Generalized stable ranks for commutative Banach algebras (Q651411)

The notion of generalized \(E\)-stable rank for commutative unital Banach algebras is introduced. It is shown that the general \(E\)-stable rank of the disk algebra \(A({\mathbb D})\) is equal to \(1\) for every closed set \(E\) in the spectrum of \(A({\mathbb D})\). It is shown that the general \(E\)-stable rank of the algebra \(H^\infty\) of bounded holomorphic functions in the unit disk is equal to \(1\) if either \(E\subseteq M(H^\infty)\) is an \(H^\infty\)-convex set or \(E\) is a compact subset of \(\mathbb D\). Several cases when the general \(E\)-stable rank of an algebra does not exceed the topological stable rank or the dense stable rank of the same algebra are studied. Finally, it is shown that the absolute stable rank of \(A({\mathbb D})\) or \(H^\infty\) is at least \(2\).