A state on a C-star algebra is a positive linear functional of norm one. In the unital case this is equivalent to positivity and . A unital star-homomorphism is a cyclic representation of a C-star algebra if it has a vector with . For the representation associated with a state, the cyclic vector is taken to have norm one.
Use inner products linear in the first argument, as in the displayed formula for the projection in the source. In the Gelfand–Naimark–Segal construction, set
The Cauchy–Schwarz inequality for positive C-star functionals makes this inner product well-defined on . Indeed a null vector pairs to zero with every vector. The set is a left ideal: implies
so implies . The same estimate shows that left multiplication induces a bounded operator
Complete the quotient pre-Hilbert space to , and extend these operators by continuity. The formula for the inner product gives , while multiplication and the unit are preserved. Put . Then , the vectors are dense in , and
This gives the requested cyclic representation for an arbitrary state.
For the specified unit vector , the functional is complex-linear and obeys . Moreover
Thus it is positive and has norm exactly one, proving that is a vector state on a C-star algebra.
The rank-one projection satisfies
If , this is zero for every , so . Conversely, evaluation at gives . Hence
In particular .
The concrete GNS space is the completion of with
Define . The description of the null ideal proves it is well-defined, and the displayed equality proves it is a linear isometry with range . It therefore extends to an isometry . The extended range is closed, since its domain is complete, and contains the dense set . Thus is onto the required closure.
In fact here , so : given any , the bounded rank-one operator sends to . Thus is a unitary map onto all of , and .
Finally, on the dense quotient vectors,
Both sides are bounded operators, so this identity extends to all of . Multiplication by the inverse unitary map gives
This is the GNS representation of a vector state, with the vector state, null ideal, cyclic vector and intertwining isometry all made explicit.