Positive representations of \(C_0(X)\). I (Q259014)

Let \(X\) be a locally compact Hausdorff space and let \(C_0(X)\) be the ordered Banach algebra of all real-valued continuous functions vanishing at infinity. For \(E\) a Banach space, \(\mathcal{L}(E)\) denotes the algebra of all bounded operators on \(E\) and \(\mathcal{L}_r(E)\) denotes the space of all regular operators on \(E\), i.e., linear operators that can be written as the difference of two positive linear operators on \(E\). A positive representation of \(C_0(X)\) on a Banach lattice \(E\) is an algebra homomorphism \(\pi: C_0(X) \rightarrow \mathcal{L}(E)\) such that the image of every positive function is a positive operator of \(E\). This paper introduces and develops a detailed theory for positive spectral measures and also uses generating positive representations of \(C_0(X)\) on a Banach lattice \(E\). This paper is divided into five sections. In the introduction, the authors motivate the new notion of positive spectral measure on a \(\sigma\)-algebra with values in the positive operators on a Banach lattice. They also give a clear outline of the entire paper. Section 2 introduces notation, sets terminology, and gives an overview of background material on regular Borel measures. Section 3 introduces the notion of positive spectral measure on a \(\sigma\)-algebra and establishes basic properties of positive spectral measures, listed in a sequence of 3 lemmas. In the first part of Section 4, the authors give a construction of a bounded positive representation of the bounded measurable functions on \(X\) associated with a positive spectral measure. The second part of this section addresses the problem of whether the algebra of bounded measurable functions is always associated with a positive spectral measure. The authors claim that this is not true for an arbitrary positive representation of this algebra and this topic will be discussed in a follow-up paper listed in [\textit{M. de Jeu} and \textit{X. Jiang}, ``Positive representations of \(C_0(X)\). II'' (in preparation)]. Section 5 deals with positive representations of \(C_0(X)\) on a Banach lattice \(E\) and \(\mathcal{L}_r(E)\)-valued positive spectral measures on the Borel \(\sigma\)-algebra \(\Omega\) of \(X\). We now describe one of the main results. Theorem 5.6. Let \(X\) be a locally compact Hausdorff space with Borel \(\sigma\)-algebra \(\Omega\), let \(E\) be a KB-space, and let \(\pi:C_0(X)\rightarrow \mathcal{L}_r(E)\) be a positive representation. Then \(\pi\) has a unique generating regular positive spectral measure \(P\) on \(\Omega\).