Operator space structure and amenability for Figà--Talamanca--Herz algebras (Q1827560)

Let \(G\) be a locally compact group and \(A(G)\) be the Fourier algebra of \(G\). \textit{Z.-J. Ruan} [Am. J. Math. 117, No. 6, 1449--1474 (1995; Zbl 0842.43004)] introduced the notion of amenability for ``quantized'' Banach algebras called operator amenable and showed that \(G\) is amenable if and only if \(A(G)\) is operator algebra. In the present paper, the authors extend this result to the class of Figà--Talamanca--Herz algebras \(A_p(G)\), \(1< p<\infty\). They show that \(G\) is amenable if and only if \(A_p(G)\) is operator amenable for all, and equivalently for one, \(1< p<\infty\). This extension is interesting and nontrivial, using a notion of column and row operator spaces over arbitrary Banach spaces introduced by the first author in his thesis [``Operatorfolgenräume'' (Universität des Saarlandes) (2002)]. It has been shown recently by \textit{B. Forrest} and \textit{V. Runde} [Math. Z. 250, No. 4, 731--744 (2005; DOI:10.1007/s00209-005-0772-2)] that \(A(G)\) is amenable if and only if \(G\) contains an abelian subgroup of finite index.