Rigged modules. I: Modules over dual operator algebras and the Picard group (Q2363259)

The first author has shown that \(C^*\)-modules, as Banach spaces with a right module structure over a \(C^*\)-algebra \(A\), are characterized by a partition of unity through finite column modules on \(A\) [\textit{D. P. Blecher}, Math. Ann. 307, No. 2, 253--290 (1997; Zbl 0874.46037)]. In an earlier work, the authors introduced rigged \(w^*\)-modules as the dual operator modules that satisfy this property [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 363, No. 1, 345--363 (2011; Zbl 1217.46038)]. There they developed a duality theory and studied basic constructions in this category, e.g., direct sums, interior tensor products, \(W^*\)-dilations. In the present paper, they continue with their study taking motivation from related works, notably of \textit{B. Mesland} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 691, 101--172 (2014; Zbl 1293.58010)] and \textit{G. K. Eleftherakis} [Serdica Math. J. 41, No. 1, 117--128 (2015; Zbl 1374.47092)]. In the first part, they add to their fundamental results on the interior tensor product, introduced as the normal module Haagerup tensor product by \textit{G. K. Eleftherakis} and \textit{V. I. Paulsen} [Math. Ann. 341, No. 1, 99--112 (2008; Zbl 1139.47055)]. They show that it is associative, functorial and projective, moreover, that it complies satisfactorily with the HOM-spaces, that is, the weak*-continuous completely bounded maps. In the second part, they identify the Picard group of a weak*-closed function algebra \(A\) as the semidirect product of its automorphic group with the subgroup of the symmetric equivalence bimodules. In general, the Picard group of a dual operator algebra is the collection of all \(A\)-\(A\)-bimodules implementing a weak* Morita equivalence of \(A\) with itself, modulo isomorphisms. As an application, they show that the Picard group of the Hardy algebra of the disc coincides with the group of conformal automorphisms of the disc.