On center-valued traces on real operator algebras (Q1316808)

The author defines a center-valued trace on a real von Neumann algebra and on a JW-algebra and examines the possibility of extending such a trace to the enveloping von Neumann algebra. For a real von Neumann algebra, one has to assume that the center-valued trace is both positive and Hermitian, the second property not being implied by the first. It is shown that a real von Neumann algebra is finite if and only if it admits a faithful center-valued trace, which is then unique and normal. Examples are given of a normal tracial state which is neither Hermitian nor central, and of a tracial state which is not normal (nor even continuous in norm). It is proved that a JW-algebra is modular if and only if it admits a faithful center-valued trace (which is then unique and normal).