On the topological stable rank of non-selfadjoint operator algebras

We provide a negative solution to a question of M. Rieffel who asked if the right and left topological stable ranks of a Banach algebra must always agree. Our example is found amongst a class of nest algebras. We show that for many other nest algebras, both the left and right topological stable ranks are infinite. We extend this latter result to Popescu’s non-commutative disc algebras and to free semigroup algebras as well. K. R. Davidson, L. W. Marcoux, H. Radjavi’s research was supported in part by NSERC (Canada). An erratum to this article can be found at