Shifts on the hyperfinite \(II_1\) factor (Q1270234)

A \(*\)-endomorphism \(\sigma\) of the hyperfinite \(\text{II}_1\) factor \(R\) is said to be a shift if \(\sigma\) satisfies the range property: \(\bigcap_n\sigma^n(R)= \mathbb{C} I\). A pair \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\) of unital \(*\)-endomorphisms on \(R\) are cocycle conjugate if there exists a unitary element \(W\) in \(R\) such that \(\alpha\circ \text{Ad}(W)\) and \(\beta\) are conjugate. The author is interested in the study of a class \(*\)-endomorphisms whose index is 2 (which we call binary shifts). A binary shift \(\sigma\) on \(R\) is said to have commutant index \(k\) if \(k\) is the first positive integer such that the algebra \(\sigma^k(R)\) has a nontrivial relative commutant \(\sigma^k(R)^c\cap R\) in \(R\). In this paper results are obtained on the classification of the cocycle conjugacy classes (CCCs) of Powers shifts of higher commutant index. More precisely, the author studies shifts \(\sigma\) on \(R\) for which \(\sigma(R)\) has Jones index 2, namely, \([R:\sigma(R)]= 2\) [e.g. see \textit{V. F. R. Jones}, Invent. Math. 72, 1-25 (1983; Zbl 0508.46040)], and also presents a new result on the CCCs of binary shifts, which is a significant generalization of a recent result which classified the CCCs of binary shifts of minimal commutant index, cf. \textit{G. L. Price} [J. Operator Theory 39, 177-195 (1998)]. A detailed account of the relationship between the commutant index and a periodicity condition for the binary shift on \(R\) is given. That is, Theorem 5.5: ``The commutant index is a cocycle conjugate invariant for binary shifts.'' Theorem 5.8: ``A binary shift has finite commutant index if and only if its bitstream \(a(S)\) is eventually periodic.'' By Theorem 5.8, the commutant index may be infinite. In fact, there are uncountably many binary shifts with infinite commutant index which are pairwise nonconjugate. Theorem 5.9: ``If \(\sigma\) and \(\alpha\) are cocycle conjugate binary shifts, then their derived shifts \(\sigma_\infty\) and \(\alpha_\infty\) are conjugate.'' Moreover, the results on the congruence of matrices over the field \(F\), including those on the ranks of Toeplitz matrices, are stated. The author uses these results as a key to determining some CCCs of binary shifts on the hyperfinite \(\text{II}_1\) factor. The principal result (Theorem 7.12) says: ``\(\sigma\) and \(\sigma_\infty\) are cocycle conjugate.'' \textit{R. T. Powers} and \textit{G. L. Price} conjectured in [J. Funct. Anal. 121, 275-295 (1994; Zbl 0824.46068)], that a pair of binary shifts are cocycle conjugate if and only if one can find a unitary \(V\) which normalizes the group \(N(\alpha)\) (= the normalizer of \(\alpha\)) such that \(\alpha\circ \text{Ad}(V)\) and \(\beta\) are conjugate. The conjecture holds for those pairs of binary shifts having commutant index 2 (Corollary 7.13). As is mentioned in the introduction, in this paper the author assembles most of the results on the theory of binary shifts, which have been obtained during 1990-1997 by H. Yin, M. Choda, N. Narnhofer, W. Thirring and the author himself, etc. This paper may therefore be self-contained in the sense that one can easily read through it without referring to earlier papers on the subject.