C*-envelopes for operator algebras with a coaction and co-universal C*-algebras for product systems (Q2126002)

A product system over a monoid \(P\) generalises a Fell bundle over a group \(G\), which in turn generalises an action of that group. Several C*-algebras may be defined for such product systems, and the question arises what is the most reasonable analogue of the crossed product for a group action. For a group action, there are several reasonable crossed products, which sit between the maximal and the reduced crossed product. The maximal crossed product has a universal property, which makes it very big. This is undesirable for product systems. The reduced crossed product for a group action may be characterised by a co-universal property, which makes precise in which sense it is the smallest C*-algebra reasonably associated to the group action. A C*-algebra with this co-universal property should therefore be a good generalisation of the reduced crossed product for a group action to product systems. For instance, Katsura's version of the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra for a single C*-correspondence enjoys such a co-universal property. To formulate the co-universal property of the reduced C*-algebra, we need the canonical coaction of the group \(G\) on a reduced or maximal crossed product. Any reasonable candidate for a crossed product should receive a surjective *-homomorphism from the maximal crossed product, which makes it a quotient by an ideal. The coaction descends to the quotient if and only if the ideal is invariant under the coaction, which happens if and only if it is induced from the coefficient algebra of the action. Any nonzero induced ideal in the crossed product intersects the coefficient algebra. As a result, the reduced crossed product is the smallest quotient of the maximal crossed product into which the coefficient algebra embeds. For a product system, the question arises whether a C*-algebra with this co-universal property exists. Here this is shown in very great generality: for all compactly aligned product systems over a right LCM semigroup \(P\) that may be embedded into some group \(G\). The co-universal C*-algebra is constructed using a coaction-invariant analogue of the C*-envelope of a nonselfadjoint operator algebra. Any C*-algebra of the product system should contain a copy of the tensor algebra of the product system, which is a nonselfadjoint operator algebra. The matrix norms on this subalgebra are defined here using use the Fock representation. The tensor algebra comes with a coaction of the ambient group \(G\). The C*-envelope of a nonselfadjoint operator algebra is, roughly speaking, the smallest C*-algebra into which the operator algebra embeds completely isometrically. This article studies the smallest C*-algebra with a coaction of \(G\) into which an operator algebra \(A\) with a coaction of \(G\) embeds completely isometrically. A crucial feature of it is that a *-homomorphism on it that is completely isometric on \(A\) remains completely isometric on the fixed-point subalgebra of the \(G\)-coaction on the coaction C*-envelope. The coaction-variant of the C*-envelope always exists, and it is described here explicitly using the usual C*-envelope of an operator algebra (see Theorem 3.8). The main result in the article shows that the coaction-variant of the C*-envelope for the tensor algebra of a product system is co-universal for the product system. As a result, in special cases where such a co-universal C*-algebra has already been constructed before, it is isomorphic to this C*-envelope. In particular, the construction here is related to one by \textit{C.~F. Sehnem} [J. Funct. Anal. 277, No.~2, 558--593 (2019; Zbl 1428.46035)]. The two are not quite the same, they differ in taking the full or reduced section C*-algebra of a Fell bundle over the ambient group \(G\). A similar relationship is also shown between the Nica-Toeplitz C*-algebra and the C*-algebra generated by the Fock representation (see Proposition 4.3). Another application makes precise in which sense taking C*-envelopes commutes with taking crossed products by coactions. If~\(G\) is commutative, then such an isomorphism is due to \textit{G. Hao} and \textit{C.-K. Ng} [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 345, No. 2, 702--707 (2008; Zbl 1153.46040)]. This case is easier because the coaction-variant of the C*-envelope is the usual C*-envelope in the commutative case, because the usual C*-envelope is functorial for automorphisms and thus inherits group actions.