Algebras of unbounded functions and operators (Q1078497)

The paper under review gives a detailed and deepgoing analysis of the techniques that go into the spectral theorem for unbounded normal operators. The frame is an algebra of unbounded continuous functions on an extremely disconnected compact space that are allowed to assume the value \(\infty\). In the operator context such an algebra describes the operators affiliated with an abelian von Neumann algebra. The author discusses spectral resolution in such an algebra, the special case corresponding to an abelian von Neumann algebra, and a characterization of such an algebra (of real or \(\infty\)-valued function) as a vector lattice satisfying certain conditions.