Normal limits of nilpotent operators in von Neumann algebras (Q2441074)

The main aim of this paper is to study the intersection of the set of normal operators with the closure of the set of nilpotent operators in von Neumann algebras. The author gives a complete description of this intersection in the framework of type I and type III von Neumann algebras having separable preduals. The difficulties related to such an investigation in the setting of type II von Neumann algebras are also examined. One should mention that, in the context of von Neumann algebras, the closure of the span of nilpotent operators and the distance from a projection to nilpotent operators are discussed, too.