A relative bicommutant theorem: the stable case of Pedersen's question (Q1631003)

The corona \(C^*\)-algebra of a (non-unital) \(C^*\)-algebra \({\mathcal B}\) is the quotient \({\mathcal C}({\mathcal B})={\mathcal M}({\mathcal B})/{\mathcal B}\) of the (unital) multiplier \(C^*\)-algebra \({\mathcal M}({\mathcal B})\) by its ideal \({\mathcal B}\). The corona algebra of the \(C^*\)-algebra \({\mathcal K}={\mathcal K}({\mathcal H})\) of all compact operators on a separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space \({\mathcal H}\) coincides with the Calkin algebra \({\mathcal Q}({\mathcal H})={\mathcal B} ({\mathcal H})/{\mathcal K}({\mathcal H})\). Classical work of \textit{D. Voiculescu} [Rev. Roum. Math. Pures Appl. 21, 97--113 (1976; Zbl 0335.46039)] shows that every unital separable norm-closed algebra \({\mathcal A}\) of \({\mathcal Q}({\mathcal H})\) is reflexive, in the sense that \({\mathcal A}\) coincides with the algebra \(\operatorname{Alg}_{{\mathcal Q}({\mathcal H})}(\operatorname{Lat}_{{\mathcal Q}({\mathcal H})}({\mathcal A}))\) of elements \(y\in {\mathcal Q}({\mathcal H})\) such that \((1-e)ye=0\) whenever \(e\in {\mathcal Q}({\mathcal H})\) is a self-adjoint projection such that \((1-e)xe=0\) for all \(x\in {\mathcal A}\). As a corollary, every unital separable sub-\(C^*\)-algebra of \({\mathcal Q}({\mathcal H})\) is equal to its bicommutant. The paper under review generalizes these results to the situation where \({\mathcal K}\) is replaced by a \(\sigma\)-unital stable simple purely infinite \(C^*\)-algebra \({\mathcal B}\), proving that \({\mathcal A}=\operatorname{Alg}_{{\mathcal C}({\mathcal B})} (\operatorname{Lat}_{{\mathcal C}({\mathcal B})}({\mathcal A}))\) for every unital separable norm-closed subalgebra of \({\mathcal C}({\mathcal B})\). The relative bicommutant theorem \(({\mathcal A}^\prime \cap {\mathcal C}({\mathcal B}))^\prime \cap {\mathcal C}({\mathcal B})={\mathcal A}\) for every unital separable sub-\(C^*\)-algebra of \({\mathcal C}({\mathcal B})\) is then derived as a corollary. As shown by \textit{H. Lin} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 112, No. 3, 871--880 (1991; Zbl 0744.46048)], the corona algebra of a \(\sigma\)-unital stable \(C^*\)-algebra is simple if and only if the algebra is isomorphic with \({\mathcal K}\) or is simple purely infinite. Hence the relative bicommutant result above answers positively in the stable case a question of \textit{G. K. Pedersen} [in: Operator theory, Proc. GPOTS-Wabash Conf., Indianapolis/IN 1988, Pitman Res. Notes Math. Ser. 225, 49--92 (1990; Zbl 0716.46044)] about extending Voiculescu's theorem for \(\sigma\)-unital \(C^*\)-algebras \({\mathcal B}\) with simple corona algebra. It also provides a positive answer to a question of \textit{I. Farah} [Pac. J. Math. 288, No. 1, 69--85 (2017; Zbl 1423.03115)] about the equality \(({\mathcal A}^\prime \cap {\mathcal D}^{\ast\ast})^\prime \cap {\mathcal D}={\mathcal A}\) in the case \({\mathcal D}={\mathcal C}({\mathcal B})\) with \({\mathcal B}\) as above.