Divisible operators in von Neumann algebras

Publication date 28 November 2011

Published in Illinois Journal of Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0611364, https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.ijm/1318598673

approximate equivalence divisible operator ultrapower unitary orbit Voiculescu's theorem von Neumann algebra

General theory of von Neumann algebras (46L10) Structure theory of linear operators (47A65) Linear operators in (C^*)- or von Neumann algebras (47C15)

Abstract: Relativizing an idea from multiplicity theory, we say that an element x of a von Neumann algebra M is n-divisible if (W*(x)' cap M) unitally contains a factor of type I_n. We decide the density of the n-divisible operators, for various n, M, and operator topologies. The most sensitive case is sigma-strong density in II_1 factors, which is closely related to the McDuff property. We make use of Voiculescu's noncommutative Weyl-von Neumann theorem to obtain several descriptions of the norm closure of the n-divisible operators in B(ell^2). Here are two consequences: (1) in contrast to the reducible operators, of which they form a subset, the divisible operators are nowhere dense; (2) if an operator is a norm limit of divisible operators, it is actually a norm limit of unitary conjugates of a single divisible operator. This is related to our ongoing work on unitary orbits by the following theorem, which is new even for B(ell^2): if an element of a von Neumann algebra belongs to the norm closure of the aleph_0-divisible operators, then the sigma-weak closure of its unitary orbit is convex.

Review text

Let \(M\) be a von Neumann algebra and \(x\in M\). Let \(n\) be a cardinal larger than one and \(M_n\) denote a type \(I_n\) factor. Then \(x\) is said to be \(n\)-divisible if the relative commutant \(W^*(x)'\cap M\) unitally contains the factor \(M_n\). A~{*}-homomorphism \(\rho\) between two \(C^*\)-algebras is said to be \(n\)-divisible if its relative commutant unitally contains the factor \(M_n\). In this article, a basic question is: when is the set of \(n\)-divisible operators in \(M\) dense in \(M\) by given different topologies? By considering various operator topologies, such as the \({\sigma}\)-weak, \({\sigma}\)-strong, \({\sigma}\)-strong{*} topology, the author decides whether the sets of \(n\)-divisible operators are dense or not. It is worthy to mention that, in the case of the \({\sigma}\)-strong topology, the density can be determined by assuming that \(M\) is McDuff (i.e., \(M\cong M\overline{\otimes} R\)). Let \(U(x)\) denote the unitary orbit of \(x\in M\) and \(\overline{U(x)}^{\sigma -w}\) denote the \(\sigma\)-weakly closure of \(U(x)\). The author also proves that, for any \(x\) belonging to the norm closure of the \(\aleph_0\)-divisible operators, \(\overline{U(x)}^{\sigma -w}\) is convex. Some techniques and facts used here are also related to some useful concepts in the \(K\)-theory of \(C^*\)-algebras.

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