Algebras of quotients of path algebras. (Q934054)

The author finds an interesting link between path algebras and Leavitt path algebras. Roughly speaking, the path algebra \(KE\) of a (directed) graph \(E\) is the associative algebra generated by paths in \(E\) with juxtaposition as multiplication. The Leavitt algebra \(L(E)\) is a more sophisticated object associated also to a graph, in which certain identities (so called Cuntz-Krieger relations) play a fundamental role. Among the results proved in the work we must mention first the one claiming that for a general graph \(E\), the Leavitt path algebra \(L(E)\) is an algebra of right quotients of the path algebra \(KE\). It is also proved that for an acyclic graph, any semiprime subalgebra \(A\) such that \(KE\subset A\subset L(E)\) is a Fountain-Gould right order in the Leavitt path algebra \(L(E)\). The author also characterizes these algebras \(A\) when the hereditary closure of the set of line points agrees with the set of all vertices (equivalently when \(L(E)\) is its own socle). Some properties of the socle are also studied. For instance it is proved that the socle of \(L(E)\) is an essential ideal if and only if every vertex in \(E\) connects to a line point. This allows to reduce the study of maximal algebras of quotients of \(KE\) (for graphs \(E\) as above) to the maximal algebras of quotients of acyclic graphs \(E'\) such that \(L(E')\) agrees with its socle. The final section of the paper contains a detailed study of the algebraic Toeplitz algebra, defined as \(L(E)\) for the graph \(E\) whose adjacency matrix is \(\left(\begin{smallmatrix} 1&1\\ 0&0\end{smallmatrix}\right)\).