Quantum Markov states on Cayley trees (Q1733786)

The paper under review is concerned with the analysis of a particular class of states on a certain $AF$ $C^*$-algebra $B_\Lambda$ associated with the rooted directed `$k$-homogeneous' tree $\Lambda$. We have $B_\Lambda = \bigcup_{n \in \mathbb{N}} B_{\Lambda_n}$, where $B_{\Lambda_n}$ is the multi-matrix algebra associated to the first $n$ levels of the tree. The key notions of a quantum Markov chain and quantum Markov state refer to particular `limit' states $\phi$ on $B_\Lambda$, interacting in an appropriate manner with (quasi) conditional expectations $\mathcal{E}_j: B_{\Lambda_{j+1}} \to B_{\Lambda_j}$. In most of the paper, these conditional expectations are assumed to be localised, i.e., arising as tensor products of conditional expectations respecting the vertex structure of the algebras in question. \par The authors show that any quantum Markov state with localised expectations leads to a Gibbs-like measure on the configuration space $\{1,\ldots,q\}^\Lambda$, where $q$ is the dimension of the center of the basic matrix algebra corresponding to a single vertex. They also obtain a disintegration result, proving that any quantum Markov state as above can be represented as an integral of certain simpler states (with respect to the relevant Gibbs measure). Some connections to quantum statistical mechanics, phrased in terms of expressing the Markov property in terms of `local potentials' (related to density operators of localised states) are also indicated. The results are inspired by those known in the one-dimensional setting, in particular those due to \textit{L. Accardi} and \textit{F. Fidaleo} [J. Funct. Anal. 200, No. 2, 324--347 (2003; Zbl 1031.46074)].