On the inverse semigroup of bimodules over a \(C^\ast\)-algebra (Q2120150)

The paper introduces a natural inverse semigroup structure on the set \(S(A)\) of isomorphism classes of Hilbert C*-\(A\)-\(A\)-bimodules, where \(A\) is any given C*-algebra (see Theorem 1). In particular, when \(A\) is simple the inverse semigroup obtained in this way is just the Picard group of \(A\) together with a zero element (see Proposition 3). Moreover, when \(A \cong \mathbb{C}^n\) one gets that \(S(A)\) is just the set of partial bijections of \(\{1, \dots, n\}\) (see Proposition 4). This inverse semigroup \(S(A)\) is then used to concretely represent the inverse semigroup \(M(X)\), introduced in [\textit{V. Manuilov}, J. Geom. Anal. 31, No. 6, 5721--5739 (2021; Zbl 07379183)]. Here, \((X, d)\) is a countable discrete metric space, and \(M(X)\) is the set of metrics in \(X \times \{0,1\}\), up to coarse equivalence, that restrict to \(d\) in each copy of \(X\) and such that the distance between both copies in non-zero. It was shown in [loc. cit.] that \(M(X)\) is, indeed, an inverse semigroup, though it may depend on the coarse representative of \(d\). Taking now the uniform Roe algebra \(C_u^*\left(X\right)\) of \(X\), one obtains an injective inverse semigroup homomorphism (see Theorem 2): \[ \iota \colon M\left(X\right) \rightarrow S\left(C_u^*\left(X\right)\right), \quad \left[d\right] \mapsto \left[M_d\left(X\right)\right], \] where \(M_d\left(X\right)\) is a canonical Hilbert \(C_u^*(X)\)-\(C_u^*(X)\)-bimodule. Moreover, it is shown in Proposition 5 that the map \(\iota\) may not be surjective, even when \(X\) is of bounded geometry. The last Proposition of the paper shows that the inverse semigroup \[ M_c\left(X\right) := \bigcap_{d' \in \left[d\right]} \left[M_{d'}\left(X\right)\right] \] is always, unlike \(M(X)\), invariant under coarse equivalences between metrics of \(X\).