Operator space characterizations of \(C^*\)-algebras and ternary rings. (Q1880047)

The goal of the present paper is to describe operator spaces which are \(n\)-isometric (\(n \geq 2\)) or completely isometric to ternary rings of operators (TROs), purely in terms of their geometric structure. Recall that an operator space is a closed subspace of \(B(H)\) (\(H\) being some Hilbert space), or equivalently, a Banach space \(X\) for which the spaces \(M_n(X)\) of \(n \times n\) matrices with entries in \(X\) are equipped with norms satisfying certain conditions (``Ruan's axioms''). A TRO is a closed subspace of \(B(H)\) satisfying \(X X^* X \subset X\). It is known that \(X\) is a TRO if and only if \(X = p A (1-p)\) for some \(C^*\)-subalgebra \(A\) of \(B(H)\) and some projection \(p \in A\) (that is, \(X\) is a ``corner'' of \(A\)). A Banach space \(X\) is called a \(JB^*\)-triple if it is equipped with a ``triple product'' satisfying certain conditions. \(JB^*\)-triples can be described in ``purely geometric'' terms: \(X\) is a \(JB^*\)-triple if and only if its unit ball \(B_X\) is a bounded symmetric domain (that is, the group of bi-holomorphic automorphisms acts transitively on it). The main result of this paper is the following Theorem. Suppose that \(X\) is an operator space and \(B_{M_n(X)}\) is a bounded symmetric domain for some \(n \geq 2\). Then \(X\) is \(n\)-isometric to a TRO. If the above holds for every \(n \geq 2\), then \(X\) is completely isometric (hence ternary isomorphic) to a TRO. The paper is very well written. All the facts used are carefully referenced. The main tools employed by the authors are remarkable properties of contractive and bi-contractive projections on \(JB^*\)-triples.