No label defined (Q4427399)

This note gives a very brief but a strongly professional introduction to two theories involving \(C^*\)-algebras: that of asymptotic homomorphisms and that of extensions. The concept of asymptotic homomorphism between two \(C^*\)-algebras was introduced by \textit{A. Connes} and \textit{N. Higson} in [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 311, 101--106 (1990; Zbl 0717.46062)] and the first general study of the extensions of two given \(C^*\)-algebras was performed by \textit{R. C. Busby} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 132, 79--99 (1968; Zbl 0165.15501)], who introduced the fundamental tool for this purpose, namely, the Busby invariant. The authors consider here various ways to go from extensions to asymptotic homomorphisms and back. So, the perspective to this work on the relation between the two theories is given and the following two questions which arise from this work are formulated. Question 1. Is the cancellation semigroup \(\text{Ext}(A,B)\) always a group? Question 2. Is the Connes and Higson's semigroup homomorphism \(CH: \text{Ext}(A,B)\to [A,B]\) always an isomorphism? For the entire collection see [Zbl 1004.00019].