Banach algebra exponential 2026-10-14
The exponential series converges absolutely in a unital Banach algebra. Multiplication of absolutely convergent series gives , and gives when commute. Termwise differentiation gives near zero. In a C-star algebra, if and is real, taking adjoints termwise gives , so this exponential is a Unitary element of a C-star algebra and has norm one. These facts let a norm bound on a functional recover its real values on Hermitian elements.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 7 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A algebra character is nonzero, linear and multiplicative, with . Since , it satisfies and is automatically continuous. If and , then , so is a Unitary element of a C-star algebra and has norm one. HenceUsing both signs of forces . Write with and both self-adjoint C-star elements. Their algebra character values are real, and thereforeThis is the conjugation in the original PDF; the converted TeX loses the bar.
For the final unheaded request, let . Normality makes this a commutative unital C-star subalgebra. We first justify spectral permanence, so that we do not silently use the possibly larger algebra spectrum in a mere non-star subalgebra. A self-adjoint C-star element in a C-star algebra has real algebra spectrum: has norm one, and implies for each real . The latter assertion follows from the factorization with commuting factors. An invertible product of commuting factors would make invertible. Both signs of then force .
A compact subset of the real line has connected planar complement. Apply Question 1 to the self-adjoint C-star element : all of is its unbounded component and is retained in . Thus . If is invertible in , both and are self-adjoint C-star elements and invertible in , hence invertible in . The elements and are respectively a left and a right inverse in , so coincide and give its inverse. This proves spectral permanence for C-star algebras.
In a commutative unital complex Banach algebra, algebra spectra are the ranges of the characters. Indeed a noninvertible lies in a maximal ideal. Such an ideal is closed, since its proper closure cannot contain an element sufficiently near . The quotient is a complex Banach division algebra; nonemptiness of the algebra spectrum in that quotient makes each element scalar, producing an algebra character with value at . Conversely, an algebra character value cannot correspond to an invertible difference.
Apply this to . The preceding involution result gives , and spectral permanence applies also to . ConsequentlyThus the second argument is conjugated as in the original PDF, not a second copy of . This is the spectral mapping rule for a star polynomial in one normal element.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 6 6 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let . The exponential is defined by its norm-convergent power series. Continuity and conjugate linearity of the involution give , and multiplication of the commuting exponential series gives . Thus is a Unitary element of a C-star algebra and, by the C-star identity, .
A character of an algebra is automatically continuous with , as proved in Question 5. Passing it through the exponential series givesThe left side is . Considering both signs of forces . So characters take real values on self-adjoint C-star elements.
Now write withboth self-adjoint C-star elements. ThenThis proves that characters of a C-star algebra respect the involution. The argument itself does not require commutativity, although a noncommutative algebra need not have any characters.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 106 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The definitions in a unital C-star algebra areThus a Hermitian element of a C-star algebra is self-adjoint, a Unitary element of a C-star algebra has inverse , and a Normal element of a C-star algebra commutes with its adjoint. We derive the needed C-star algebra facts directly from , as required.
First gives , andgives ; applying the same argument to gives equality. Thus the involution is an isometry. For a Unitary element of a C-star algebra ,The general Banach algebra spectrum bound gives for . Such a is nonzero, and the inverse spectral mapping theorem gives , so also . Hence
If , the convergent exponential series and the isometric involution give . These commuting exponentials multiply to , so is unitary for real . By the exponential spectral mapping theorem, if then . Taking gives , soOnly general Banach algebra spectral mapping theorem and the defining C-star identity were used.
Now prove spectral permanence for C-star algebras. Let be the norm-closed C-star subalgebra with the same identity. The algebraic inclusion always gives . For , both spectra lie in . If , choose nonreal . Since , each belongs to . By continuity of inversion in a Banach algebra, these inverses converge in to , which belongs to because is closed. Thus , proving equality for hermitian elements.
For the requested normal , suppose is invertible in . The element is hermitian and invertible in , so the equality just proved places in . ConsequentlySince already has a two-sided inverse in , multiplying by that inverse gives . Hence its inverse belongs to , and
We need one more elementary consequence of the C-star identity: the spectral radius norm equality for normal elements. If , then . If is normal, commutativity of givesEvery power of is a Normal element of a C-star algebra. Induction gives . The general spectral radius formula therefore implies
The continuous functional calculus is the unique unital -homomorphism taking the coordinate function to . For bounded linear operators on a Hilbert space, the adjoint identity gives . ThereforeThis proves the C-star identity for directly; completeness and submultiplicativity come from the operator norm. LetBecause is a normal operator, this is a commutative unital C-star algebra. Every element of is a Normal element of a C-star algebra, so the preceding norm identity says its Gelfand transform is isometric:Here is the compact character space from the general Gelfand representation theorem for commutative Banach algebras.
Each algebra character preserves the involution. Indeed, write with hermitian; and similarly for , so . Therefore the continuous mapis injective: its value determines and hence its value on all the dense polynomials. It is surjective because the general character description of the spectrum gives , and spectral permanence for C-star algebras identifies this with . A continuous function that is a bijection from a compact space to a Hausdorff space is a homeomorphism, so we identify with .
Under this identification, the Gelfand transform sends to and to . Its image is an isometric, and therefore closed, unital self-adjoint subalgebra of . It separates points because it contains . The complex Stone-Weierstrass theorem makes the image dense, hence equal to all of . Inverting the Gelfand transform and including into givesan isometric unital C-star homomorphism with .
To prove uniqueness without assuming automatic continuity of C-star homomorphisms, let be any other such map. Since every is normal, is normal. A unital algebra homomorphism preserves inverses, soUsing the normal-element norm identity yields . Thus is contractive. It agrees with on polynomials in , since both send them to the same polynomials in . These polynomials are dense by the Stone-Weierstrass theorem, so continuity proves . This establishes the continuous functional calculus with no unproved theorem specific to C-star algebras.
A disconnected spectrum gives a nontrivial closed invariant subspace. Write with nonempty and both open and closed in . The indicator function is continuous on , even though no such continuity is needed across the gap outside . Let . The continuous functional calculus givesIts isometry gives and , so . The linear projection has closed range . Its range is nonzero and proper, and proves invariance. Since it also commutes with , the same subspace is reducing. This proves disconnected spectrum gives a reducing subspace.
A disconnected spectrum and its continuous indicator, which produces a nontrivial reducing projection
. Details. The figure can be realized without any eigenvalues: take , where is planar area on the two closed disks, and let multiply by . Its adjoint multiplies by , so it is a normal operator. An eigenvector for would be supported on the area-zero singleton , hence would be zero in . Outside , multiplication by is a bounded inverse to . For , normalized indicator functions of have , excluding a bounded inverse. Thus its spectrum is exactly . The linear projection in the figure multiplies by , and its range consists of functions supported on the left disk.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 106 2 Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
In a unital C-star algebra , an element is Hermitian when , unitary when , and normal when . It is a Positive element of a C-star algebra when for some , equivalently when it is Hermitian and its spectrum lies in .
Suppose first that , and normalize so that both equal one. If , the C-star identity givesWriting , we obtainfor every real , which forces . Decomposing an arbitrary into its Hermitian real and imaginary parts now gives
Let . Every character of an algebra on the commutative unital Banach algebra generated by has norm and value at one equal to one, so the preceding argument makes its value on real. The character description of the spectrum of an element therefore gives . Iterating the C-star identity,so . If , then has nonnegative spectrum and is positive, as is ; henceis a difference of positive elements.
If and , then spectral translation givesThus is positive and, by the norm--spectral-radius equality for Hermitian elements, .
Return to a norm-one with . For , the preceding paragraph and reality on Hermitian elements giveScaling proves that is a positive functional on a C-star algebra. Every character has norm and value at one equal to one, so every character is positive. On , the functionalis positive but is not multiplicative, and hence is not a character.
Conversely, let be positive. Writing a Hermitian element as a difference of positive elements shows that is real on Hermitian elements. Positivity offor every says that the associated quadratic polynomial is nonnegative. Minimizing it in gives the Cauchy--Schwarz inequalityTaking yields . Since , positivity givesTogether with , this proves .
Convex combinations preserve positivity and value one at the identity, so the state space is convex. If is normal, the unital C-star subalgebra is commutative and its Gelfand transform identifies it with . Choose with . Evaluation at is a state taking to . Its norm-preserving Hahn--Banach extension to still takes to one, so the norm criterion makes the extension a state satisfying .
The state space is nonempty, convex, and weak-star compact by the Banach-Alaoglu theorem. The Krein-Milman theorem gives an extreme point, so a pure state on a C-star algebra exists. For positive , the preceding norm-attainment result makesa nonempty weak-star compact convex set. It is a face: if a convex combination has the maximal possible value on , each summand does. An extreme point of exists by Krein--Milman and, because is a face, is extreme in . It is the required pure state.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 106 4 Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Let be the positive linear functionals on : those for which implies . For real ,so positivity gives ; decomposition into real and imaginary parts, or the positive-functional Cauchy--Schwarz inequality, gives the same bound for complex . Hence is continuous andThe Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem says that there is a unique finite regular positive Borel measure withMore generally, is the Banach space of finite regular complex Borel measures with the total-variation norm.
Now let be commutative, unital, and C-star, and put . The Gelfand transform is an isometric star-isomorphism . For , the functionalon is represented by a regular complex measure . The diagonal measures are positive. Polarization and the Riesz theorem assemble them into a projection-valued measure characterized byfor Borel sets . The multiplication identities first hold for continuous functions and extend to bounded Borel functions by a monotone-class argument. Thereforedefines a unital star-homomorphism with , andfor every .
For a normal , apply this construction to the commutative C-star algebra . Its character space identifies with , and the Gelfand transform of is the coordinate function . We obtain the Borel functional calculus for a normal operatorIf , then on the spectrum. Since preserves products and involution,Thus is a unitary operator.
