Quasitriangular subalgebras of semifinite von Neumann algebras are closed (Q1193918)

\textit{W. Arveson} has shown in [J. Funct. Anal. 20, 208-233 (1975; Zbl 0309.46053)] that if \(A\) is a nest algebra of operators acting on a separable Hilbert space \(H\) with nest of order type the extended natural numbers and if \(K(H)\) is the ideal of compact operators on \(H\), then the quasitriangular algebra \(A+K(H)\) is norm closed. In [J. Oper. Theory 1, 137-150 (1979; Zbl 0455.46051)] \textit{T. Fall}, \textit{W. Arveson}, and \textit{P. Muhly} extended Arveson's result proving that in \(B(H)\), general quasitriangular algebras (i.e., compact perturbations of nest algebras) are always norm closed. A key step in their proof, and a result of independent interest, first obtained by \textit{J. Erdős} in [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 43, 391-397 (1968; Zbl 0169.175)], is the \(\sigma\)-weak density of \(A \cap K(H)\) in \(A\). From this fact they deduced that quasitriangular algebras were norm closed by using an argument depending on the duality \(K(H)^{**} = B(H)\). Every semifinite von Neumann algebra \(M\) has an ideal of compact operators that behaves like \(K(H)\), namely the norm-closed two-sided ideal \(K\) generated by the finite projections of the algebra. It is a natural question, which has circulated informally for several years, whether the above two results and especially the closure result can be extended to the von Neumann algebra setting. In this paper we settle both questions in the affirmative. However, the closure result does not seem to be obtainable from the density result by using duality arguments as in \(B(H)\), since in general \(K^{**} \neq M\). Instead our proof is matricial and is based on approximating Hilbert- Schmidt elements of \(M\) (relative to a semifinite trace) by Hilbert- Schmidt elements in the nest algebra, retaining joint control of both the operator norm and the Hilbert-Schmidt norm. In the case \(M = B(H)\), this provides a new proof of the closure of quasitriangular algebras independent of the density result.