Graph \(C^*\)-algebras and their ideals defined by Cuntz--Krieger family of possibly row-infinite directed graphs (Q2494145)

This article considers \(C^*\)-algebras of Cuntz--Krieger type associated to directed graphs \(E\) which are possibly row-infinite in the sense that they may contain vertices which emit infinitely many edges. Using a modified version of the argument of [\textit{A.~Kumjian, D.~Pask} and \textit{I.~Raeburn}, Pac.\ J.\ Math.\ 184, No.~1, 161--174 (1998; Zbl 0917.46056)], Theorem~2.1 associates to each such graph a universal \(C^*\)-algebra \(C^*(E)\) represented on a Hilbert space \(\mathcal{H}\). From Section~3 onward, attention is restricted to a gauge-invariant ideal \(\mathcal{K}_E\) associated to what is in some sense the largest hereditary row-finite subgraph of \(E\). The remainder of the paper studies \(\mathcal{K}_E\) in detail, giving a Cuntz--Krieger uniqueness theorem (Theorem~3.1), a gauge-invariant uniqueness theorem (Theorem~3.2), a classification of its weakly closed gauge-invariant ideals (Theorem~4.1), a simplicity criterion (Theorem~5.1), and a pure-infiniteness criterion (Theorem~5.2). Unfortunately, the author appears to have been unaware of previous work in this area. The \(C^*\)-algebras of possibly row-infinite directed graphs have been defined previously [\textit{N.~J.\ Fowler, M.~Laca} and \textit{I.~Raeburn}, Proc.\ Am.\ Math.\ Soc.\ 128, No.~8, 2319--2327 (2000; Zbl 0956.46035), p. 2320], though the details of the construction were not presented there. The ideal \(\mathcal{K}_E\) has not previously been singled out for study, but the lattice of all gauge-invariant ideals in \(C^*(E)\) for arbitrary \(E\) was described comprehensively in [[BHRS]: \textit{T.~Bates, J.~H.\ Hong, I.~Raeburn} and \textit{W.~Szymański}, Ill.\ J.\ Math.\ 46, No.~4, 1159--1176 (2002; Zbl 1036.46038)], and \(\mathcal{K}_E\) lies in this lattice. A stronger result than Theorem~4.1 of the current paper can be recovered from [[BHRS], Theorem~3.6] by considering the appropriate sub-lattice of the entire ideal-lattice (stronger in the sense that it becomes completely \(C^*\)-algebraic, and does not refer to a spatial representation or weak-closures of ideals). Moreover, Proposition~3.4 of [BHRS] shows that \(\mathcal{K}_E\) is Morita equivalent to the \(C^*\)-algebra of the corresponding row-finite subgraph of \(E\), so Theorems 3.1, 3.2, 5.1 and 5.2 follow from [\textit{T.~Bates, D.~Pask, I.~Raeburn} and \textit{W.~Szymański}, New York J.\ Math.\ 6, 307--324 (2000; Zbl 0976.46041), Theorems 2.1 and 3.1, and Propositions 5.1 and 5.2].