[Home]C-star-algebra

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C*-algebras are one of the tools and objects of study in functional analysis and are used in some formulations of quantum mechanics. A C*-algebra A is a Banach algebra over the field of complex numbers, together with a map * : A -> A called involution which has the follow properties:
(the involution of the sum of x and y is equal to the sum of the involution of x with the involution of y)

(the involution of the product of x and y is equal to the product of the involution of x with the involution of y)
(the involution of the involution of x is equal to x)
(the norm of the product of x and the involution of x is equal to the norm of x squared )
If the last property is omitted, we speak of a '''B*-algebra'''.

A map f : A -> B between B*-algebras A and B is called a *-homomorphism if

(the function applied to the product of x and y is equal to product of the function applied to x with the function applied to y )
Such a map is automatically continuous. If it is bijective, then its inverse is also a *-homorphism and it is called a *-isomorphism and A and B are called *-isomorphic. In that case, A and B are for all practical purposes identical; they only differ in the notation of their elements.

The motivating example of a C*-algebra is the algebra of continuous linear operators defined on a complex Hilbert space H; here x* denotes the adjoint operator of the operator x : H -> H. In fact, every C*-algebra is *-isomorphic to a subalgebra of such an operator algebra for a suitable Hilbert space; this is the content of the [Gelfand-Naimark theorem]?.

An example of a commutative C*-algebra is the algebra C(X) of all complex-valued continuous functions defined on a compact Hausdorff space X. Every commutative C*-algebra with unit element is *-isomorphic to such an algebra C(X) using the [Gelfand representation]?.


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Last edited November 24, 2001 2:15 am by BenBaker (diff)
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