On Morita's fundamental theorem for C^*-algebras

DOI10.7146/MATH.SCAND.A-14319MaRDI QIDQ4429897zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 30 September 2003

Published in MATHEMATICA SCANDINAVICA (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9906082

strongly Morita equivalent $C^*$-algebras

Module categories in associative algebras (16D90) General theory of (C^*)-algebras (46L05) Operator spaces and completely bounded maps (46L07) (C^*)-modules (46L08) Categories, functors in functional analysis (46M15)

Abstract: We give a solution, via operator spaces, of an old problem in the Morita equivalence of C*-algebras. Namely, we show that C*-algebras are strongly Morita equivalent in the sense of Rieffel if and only if their categories of left operator modules are isomorphic via completely contractive functors. Moreover, any such functor is completely isometrically isomorphic to the Haagerup tensor product (= interior tensor product) with a strong Morita equivalence bimodule. An operator module over a C

^{*} -

algebra

A

is a closed subspace of some B(H) which is left invariant under multiplication by

p i (A)

, where

p i

is a *-representation of

A

on

H

. The category

_{A} H M O D

of *-representations of

A

on Hilbert space is a full subcategory of the category

_{A} O M O D

of operator modules. Our main result remains true with respect to subcategories of

O M O D

which contain

H M O D

and the C

^{*} -

algebra itself. It does not seem possible to remove the operator space framework; in the very simplest cases there may exist no bounded equivalence functors on categories with bounded module maps as morphisms (as opposed to completely bounded ones). Our proof involves operator space techniques, together with a C

^{*} -

algebra argument using compactness of the quasistate space of a C

^{*} -

algebra, and lowersemicontinuity in the enveloping von Neumann algebra.

Review text

This article's aim is a characterization of strongly Morita equivalent $C^*$-algebras following previous papers [\textit{D. P. Blecher, P. S. Muhly} and \textit{V. I. Paulsen}, Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 681 (2000; Zbl 0966.46033), \textit{D. P. Blecher}, Math. Ann. 307, 253-290 (1997; Zbl 0874.46037), and J. Funct. Anal. 136, 365-421 (1996; Zbl 0951.46033)]. Let $A$ be a $C^*$-algebra, and let $\pi$ be some $*$-representation of $A$ on a certain Hilbert space $H$. Let $X$ be a norm-closed subspace of the space $B(H)$ of bounded linear operators on $H$, and such that $\pi(A)X \subset X$ then one says that $X$ is a (left) operator-module over $A$. One can define a category denoted by $_AOMOD$ the objects of which are all the (left) operator-modules over $A$ and its morphisms are the completely bounded (left) $A$-module maps, i.e., $_ACB(X,W)$; it contains the subcategory $_AHMOD$, the objects of which are the $X$ equal to a whole Hilbert space. As it is proven in [\textit{G. Wittstock}, Monogr. Stud. Math. 18, 238-250 (1984; Zbl 0535.46003)], the $C^*$-modules form a subcategory of $OMOD$. Let $B$ be also a $C^*$-algebra, let us suppose there exist two, linear on the spaces of morphisms, functors: $F:\;_AOMOD \mapsto _BOMOD$ and $G: \;_BOMOD \mapsto _AOMOD$ such that, for any given $X, W \in \;_AOMOD$, the map $ T \mapsto F(T)$ from $_ACB(X,W)$ to $_ACB(F(X),F(W))$ is completely contractive and the same property holds for $G$. Then one says that $A$ and $B$ are \textit{operator Morita equivalent} if and only if there exist $F,G$, as above, and such that $FG$ and $GF$ are isomorphic, in the usual sense of categories, to the corresponding identity functor, with the natural transformations being complete isometries. The two $C^*$-algebras $A$ and $B$ are said to be \textit{strongly Morita equivalent} if and only if there exists a left $C^*$-module $X$ over $A$ being also a right $C^*$-module over $B$ with compatible inner products $_A(\cdot,\cdot)$ and $(\cdot,\cdot)_B$ in the following sense: for any $x,y,z$ in $X$ one has $ \;_A(x,y)z = x(y,z)_B$. Then the central result of the paper is the following: Theorem: The $C^*$-algebras $A$ and $B$ are strongly Morita equivalent if and only if they are operator Morita equivalent. In fact, a description is given of the above functors $F$ and $G$. First, $X= F(A)$ is an $A-B$ strong Morita equivalence bimodule and $Y= F(B)$ is a $B-A$ strong Morita equivalence bimodule which is unitarily equivalent to the conjugate bimodule of $X$. Then, up to isomorphisms, the following equalities are true: $F(-) = Y \otimes_{hA} - = \;_AK(X,-) $ and $G(-) = X \otimes_{hB} - ={_BK(Y,-)}$ completely isometrically, where $\otimes_{hA}$ is the Haagerup tensor product and $_AK(X,W)$ is the norm closure in $_ACB(X,W)$ (the completely bounded left A-modules maps) of the span of the rank one operators which are the operators $ x \mapsto \;_A(x,y)w$ (see the above mentioned (Zbl 0966.46033) and (Zbl 0951.46033). Also $F$ maps $_AHMOD$ to $_BHMOD$ and the subcategory of $C^*$-modules to the $C^*$-modules, on these categories the Haagerup tensor product coincides with the interior tensor product (see Zbl 0951.46033)). Similar statements hold for $G$.

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