\(KK\)-equivalence and continuous bundles of \(C^*\)-algebras (Q1583606)

Starting to the problem ``that \(KK\)-theory as a carrier of information about the structure of \(C^*\)-algebras cannot in general stand alone when we seek to classify \(C^*\)-algebras up to isomorphism'', the purpose of the present paper is to use recent results of the author on \(KK\)-theory and \(E\)-theory [\textit{K. Thomsen}, ``Discrete asymptotic homomorphisms in \(E\)-theory and \(KK\)-theory'', preprint (1998) and ``Homotopy invariance for bifunctors defined from asymptotic homomorphisms'', preprint (1999)] to give an answer of this problem for \(KK\)-theory. First of all the author decides what it means for a \(C^*\)-algebra to be \(KK\)-contractible, i.e., \(KK\)-equivalent to \(0\): in Section 2 for \(E\)-theory and in Section 3 for \(KK\)-theory. The central notion in the description of which \(C^*\)-algebras are \(KK\)-contractible is called semi-contractibility: a \(C^*\)-algebra can be connected to \(0\) by a continuous path of completely positive contractions such that the maps in the path are almost multiplicative up to an arbitrary small toleration on any given finite subset. So, a separable \(C^*\)-algebra \(A\) is \(KK\)-contractible iff it is quotient of a semi-contractible \(C^*\)-algebra by a semi-contractible ideal. In order to identify semi-contractible \(C^*\)-algebras, a description of them involving generalized inductive limits is given in Section 4. The notion of a generalized inductive system of \(C^*\)-algebras introduced by \textit{B. Blackadar} and \textit{E. Kirchberg} [``Generalized inductive limits of finite-dimensional \(C^*\)-algebras'', Math. Ann. 307, No. 3, 343-380 (1997; Zbl 0874.46036)] is used in Section 5 to transfer \(KK\)-theory information, encoded in two completely positive asymptotic homomorphisms, into an isomorphism between two \(C^*\)-algebras which are closely related to the two given \(KK\)-equivalent separable \(C^*\)-algebras, \(A\) and \(B\). So, a continuous bundle of \(C^*\)-algebras which connects \(SA\otimes K\) to \(SB\otimes K\) is obtained. This bundle has several quite special properties. In the last section of the paper, the bundle from Section 5 together with other bundles (notable the bundle considered by \textit{G. A. Elliot}, \textit{T. Natsume} and \textit{R. Nest} [``The Heisenberg group and \(K\)-Theory'', \(K\)-Theory 7, No. 5, 409-428 (1993; Zbl 0803.46076)] are glued to obtain the main result of the paper: two separable \(C^*\)-algebras, \(A\) and \(B\), are \(KK\)-equivalent if and only if they can be connected by a bundle of \(C^*\)-algebras over \([0,1]\) of a particular form: a piecewise trivial bundle with no more than six points of non-triviality such that the kernel of each fiber map is \(KK\)-contractible, all fiber maps are semi-split and such that the fibres at the endpoints of the interval are \(A\) and \(B\). As an immediate corollary the author obtains that \(A\) and \(B\) are \(KK\)-equivalent iff there is a separable \(C^*\)-algebra \(D\) and two surjective *-homomorphisms \(\varphi: D\to A\) and \(\psi:D\to B\), both of which admit a completely positive section and have \(KK\)-contractible kernels. So, any \(KK\)-equivalence between separable \(C^*\)-algebras can therfore be realized by the Kasparov product of a surjective *-homomorphism with the inverse of a surjective *-homomorphism.