Spectral order unit spaces and JB-algebras (Q2680417)

The paper under review is a new study enlightening our current knowledge on the intrinsic connections between the purely algebraic notion of spectrality for order unit spaces and the geometric approach due to Alfsen and Shultz, where it is assumed that the order unit space is the dual of a Banach space. This paper joins to the series of studies developed by these authors, and offers new interesting conclusions for those working on order unit spaces and JB-algebras. The notion of spectrality in order unit spaces in the sense of \textit{D. J. Foulis} and \textit{S. Pulmannová} [Rep. Math. Phys. 62, No. 3, 323--344 (2008; Zbl 1171.46018)] has been recently studied by the authors in [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 504, No. 1, Article ID 125360, 32 p. (2021; Zbl 1482.46021)]. Spectrality is characterized by two properties of the compression base (i.e. a particular set of idempotent mappings): projection cover property and comparability. The second property is rather strong, it is equivalent to spectrality if the set \(P\) of projections is monotone \(\sigma\)-complete, in particular, in the finite dimensional case. It is interesting to compare this purely algebraic approach to spectrality with the more particular spectral theory of \textit{E. M. Alfsen} and \textit{F. W. Shultz} [Geometry of state spaces of operator algebras. Boston, MA: Birkhäuser (2003; Zbl 1042.46001)], where it is assumed that the order unit space is the dual of a Banach space. Recall that a JB-algebra is Alfsen-Schultz spectral if and only if it is a JBW-algebra. The authors of this note also found conditions under which these tow notions of spectrality coincide, as well as examples when they are different. They also studied the spectral theory for JB-algebras and proved that Rickart JB-algebras are exactly those that are spectral in the Foulis sense (in such a case, the compression base is formed by compressions in the sense of Alfsen-Shultz), but the Alfsen-Shultz theory is not applicable since a Rickart JB-algebra need not have, in general, a predual. In this note the authors prove that for order unit spaces with comparability property, a continuous functional calculus can be introduced and there is a Borel functional calculus for spectral order unit spaces. They characterize the order unit spaces with comparability property that are JB-algebras. For order unit spaces in spectral duality, Alfsen and Shultz proved several equivalent conditions for being JB-algebras. It is shown in this note that those conditions, formulated in terms of compressions and by functional calculus, can be used also in the more general situation of order unit spaces. The conclusion is then applied to order unit spaces obtained from Banach spaces (called here generalized spin factors) and it is proved that such an order unit space is a JB-algebra if and only if it is a spin factor. In the last section, the results are focus on spectral JB-algebras. A celebrated result due to Saitô and Wright asserts that a C\(^*\)-algebra is Rickart if and only if every maximal commutative self-adjoint subalgebra is monotone \(\sigma\)-complete [\textit{K. Saitô} and \textit{J. D. M. Wright}, Q. J. Math. 66, No. 3, 979--989 (2015; Zbl 1342.46052)]. By employing the notion of Rickart JB-algebras introduced by \textit{S. Ayupov} and \textit{F. Arzikulov} [São Paulo J. Math. Sci. 13, No. 1, 27--38 (2019; Zbl 1441.17025) and \textit{J. J. Garcés} et al. [J. Algebra 609, 567--605 (2022; Zbl 07576562)], the authors establish an analogue of the Saitô-Wright result for JB-algebras. The paper concludes with several open problems and future directions to study.