Measure theory in noncommutative spaces (Q543974)

The paper under review surveys various results and open problems related to the `noncommutative integrals' appearing in noncommutative geometry. These are understood as functionals on the algebra of `smooth' operators via expressions of the type \(\phi(a) = \text{Tr}_{\omega} (a \langle D \rangle ^{-n}),\) where \(D\) is the relevant Dirac operator, \(n\) denotes the dimension of the underlying noncommutative manifold and \(\text{Tr}_{\omega}\) is a Dixmier-type trace, defined on some ideal of compact operators. The main difference with typical integrals appearing in noncommutative measure theory is that \(\text{Tr}_{\omega}\) is usually \textit{not} normal. The authors review different possible families of Dixmier-type traces that can be used in the definition above and show that they can be divided into five classes (three of which are known to be essentially different). Further possible notions of measurability and their relations to the class of Tauberian operators, the validity of the Connes' trace theorem, residue formulas and heat kernel expansions are discussed, the original geometric motivations behind considering such traces recalled and some characterizations of noncommutative integrals provided. Many techniques and concepts are shown to be closely connected to the theory of symmetric (rearrangement invariant) sequence spaces. In the last part of the paper, the authors present also some open questions. This survey gathers and organizes results spread through several papers of the authors and their collaborators; as such it seems to be a very valuable contribution to this technical subject.