Fixed point theorems for noncommutative functions (Q1941373)

The authors establish fixed point theorems for mappings of square matrices of all sizes which respect the matrix sizes and direct sums of matrices. Let \(\mathcal M\) a bi-module over a unital ring \(\mathcal R\) and \(\mathcal M_{nc} =\coprod\limits_{n=1}^{\infty}\mathcal M^{n\times n}\) the nc space over \(\mathcal M\). Certain nc functions which respect direct sums as well as similarities of matrices on some nc sets and their fixed points are considered. Let \(f\) be a nc function. It is shown that, if \(f\) has a unique fixed point in each matrix dimension, then all these fixed points arise as multiple copies of a single matrix. This principle can be used to generalized any fixed point theorem where the fixed point is unique to the noncommutative setting. As a consequence, an nc version of the Banach Fixed Point Theorem is given. Moreover, the principle of nested nc sets is established.