On almost commuting operators (Q1128373)

Given a pair of almost commuting operators, there does not in general exist a path connecting one of them to unity in such a way that the commutator norm is small along this path. In this note the author presents a case in which such a homotopy exists. Let \(A\) be a \(C^*\)-algebra such that the elements with finite spectrum are dense in the set of all self-adjoint elements of \(A\), invertible elements are dense in \(A\), and for every projection \(p \in A\) the unitary group of the \(C^*\)-algebra \(pAp\) is connected. Let \(h \in A\) be a self-adjoint operator,and let \(u \in A\) be a unitary such that \(| | u^*hu - h| | < \delta\). Then there exists a constant \(C (=C(| | h| |))\) and a path \(u(t)\) connecting \(u\) with unity such that \(| | u^*(t)hu(t) - h| | < C {\sqrt[4]\delta}\) for sufficiently small \(\delta\) and all \(t\).