Noncommutative integration (Q1943491)

Let \(M\) be a von Neumann algebra. We say that two normal positive linear functionals \(\varphi,\psi\in M^+_*\) are equivalent (written \(\varphi\sim \psi\)) if there exists a partial isometry \(u\in M\) such that \(s(\varphi)\leq u^*u\), \(s(\psi)\leq uu^*\) and \(u\varphi u^*=\psi\) (which also entails \(\varphi=u^*\psi u\)). The main result states that whenever \(M\) is a factor and \(\varphi(1)=\psi(1)\), we can find sequences \({\varphi_i}\) and \({\psi_i}\) from \(M^+_*\) such that \(\varphi=\sum_i\varphi_i\), \(\psi=\sum_i\psi_i\) and, for each \(i\), \(\varphi_i\sim\psi_i\). The author calls an element of \(M^+_*\) super faithful if all nonzero positive linear functionals from \(M^+_*\) which it majorizes are faithful. If \(M\) admits a super faithful functional, then it is a factor of type \(III_1\). The question of existence of such functionals is not resolved in the paper, but if the von Neumann algebra admits no super faithful functionals, then one can choose the partial isometries that establish equivalences of the pairs of functionals to be unitaries. The decomposition theorem stated above describes a strictly noncommutative phenomenon. To make sense of it in the commutative case, the author considers abelian algebras with ergodic group actions and obtains an analogous decomposition.