I’m getting the impression that the bra-ket notation is more useful for linear ON THE LEFT!
An approximate unit for a C*-algebra is an increasing net of positive elements in the closed unit ball of
such that
for all
.
Example
Let be a Hilbert space with infinite orthonormal basis
. The C*-algebra
is now non-unital. If
is the projection onto
, then the increasing sequence
is an approximate unit for
. It will suffice to show that
if
, since
is dense in
. Now if
, there exist
,
such that:
.
Hence,
.
Since for all
, therefore for each $k$:
.
Hence, .
Let be a C*-algebra and denote by
. This set is a poset under the partial order of
. In fact,
is also upwards directed; that is, if
, then there exists
such that
. Suppose
(Murphy actually takes
but we can do without this — in particular I want to take
to give me the required invertibility: but
when
.), then
( I’m going to assume it is and take
after all because then
.). We hence have that
. We claim
and
(*)
Indeed if , then
which implies that
, by Theorem 2.2.5, and therefore
; thus proving the claim.
Note that if then
. Suppose then that
. Let
,
and
. Then
, and since
, we have that
by (*). Similarly
and
is upwards-directed as claimed.
Theorem 3.1.1
Every C*-algebra admits an approximate unit. Indeed, if is the upwards-directed set
and
for all
, then
is an approximate unit for
(called the canonical approximate unit).
Proof
We need to show that for each
. Since
linearly spans
(The positive elements span the hermitian elements and the hermitian elements span the C*-algebra.), we can reduce to the case when
.
Let and
. Let
be the Gelfand transformation. If
, then
is compact, and therefore by Urysohn’s Lemma there is a continuous function
of compact support such that
for all
. Choose
such that
and
. Then
(I don’t see this: suppose, roughly, that the supremum is found ‘at’
. Then
that is I can’t make any conclusion. Now if the supremum is found at ‘outside’
then:
This is unresolved by my supervisor and I but we can prove this result using different techniques so no panic — approximate units still exist!). If , then
and
. Now suppose that
and
. Then
, so
(Th.2.2.5 (2): we can pre- and post-multiply inequalities by an element and it’s adjoint.). Hence,
(the first inequality here uses submultiplicativity and the C*-equation along with the the result . To see that this is true, not that
so that
. Therefore
. The next equality is just the C*-equation:)
.
(The first and second inequalities here use Th. 2.2.5 (3) () and submultiplicativity.) This shows that
Remark
If a C*-algebra is separable, then it admits an approximate unit which is a sequence. For in this case, there exist finite sets
such that is dense in
. Let
be any approximate unit for
. If
, and
say, then there exist
such that
if
. Choose
such that
. Then
for all
and all
. Hence, if
and
, then there exists
such that
for all
. Also, we can choose the
such that
for all
. Consequently,
, for all
, and since
is dense in
, this also holds for all
. Therefore
is an approximate unit for
.
Theorem 3.1.2
If is a closed left ideal in a C*-algebra
, then there is an increasing net
of positive elements in the closed unit ball of
such that
for all
.
Proof
Set . Since
is a C*-algebra, it admits an approximate unit,
say, by the previous theorem. If
, then
, so
Hence,
,
and therefore
(Where the last inequality uses submultiplicatively — and again requires that . Murphy refers to this afterwards — he states that in this proof we worked in the unitisation
of
.)
Theorem 3.1.3
If is a closed ideal in a C*-algebra
, then
is self-adjoint and therefore a C^*-subalgebra of
. If
is an approximate unit for
, then for each
:
Proof
By the previous theorem there is an increasing net of positive elements in the closed unit ball of
such that
for all
. Hence
, so
, because all of the elements
belong to
. Therefore
is self-adjoint.
Suppose that is an arbitrary approximate unit of
, that
and that
. There is an element
such that:
.
Since , there exists
such that
for all
, and therefore (triangle inequality after a trick and the dreaded
are the first two inequalities):
.
It follows that , and therefore also
Remark
Let be a closed ideal in a C*-algebra
, and
a closed ideal in
. Then
is also an ideal in
. To show this we need only show that
and
whenever
and
(since
is a C*-algebra,
linearly spans
). If
is an approximate unit for
, then
because
. Hence,
, so
because
,
, and
is an ideal in
. Therefore
also, so
, since
is self-adjoint.
Theorem 3.1.4
If is a closed ideal of a C*-algebra
, then the quotient
is a C*-algebra under its usual operations and the quotient norm.
Proof
Let be an approximate unit for
. If
and
, then
.
The first equality is by the previous theorem (the second is the C*-equation. The first inequality is a trick and a triangle inequality. The second inequality again uses with a bit of submultiplicativity). Therefore,
; so by Lemma 2.1.3 (if a Banach algebra with an involution satisfies
then it is a C*-algebra),
is a C*-algebra
Theorem 3.1.5
If is an injective *-homomorphism between C*-algebras
and
, then
is necessarily isometric.
Proof
It suffices to show that , that is
. Thus we may suppose that
is abelian (restrict to
if necessary), and that
is abelian (replace
by
if necessary). Moreover, by extending
to
if necessary, we may further assume the
,
and
are unital.
If is a character on
, then
is one on
. Clearly the map
,
is continuous (as the composition of continuous maps — homomorphisms are always continuous). Hence, is compact, because
is compact (Th. 1.3.5: If
is unital and abelian,
is compact and Hausdorff), and therefore
is closed in
. If
, then by Urshohn’s Lemma there is a non-zero continuous function
that vanishes on
. By the Gelfand representation,
for some
. Hence, for each
,
. Therefore
, so
(O.K. — with injectivity of
). But this implies that
is zero, a contradiction. The only way to avoid this is to have
. Hence, for each
,
.
Thus is isometric
Theorem 3.1.6
If is a *-homomorphism between C*-algebras, then
is a C*-subalgebra of
.
Proof
The map
,
,
is an injective *-homomorphism between C*-algebras and is therefore isometric. It’s image is , so this space is necessarily complete and therefore closed in
Theorem 3.1.7
Let and
respectively be a C*-subalgebra and a closed ideal of in a C*-algebra
. Then
is a C*-subalgebra of
.
Proof
We show only that is complete, because the rest is trivial. Since
is complete we need only prove that the quotient
is complete (
,
complete implies
complete — a quick calculation). The intersection
is a closed ideal in
and the map
from
to
defined by setting
is a *-homomorphism with range
. By the previous theorem,
is a C*-algebra, and hence complete
Remark
The map
,
,
in the preceding proof is in fact clearly a *-isomorphism.
We return to the topic of multiplier algebras, because we can now say a little more about them using the results of this section.
Suppose that is a closed ideal in a C*-algebra
. If
, define
and
by setting
and
.
is a double centraliser on
and the map:
,
,
is a *-homomorphism. Recall that we identified as a closed ideal in
by identifying
with
if
(We have that
is a homomorphism as
.
Also
). Hence, is an extension of the inclusion map
.
If are sets in
, we define
to be the closed linear span of all products
, where
. If
,
are closed ideals in
, then
. The inclusion
is obvious. To show the reverse inclusion we need only show that if
is a positive element of
, then
. Suppose then that
. Hence
. If
is an approximate unit for
, then
, and since
for all
, we get
, as required.
Let be a closed ideal in
. We say
is essential if
. From the previous observations, it is easy to check that
is essential in
iff
for all non-zero closed ideals
in
(is every element contained in some ideal — how about
— but we need a unit for this (and it’s probably not always proper).).
Every C*-algebra is an essential ideal in it’s multiplier algebra
(a quick calculation).
Theorem 3.1.8
Let be a closed ideal in a C*-algebra
. Then there is a unique *-homomorphism
extending the inclusion
. Moreover,
is injective if
is essential in
.
Proof
We have already seen above that the inclusion map admits a *-homomorphic extension
. Suppose that
is another such extension. If
,
, then
. Hence
, so
, since
is essential in
. Thus
.
Suppose now that is essential in
and let
. Then
, so
. Thus,
is injective
Theorem 3.1.8 tells us that the multiplier algebra of
is the largest unital C*-algebra containing
as an essential closed ideal.
Example
If is a Hilbert space, then
is an essential ideal in
. For if
such that
, then for all
we have that
, so
. By Theorem 3.1.8, the inclusion map
extends uniquely to an injective *-homomorphism
. We show that
is surjective, that is, a *-isomorphism. Suppose that
, and fix a unit vector
. The linear map:
,
,
is bounded, since
.
If , then
.
Hence, for all
. Therefore,
, so
.
Thus we may regard as the multiplier algebra of
.
Example
If is a locally compact Hausdorff space, then it is easy to check that
is an essential ideal in the C*-algebra
. Therefore, by Theorem 3.1.8 there is a unique injective *-homomorphism
extending the inclusion
. We show that
is surjective, that is, a *-isomorphism. To see this, it suffices to show that if
is positive, then it is in the range of
. If
is an approximate unit for
, then for each
the net of real numbers
is increasing and bounded above by
, and therefore it converges to a number,
say. The function:
,
.
is bounded. Moreover, if , then
, since
. To see that
is continuous, let
be a net in
converging to a point
. Let
be a compact neighbourhood of
in
. To show that
, we may suppose
for all indices
,(there exists
such that
for all indices
, so, if necessary, replace the net
by the net
). Use Urysohn’s Lemma to choose a function
such that
on
. Since
,
.
Therefore, is continuous, so
. For
an arbitrary function in
we have
,
so . Consequently
.
2 comments
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December 4, 2014 at 2:00 am
momumomu
if $(U_{n})$ is an approximate unit for a C^{∗}-algebra A. Is (U_{n})^2$ is an approximateunit for a C^{*}−algebra A? Thank in advance.
December 10, 2014 at 5:15 pm
J.P. McCarthy
http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1050761/existence-of-a-approximate-unit-u-n2-for-a-c-algebra/1061102#1061102