Representations of Hardy algebras: Absolute continuity, intertwiners, and superharmonic operators (Q543474)

Consider the one-to-one correspondence among contractive representations \(\rho\) of the disc algebra \(A(\mathbb D)\) on a Hilbert space \(H\), and the contraction operator \(T=\rho(z)\) on \({\mathcal B}(H)\). By the \textit{B. Sz.-Nagy} and \textit{C. Foias} functional calculus [Harmonic analysis of operators on Hilbert space. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; Amsterdam-London: North-Holland (1970; Zbl 0201.45003)], if one decomposes \(T=T_{cnu}\oplus U\) (where \(U\) is a unitary operator and \(T_{cnu}\) is completely non-unitary), then the induced contractive representation \(\rho\) can be extended to a weak-* continuous representation of the Hardy algebra \(H^{\infty}(\mathbb T)\) if and only if the unitary part \(U\) of \(T\) is absolutely continuous. In this paper, the authors introduce the proper background and notions in order to extend, or generalize, this result to the setting of \(W^*\)-correspondences \(E\) over a von Neumann algebra \(M\) (in the sense introduced by the authors in [``Hardy algebras, \(W^*\)-correspondences and interpolation theory'', Math. Ann. 330, No. 2, 353--415 (2004; Zbl 1066.46049)]). They show that, if one considers the tensor algebra \({\mathcal T}_+(E)\) of the correspondence and its weak-* closure \(H^{\infty}(E)\), then introducing adequate notions of absolute continuity for completely contractive representations \(\rho\) makes possible such a generalization in a concrete and appealing way.