Vigier's theorem for the spectral order and its applications (Q2633880)

Let \(\mathcal{M}\) be a von Neumann algebra, \(\mathcal{M}_{sa}\) the self-adjoint part on \(\mathcal{M}\) and \(\leq\) the standard order relation on \(\mathcal{M}_{sa}\) given by the positive cone of \(\mathcal{M}\). \textit{M. P. Olson} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 28, 537--544 (1971; Zbl.0215.20504)] introduced on \(\mathcal{M}_{sa}\) another order relation, the spectral order \(\preceq\): If \(x,y\in\mathcal{M}_{sa}\) and \((E^x_\lambda)_{\lambda\in\mathbb{R}}\) and \((E^y_\lambda)_{\lambda\in\mathbb{R}}\) are the spectral families, respectively, of \(x\) and \(y\), then \(x\preceq y\) means that \(E^y_\lambda\leq E^x_\lambda\) for all \(\lambda\in \mathbb{R}\). In the paper under review it is shown that a decreasing net \((x_\alpha)_{\alpha\in A}\) in \((\mathcal{M}_{sa},\preceq)\) with lower bound has the infimum equal to the strong operator limit of \((x_\alpha)_{\alpha\in A}\) (and analogously for an increasing net). This is used to describe suprema and infima of bounded subsets of \((\mathcal{M}_{sa},\preceq)\) in terms of strong operator limits. As an application the author obtains results on the order topology \(\tau_0(\mathcal{M}_{sa},\preceq)\). It is shown that it is finer than the restriction of the Mackey topology. Moreover, \(\tau_0(\mathcal{M}_{sa},\preceq)\) and \(\tau_0(\mathcal{M}_{sa},\leq)\) coincide if and only if \(\mathcal{M}\) is abelian.