Fixed point properties of \(C^{*}\)-algebras (Q601296)

Let \(X\) be a Banach space. If \(K\) is a subset of \(X\), a mapping \(T:K\to K\) is called nonexpansive if \(\| Tx-Ty\| \leq \| x-y\|\) for all \(x, y\in K\). A Banach space \(X\) has the \textit{fixed point property} if, for each nonempty, closed, bounded, convex subset \(K\) of \(X\), every nonexpansive mapping of \(K\) into itself has a fixed point. A Banach space has the weak fixed point property if the class of sets \(K\) above is restricted to the set of weakly compact, convex subsets of \(X\). In [Fixed Point Theory Appl. 2010, Article ID 362829 (2010; Zbl 1201.47053)], the first two authors showed that the fixed point property is equivalent to finite-dimensionality for a class of unital commutative Banach algebras that includes the unital commutative \(C^*\)-algebras. In the article under review, the authors prove that, if \(A\) is a \(C^*\)-algebra, then the following are equivalent: {\parindent6.5mm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)] \(A\) has the fixed point property. \item[(2)] The spectrum of every selfadjoint element in \(A\) is finite. \item[(3)] \(A\) is finite-dimensional. \end{itemize}} The authors also consider some relationships between certain \(C^*\)-algebras and the weak fixed point property. The authors conjecture that the following question has a positive answer: If \(\alpha\) is a compact ordinal such that the space \(C(\alpha,\mathbb{R})\) of continuous bounded functions with values in \(\mathbb{R}\) has the weak fixed point property and \(A\) is a \(C^*\)-algebra with the weak fixed point property, does the space \(C(\alpha,A)\) of continuous bounded functions with values in \(A\) have the weak fixed point property?