A new proof of the existence of traces on Jordan operator algebras and real von Neumann algebras (Q1825415)

A JW-algebra is a weakly closed Jordan algebra of bounded selfadjoint linear operators of a Hilbert space. Such an algebra A is called reversible if \(a_ 1...a_ n+a_ n...a_ 1\in A\) whenever \(a_ 1,a_ 2,...,a_ n\in A\), and modular if the lattice of its projections is modular. The main result is a new proof of the author's theorem which says that the enveloping von Neumann algebra of a modular reversible JW- algebra is finite; this proof avoids using related results on von Neumann algebras. As a corollary a new proof is obtained for the characterization of modular JW-algebras by the existence of sufficiently many finite normal traces. There are also some side-results on real von Neumann algebras.