Past exam of the functional Analysis and Banach and C*-Algebras course of the University of Oxford / 2010 / B

A unital C-star algebra is a complex Banach algebra $A$ with a multiplicative identity $1_A$ and a conjugate-linear involution $a\mapsto a^{\ast }$ satisfying $(ab{)}^{\ast }=b^{\ast }{a}^{\ast }$ and the C-star identity $\Vert a^{\ast }a\Vert =\Vert a{\Vert }^2$. A C-star isomorphism $\Phi :A\to B$ is a bijective complex-linear map preserving products and the involution. It carries $1_A$ to $1_B$ and is automatically isometric.

For a commutative unital C-star algebra, let $\Omega$ be its maximal ideal space, equivalently the space of Gelfand characters, with the weak-star topology. A Gelfand character has $\chi (1)=1$ and $\Vert \chi \Vert =1$. The equations $\chi (ab)=\chi (a)\chi (b)$ and $\chi (1)=1$ define a closed in the weak-star topology subset of the dual unit ball. The Banach-Alaoglu theorem makes $\Omega$ a compact Hausdorff space. Maximal ideals give characters by the Gelfand-Mazur theorem, and the Banach algebra spectrum satisfies $\sigma (a)=\{\chi (a):\chi \in \Omega \}$.

The Gelfand transform is $\hat{a}(\chi )=\chi (a)$. It preserves products, constants and the involution; the latter uses the fact that characters of a C-star algebra respect the involution. Every element of a commutative C-star algebra is normal, so the C-star identity and the spectral radius formula giveThus its image is a closed self-adjoint subalgebra of $C(\Omega )$, contains the constants, and separates characters. The complex Stone-Weierstrass theorem makes that image dense and therefore all of $C(\Omega )$. This is the Commutative Gelfand--Naimark theorem.

For the convergent sequence space $c$, coordinatewise multiplication satisfies $\Vert \alpha \beta {\Vert }_{\infty }\le \Vert \alpha {\Vert }_{\infty }\Vert \beta {\Vert }_{\infty }$, and coordinatewise complex conjugation is an involution. The constant sequence $1$ is the identity, andIt is complete: a uniform limit of convergent sequences is convergent, so $c$ is a closed linear subspace of the Banach space ${\ell }_{\infty }$. Hence it is a commutative unital C-star algebra.

TakeEvery finite point is isolated, and the neighbourhoods of $\infty$ contain all but finitely many integers. This is a compact Hausdorff space: an open cover has a set containing $\infty$, leaving only finitely many points to cover. DefineContinuity at $\infty$ is exactly convergence of the sequence. Thus $\Phi$ is onto $C(\Omega )$, and pointwise operations show it is a C-star isomorphism with $\Vert \Phi \alpha {\Vert }_{\infty }=\Vert \alpha {\Vert }_{\infty }$. Explicitly, these are all Gelfand characters: each $\chi (e_n)$ is $0$ or $1$ and at most one is $1$. If $\chi (e_n)=1$, multiplication by $e_n$ gives $\chi (\alpha )={\alpha }_n$. If all vanish, density of finitely supported sequences in l-p in $c_0$ gives $\chi {|}_{c_0}=0$, so $\chi (\alpha )=\lim {\alpha }_n$.

For a self-adjoint C-star element $a$, the following are three equivalent characterizations of a Positive element of a C-star algebra:If $a=b^2$ with $b=b^{\ast }$, the spectral mapping theorem gives nonnegative spectrum. Conversely, the continuous functional calculus applied to $\sqrt{\lambda }$ on $\sigma (a)$ gives a self-adjoint C-star element $b$ with $b^2=a$. For real $\sigma (a)$,Thus the third condition means $\sigma (a)\subseteq [0,2t]$, while the first implies the second by taking the interval $[0,\Vert a\Vert ]$. The second implies the third with $t=\Vert a\Vert$ if $a\ne 0$; if $a=0$, any $t>0$ works. This proves every equivalence.

The positive cone of a C-star algebra contains zero and is closed under multiplication by nonnegative real scalars. To verify addition without assuming that positive elements commute, put $r=\Vert a\Vert$, $s=\Vert b\Vert$ for $a,b\ge 0$. ThenIf $r+s>0$, the third characterization makes $a+b$ positive; otherwise both are zero. Hence it is a convex cone. If $a$ and $-a$ are positive, $\sigma (a)=\{0\}$ and $a=0$ by the self-adjoint spectral norm formula; therefore the cone is pointed and defines a partial order on $A_{\mathrm{sa}}$ by $h\le k$ if $k-h\in A_{+}$. It is generating because the continuous functional calculus givesFor $a\ge 0$, the spectral mapping theorem yieldsFinally, let $a\in M_2(\mathbb{C})$ be Hermitian, and write $\tau =\mathrm{tr}a$, $d=\det a$. Its two eigenvalues are real. Both are nonnegative exactly when their sum $\tau$ and product $d$ are nonnegative. The corresponding sum and product for $I-a$ are $2-\tau$ and $1-\tau +d$. Therefore the necessary and sufficient conditions for a positive contraction areIndeed, nonnegative sum and product force two real numbers to be nonnegative, including the zero-product cases. Applying this to $a$ and $I-a$ places both eigenvalues in $[0,1]$.

Let $c=x(1_A)\ge 0$. Positivity on $a^{\ast }a$ implies positivity on every Positive element of a C-star algebra, by taking its positive square root. For a self-adjoint C-star element $h$, the positive cone of a C-star algebra givesBoth $x(\Vert h\Vert 1_A+h)$ and $x(\Vert h\Vert 1_A-h)$ are nonnegative real numbers. Their difference shows $x(h)$ is real, and the same inequalities give $|x(h)|\le c\Vert h\Vert$.

For an arbitrary $a\in A$, write $a=h+ik$ with $h=(a+a^{\ast })/2$ and $k=(a-a^{\ast })/(2i)$ self-adjoint. Since the involution is isometric, $\Vert h\Vert ,\Vert k\Vert \le \Vert a\Vert$. HenceThus every positive functional on a C-star algebra is bounded, with the preliminary bound $\Vert x\Vert \le 2x(1_A)$. This proof does not presuppose the Cauchy–Schwarz inequality for positive C-star functionals. It also gives $x(a^{\ast })=\overline{x(a)}$, since $x(h)$ and $x(k)$ are real.

Set $A_0=x(a^{\ast }a)$, $B_0=x(b^{\ast }b)$ and $c=x(a^{\ast }b)$. The preceding reality argument gives $x(b^{\ast }a)=\bar{c}$. Positivity therefore implies, for every $\lambda \in \mathbb{C}$,If $A_0>0$, choose $\lambda =-c/A_0$ to obtain $0\le B_0-|c{|}^2/A_0$. If $A_0=0$ and $c\ne 0$, choosing $\lambda =-tc$ and letting $t\to \infty$ contradicts positivity. Thus $c=0$ in that case too. This proves the Cauchy–Schwarz inequality for positive C-star functionals:Apply it with $a=1_A$, $b=z$. Since $0\le z^{\ast }z\le \Vert z{\Vert }^2{1}_A$, positivity givesThus $\Vert x\Vert \le x(1_A)$, while evaluation on $1_A$ gives the reverse inequality. ConsequentlyThe zero functional is covered as well. In the trivial zero algebra all assertions are immediate, and its state space is empty.

For a nonzero unital C-star algebra, the set $S_A$ of state on a C-star algebra functionals is convex, since both positivity and evaluation $x(1_A)=1$ are preserved by convex combinations. The norm identity places it in the closed dual unit ball. Suppose a state satisfies $x=ty+(1-t)z$, with $0<t<1$ and $\Vert y\Vert ,\Vert z\Vert \le 1$. Evaluating at the unit and taking real parts givesSince both weights are strictly positive, both real parts equal $1$. Also $|y(1_A)|,|z(1_A)|\le 1$, so $y(1_A)=z(1_A)=1$. HenceThe stipulated converse to the norm identity makes $y,z$ positive, so both belong to $S_A$. Therefore $S_A$ is a face of a convex set, namely the closed dual unit ball. More precisely it is the exposed face of the dual ball defined by the unit, since it is cut out by $\mathrm{Re}x(1_A)=1$.