebras

Column and row operator spaces—which we denote by COL and ROW, respectively—over arbitrary Banach spaces were introduced by the first-named author; for Hilbert spaces, these definitions coincide with the usual ones. Given a locally compact group G and p,p′∈(1,∞) with , we use the operator space structure on to equip the Figà-Talamanca-Herz algebra A_p(G) with an operator space structure, turning it into a quantized Banach algebra. Moreover, we show that, for p?q?2 or 2?q?p and amenable G, the canonical inclusion A_q(G)⊂A_p(G) is completely bounded (with cb-norm at most , where is Grothendieck's constant). As an application, we show that G is amenable if and only if A_p(G) is operator amenable for all—and equivalently for one—p∈(1,∞); this extends a theorem by Ruan.     

A Morita theorem for dual operator algebras

We prove that two dual operator algebras are weak^∗ Morita equivalent in the sense of [D.P. Blecher, U. Kashyap, Morita equivalence of dual operator algebras, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 212 (2008) 2401-2412] if and only if they have equivalent categories of dual operator modules via completely contractive functors which are also weak^∗-continuous on appropriate morphism spaces. Moreover, in a fashion similar to the operator algebra case, we characterize such functors as the module normal Haagerup tensor product with an appropriate weak^∗ Morita equivalence bimodule. We also develop the theory of the W^∗-dilation, which connects the non-selfadjoint dual operator algebra with the W^∗-algebraic framework. In the case of weak^∗ Morita equivalence, this W^∗-dilation is a W^∗-module over a von Neumann algebra generated by the non-selfadjoint dual operator algebra. The theory of the W^∗-dilation is a key part of the proof of our main theorem.     

The fixed point property via dual space properties

A Banach space has the weak fixed point property if its dual space has a weak^∗ sequentially compact unit ball and the dual space satisfies the weak^∗ uniform Kadec-Klee property; and it has the fixed point property if there exists ε>0 such that, for every infinite subset A of the unit sphere of the dual space, A∪(−A) fails to be (2−ε)-separated. In particular, E-convex Banach spaces, a class of spaces that includes the uniformly nonsquare spaces, have the fixed point property.     

Orthogonality of elements with disjoint local spectrums

LetX be a Banach space andX ^* its dual space. ForT a densely defined closed linear operator, we denote byT ^* its adjoint. we show that ifx∈X andx ^* ∈X ^* have disjoint local spectrum with empty interior, therefore (x,x ^*)=0. This provides a simple proof and a generalization of a result of J. Finch.³ Regular Associate of the Abdus Salam ICTP     

Analyticity and naturality of the multi-variable functional calculus

Mackey-complete complex commutative continuous inverse algebras generalize complex commutative Banach algebras. After constructing the Gelfand transform for these algebras, we develop the functional calculus for holomorphic functions on neighbourhoods of the joint spectra of finitely many elements and for holomorphic functions on neighbourhoods of the Gelfand spectrum. To this end, we study the algebra of holomorphic germs in weak^*${\mathrm{weak}}^{*}$-compact subsets of the dual. We emphasize the simultaneous analyticity of the functional calculus in both the function and its arguments and its naturality. Finally, we treat systems of analytic equations in these algebras.     

A Bishop–Phelps–Bollobás type theorem for uniform algebras

This paper is devoted to showing that Asplund operators with range in a uniform Banach algebra have the Bishop–Phelps–Bollobás property, i.e., they are approximated by norm attaining Asplund operators at the same time that a point where the approximated operator almost attains its norm is approximated by a point at which the approximating operator attains it. To prove this result we use the weak^∗${}^{\ast }$-to-norm fragmentability of weak^∗${}^{\ast }$-compact subsets of the dual of Asplund spaces and we need to observe a Urysohn type result producing peak complex-valued functions in uniform algebras that are small outside a given open set and whose image is inside a Stolz region.     

Genericity and amalgamation of classes of Banach spaces

We study universality problems in Banach space theory. We show that if A is an analytic class, in the Effros-Borel structure of subspaces of C([0,1]), of non-universal separable Banach spaces, then there exists a non-universal separable Banach space Y, with a Schauder basis, that contains isomorphs of each member of A with the bounded approximation property. The proof is based on the amalgamation technique of a class C of separable Banach spaces, introduced in the paper. We show, among others, that there exists a separable Banach space R not containing L¹(0,1) such that the indices β and rND are unbounded on the set of Baire-1 elements of the ball of the double dual R∗∗ of R. This answers two questions of H.P. Rosenthal.We also introduce the concept of a strongly bounded class of separable Banach spaces. A class C of separable Banach spaces is strongly bounded if for every analytic subset A of C there exists Y∈C that contains all members of A up to isomorphism. We show that several natural classes of separable Banach spaces are strongly bounded, among them the class of non-universal spaces with a Schauder basis, the class of reflexive spaces with a Schauder basis, the class of spaces with a shrinking Schauder basis and the class of spaces with Schauder basis not containing a minimal Banach space X.     

Yet on linear structures of norm-attaining functionals on Asplund spaces

In this paper, we show that if an Asplund space X is either a Banach lattice or a quotient space of C(K), then it can be equivalently renormed so that the set of norm-attaining functionals contains an infinite dimensional closed subspace of X^* if and only if X^* contains an infinite dimensional reflexive subspace, which gives a partial answer to a question of Bandyopadhyay and Godefroy.     

On the stable rank of algebras of operator fields over metric spaces

Let Γ be a finitely generated, torsion-free, two-step nilpotent group. Let C^*(Γ) denote the universal C^*-algebra of Γ. We show that , where for a unital C^*-algebra A, sr(A) is the stable rank of A, and where is the space of one-dimensional representations of Γ. In process, we give a stable rank estimate for maximal full algebras of operator fields over metric spaces.     

Algebraic properties of isometries between groups of invertible elements in Banach algebras

We prove that an isometry T between open subgroups of the invertible groups of unital Banach algebras A and B is extended to a real-linear isometry up to translation between these Banach algebras. While a unital isometry between unital semisimple commutative Banach algebras need not be multiplicative, we prove in this paper that if A is commutative and A or B are semisimple, then (T(eA))⁻¹T is extended to an isometric real algebra isomorphism from A onto B. In particular, A−1 is isometric as a metric space to B−1 if and only if they are isometrically isomorphic to each other as metrizable groups if and only if A is isometrically isomorphic to B as a real Banach algebra; it is compared by the example of ?elazko concerning on non-isomorphic Banach algebras with the homeomorphically isomorphic invertible groups. Isometries between open subgroups of the invertible groups of unital closed standard operator algebras on Banach spaces are investigated and their general forms are given.