Operator spaces with prescribed sets of completely bounded maps (Q2484249)

The paper under review is dedicated to the question of how the space \(CB(X)\) of all completely bounded linear maps acting on an operator space \(X\) may look like. One of the main results of the paper is that if \(A\) is a unital Banach algebra which is also a dual Banach space and \(\pi : A\rightarrow B(l^2)\) is a weak* continuous faithful contractive representation, then there exists an operator space \(X\) which is isometric to \(l^2\otimes l^2\) such that \(CB(X)\) consists precisely of the operators of the form \(\pi(a)\otimes I + S\), where \(a\in A\) and \(S\) is a Hilbert--Schmidt operator on \(l^2\otimes l^2\). Estimates on the c.b.\ norm of such an operator are also given. The author provides an asymptotic version of this result and supplies a wealth of applications. For example, he constructs an operator space \(X\) for which \(K_1(CB(X))\) contains \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) as a subgroup, and exhibits a completely indecomposable operator space (isometric to \(l^2\)) which possesses a family of subspaces with prescribed sets of completely bounded maps.