Infinite dimensional homogeneous reductive spaces and finite index conditional expectations (Q1358716)

Let \(\mathcal P\) be a differentiable manifold which is a selfadjoint homogeneous reductive space (shortly: HRS) under the action of the unitary group of a \(C^*\)-algebra \(\mathcal A\) and a reductive space with reductive structure given by a faithful conditional expectation \(E:{\mathcal A}\to{\mathcal B}\subset {\mathcal A}\). Perhaps the most important example of HRS, and certainly the best understood, is that of the Grassmannians of a \(C^*\)-algebra. Namely: the space of selfadjoint projections of the algebra. It is a fact that each connected component of this space is a selfadjoint HRS under the action (by inner automorphisms) of the unitary group of the algebra. That is, if \(\mathcal M\) is a \(C^*\)-algebra, \(U_{\mathcal M}\) its unitary group and \(p\) is a selfadjoint projection of \(\mathcal M\), \[ L_up= upu^*,\quad u\in U_{\mathcal M}. \] In this example the isotropy group \(I_p\) is the unitary group of \(\{p\}'\cap{\mathcal M}\). The reductive structure is given by the conditional expectation \[ {\mathcal M}\ni m\mapsto pmp+(1- p)m(1- p)\in\{p\}'\in{\mathcal M}. \] In this paper, we present a natural representation for general HRS \(\mathcal Q\) whose reductive structure is determined by a faithful conditional expectation, into the Grassmannian of an extension of the given \(C^*\)-algebra. Any such HRS under the action of the group of invertibles \(G_{\mathcal A}\) of a \(C^*\)-algebra \(\mathcal A\), is mapped diffeomorphically onto the orbit \[ {\mathcal Q}\leftrightarrow{\mathcal S}_{\mathcal A}(p)= \{gpg^{-1}: g\in G_{\mathcal A}\}, \] where \(p\) is the selfadjoint projection associated with \(E\) lying on a Jones' like extension of \(\mathcal A\) given by \(E\). These orbits were considered in [\textit{E. Andruchow} and \textit{D. Stojanoff}, Geometry of conditional expectations and finite index, Int. J. Math. Vol. 5, No. 2, 169-178 (1994; Zbl 0814.46052)] in the von Neumann algebra case. This paper generalizes those results to the \(C^*\)-algebra context. The basic tool is Stinespring's theorem in order to obtain a Jones' like basic construction for a given conditional expectation between \(C^*\)-algebras. We use techniques inspired in ideas of \textit{M. Pimsner} and \textit{S. Popa} appeared in [Ann. Sci. École Norm. Supér. IV. Sér. 19, 57-106 (1986; Zbl 0646.46057)]. We construct a natural basic representation for such spaces as subsets (and submanifolds iff the index of \(E\) is finite) of the Grassmannians of an extension \(\mathcal M\) of \(\mathcal A\) given by \(E\) (in a Jones' index theory like construction). For each sub \(C^*\)-algebra \({\mathcal B}\subset{\mathcal A}\) which is the range of a faithful conditional expectation, we construct a manifold \(\mathcal P\) of this kind (whose isotropy group is the unitary group of \(\mathcal B\)). We characterize the invariant Finsler metric induced by this representation. In the finite index case one can construct a 1-form of projections from the tangent bundle of the Grassmannians onto the tangent bundle of \(\mathcal P\) which gives sense to a ``spatial'' derivative. We prove that it has the same geodesic curves as the connection induced by the original reductive structure.