Canonical traces and directly finite Leavitt path algebras. (Q2355233)

A map \(f\colon R\to T\) between two rings \(R\) and \(T\) is said to be a \(T\)-valued trace on \(R\) if it is additive and central (that is, \(t(xy)=t(yx)\) for any \(x,y\in R\)). If \(R\) and \(T\) are \(C\)-algebras (for some commutative ring \(C\)), then the trace \(t\) is said to be \(C\)-linear if \(t(cx)=ct(x)\) for any \(c\in C\) and \(x\in R\). If \(R\) is a ring with involution * (a *-ring in the sequel), then an element in \(R\) is said to be positive if it is a sum of elements of the form \(xx^*\). The notation \(a>0\) is used to indicate that \(a\in R\) is positive and nonzero while \(a\geq 0\) will mean that \(a\) is positive. The notation \(a\geq b\) will mean \(a-b\geq 0\). Now, if \(R\) and \(T\) are *-rings and \(t\colon R\to R\) we will say that \(t\) is positive if \(t(x)\geq 0\) for all \(x\in R\) with \(x\geq 0\). It will be said that \(t\) is faithful if \(t(x)>0\) for any \(x\in R\), \(x>0\). An involution * on \(R\) is positive definite if for all \(x_1,\ldots,x_n\in R\), the condition \(\sum_1^nx_ix_i^*=0\) implies \(x_i=0\) for each \(i\). The involution is said to be proper if the above condition holds for \(n=1\). A *-ring with a positive definite (respectively proper) involution is called positive definite (resp. proper) ring. If we denote by \(\rho\colon K^\times\to L_K(E)\) the gauge action of the Leavitt path algebra \(L_K(E)\), then a trace \(t\) on \(L_K(E)\) is said to be gauge invariant if for any \(k\in K^\times\) one has \(t\circ\rho(k)=t\). This is equivalent to the equality \(t(pq^*)=k^{|p|-|q|}t(pq^*)\), for any \(k\in K^\times\) and \(p,q\in\text{path}(E)\). The trace is defined to be canonical when \(t(pq^*)=\delta_{|p|,|q|}t(pq^*)=\delta_{p,q}t(pq^*)=\delta_{p,q}t(r(p))\). The work characterizes when a canonical \(K\)-linear trace is positive and when it is faithful in terms of its values on the vertices. Consequently, a bijective correspondence is obtained between the set of faithful, gauge invariant, \(\mathbb C\)-valued algebra traces on the Leavitt path algebra \(L_{\mathbb C}(E)\) of a countable graph \(E\), and the set of faithful, semifinite, lower semicontinuous, gauge invariant (operator theory) traces on the graph \(C^*\)-algebra \(C^*(E)\). Under some conditions, the work also characterizes directly finite Leavitt path algebras as those having the underlying graph in which no cycle has an exit. The author also proves that the class of locally Noetherian, that of directly finite, and that of Leavitt path algebras which admit a faithful trace are different in general.