A Banach algebraic approach to the Borsuk-Ulam theorem (Q410220)

The purpose of the paper under review is to translate the classical Borsuk-Ulam theorem into the language of non-commutative geometry. The main result of the paper is the following theorem. Main Theorem 1: Let \(G\) be a finite abelian group and \(A\) a \(G\)-graded Banach algebra with no non-trivial idempotents. Let \(a \in A\) be a non-trivial homogeneous element. Then \(0\) belongs to the convex hull of the spectrum \(sp(a^k)\). As a consequence, the author obtains the following corollary. Corollary 3.1: Let \(X\) be a compact locally path connected and simply connected space, and let \(\phi:X \to X\) be a homeomorphism of order \(n\). Assume that \( \lambda \neq 1\) is an \(n\)th root of unity. Then, for every continuous function \(f:X \to \mathbb{C}\), there exists \(x \in X\) such that \(\sum_{i=0}^{n-1} \lambda^i f(\phi^i(x))=0\). Taking \(X= \mathbb{S}^2\), \(\phi(x)=-x\), and \(\lambda=-1\), yields the classical Borsuk-Ulam theorem in dimension two. The author concludes by raising many interesting questions that arise naturally from his main theorem. In particular, he proposes the following conjecture. A weak version of the Kaplansky-Kadison Conjecture: Let \(\Gamma\) be a torsion-free group and \(C_{red}^*(\Gamma)\) be the reduced \(C^*\) algebra of \(\Gamma\). Suppose that \(C_{red}^*(\Gamma)\) is equipped with a \(\mathbb{Z}_n\)-graded structure. Then the convex hull of the spectrum of a non-trivial homogeneous element does not contain the origin.