Classification of nuclear, simple \(C^*\)-algebras (Q3149667)

This text is a self-contained update guide to the classification theory of nuclear, simple \(C^*\)-algebras by their \(K\)-theory and related invariants, written by one of the most contributory promoters in this field. In particular, the biggest part of the notes is devoted to a presentation of the classification of purely infinite, simple \(C^*\)-algebras, starting from the classification of \(AF\)-algebras by their ordered \(K_0\)-group and ending with Kirchberg-Phillips' spectacular classification theorem for Kirchberg algebras, namely, for purely infinite, simple, separable and nuclear \(C^*\)-algebras. Besides, the vast literature on the classfication of finite, simple \(C^*\)-algebras, in particular of \(AH\)-algebras, is also condensed into a summarized short story. These notes are well organized as a whole, and full proofs of the main theorems including the classification theorem for Cuntz algebras, Kirchberg's three fundamental theorems (for exact embedding into the Cuntz algebra \({\mathcal O}_2\) and the tensor product for \({\mathcal O}_2\) and \({\mathcal O}_{\infty}\)), and the subsequent classification theorem for Kirchberg algebras are given. Moreover, even for other important statements (not for all, though), sketches of proofs are provided or the main ideas are indicated at least. This is enough to make the text accessible to the reader. Therefore, the reviewer thinks that this carefully written text of M. Rørdam is suitable to beginners as well as researchers, and also that with this text the reader can take a quick look at the material from preliminaries up to recently proved new results for the study of Elliott's classification program. Some open problems related to the structure of \(C^*\)-algebras are mentioned as well, e.g. in \S 3.3 and \S 4.1. These would be a premium for interested readers. These notes are organized as follows. Chapter 1 provides a survey of \(AF\)-algebras (= Approximately Finite dimensional \(C^*\)-algebras) and their classification (Theorem 1.3.3) done by \textit{G. A. Elliott} [J. Algebra 38, 29-44 (1976; Zbl 0323.46063)]. Chapter 2 plays the role of preliminaries to the body of the text. Moreover, this chapter treats the Elliott conjectures for nuclear \(C^*\)-algebras: Conjecture 2.2.3 for the infinite case, Conjecture 2.2.5 for the finite, unital case, and Conjecture 2.2.7 for the finite, real rank zero case. In Chapter 3, Elliott's classification result (Theorem 3.2.15) for simple, unital \(AT\)-algebras (not necessarily of real rank zero) is presented, which confirms Elliott's Conjecture 2.2.5 for simple \(AT\)-algebras; see \textit{G. A. Elliott} [J. Ramanujan Math. Soc. 12, 97-134 (1997; Zbl 0954.46035)]. Following this, a selection of classification results for \(AH\)-algebras is presented. First, the classification theorem of Dadarlat--Elliott--Gong (Theorem 3.3.1) is given, whereby the Elliott conjecture is confirmed for the class of simple, unital, real rank zero \(C^*\)-algebra in the class \({\mathcal S}{\mathcal D}{\mathcal G}\) of \(AH\)-algebras of slow dimension growth: see \textit{M. Dadarlat} and \textit{G. Gong} [Geom. Funct. Anal. 7, 646-711 (1997; Zbl 0905.46042)]. Then the recently proved general classification result for simple \(AH\)-algebras (Theorem 3.3.6 (Elliott--Gong--Li)) is given. In other words, this suggests that the Elliott Conjecture 2.2.5 is confirmed for simple, unital \(C^*\)-algebras in the class \({\mathcal B}{\mathcal D}\) of \(AH\)-algebras of bounded dimension. Then the author discusses Villadsen's \(C^*\)-algebras which provide counterexamples to several outstanding conjectures about simple \(C^*\)-algebras: see \textit{J. Villadsen} [J. Funct. Anal. 154, 110-116 (1998; Zbl 0915.46047); J. Am. Math. Soc. 12, 1091-1102 (1999; Zbl 0937.46052)]. Chapter 4 is devoted to the purely infinite simple \(C^*\)-algebras, and in particular, Cuntz algebras and Cuntz-Krieger algebras are studied, and several related examples are given, too. Two fundamental results about the Cuntz algebra \({\mathcal O}_2\) are explained in Chapter 5. One is about the uniqueness theorem for \({\mathcal O}_2\) (Theorem 5.1.1): see \textit{M. Rørdam} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 440, 175-200 (1993; Zbl 0783.46031)], and the other is about the Elliott \({\mathcal O}_2 \otimes {\mathcal O}_2\) theorem asserting that the \(C^*\)-algebra \({\mathcal O}_2\) is isomorphic to \({\mathcal O}_2 \otimes {\mathcal O}_2\) (Theorem 5.2.1). Chapter 6 is devoted to nuclear and exact \(C^*\)-algebras. The author proves Kirchberg's exact embedding theorem (Theorem 6.3.11) that a separable \(C^*\)-algebra is exact if and only if it is isomorphic to a sub-\(C^*\)-algebra of the Cuntz algebra \({\mathcal O}_2\), meaning that all separable exact \(C^*\)-algebras can be embedded into the Cuntz algebra \({\mathcal O}_2\). In Chapter 7, Kirchberg's two tensor product theorems (Theorems 7.1.2 and 7.2.6) are proved, which say that the \(KK\)-equivalences between \(A \otimes {\mathcal O}_2\) and \({\mathcal O}_2\) (resp. between \(A \otimes {\mathcal O}_{\infty}\) and \(A\)) are actually isomorphisms for particularly nice \(C^*\)-algebras \(A\) being simple, separable, unital and nuclear (resp. being the same except unital, replaced by purely infinite): see \textit{E. Kirchberg} and \textit{N. C. Phillips} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 525, 17-53 (2000; Zbl 0973.46048)]. Chapter 8 treats the classification of Kirchberg algebras. This chapter also includes Phillips' classification theorem for \(*\)-homomorphisms (Theorem 8.2.1) and Kirchberg's classification theorem (Theorem 8.3.3). Lastly, the remarkable classification theorem for Kirchberg algebras (Theorem 8.4.1 (Kirchberg and Phillips)) is proved: see, e.g., \textit{N. C. Phillips} [Doc. Math., J. DMV 5, 49-114 (2000; Zbl 0943.46037)]. There are 147 references listed in the bibliography. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0985.00012].