A Course in Operator Theory. John B. Conway

Licensed to Univ Nac Autonoma de Mexico. Prepared on Wed Oct 4 17:23:03 EDT 2023for download from IP 132.248.9.8.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/gsm/021
http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/gsm/021/01
22 1. Introduction to C*-Algebras
Proof. (a) Clearly B is a C*-algebra. Let a EB+ and suppose x EA with

0 :S x :S a. So x 11 2 x 1 1 2 :S a and Proposition 4.6 implies there is an element
u in A such that x 11 2 = ua 11 3. But a 11 3 E B+ � £. Thus x 11 2 E[, from
which it follows that x E £. Since x is hermitian, x EB and B is hereditary.
(b) If x E £ and a E A, then (ax)*(ax) = x*a*ax :S llalJ 2 x*x E B.
Hence ax E £ whenever x E £. If x, y E £, then (x + y)*(x + y) :S
(x + y)*(x + y) + (x - y)*(x - y) = 2(x*x + y*y) E B. Thus [, is a left
ideal. It is easy to see that[, is closed.
(c) If x E £, then x*x E[, since[, is a left ideal. Thus x*x EB. On the
other hand, if x is an arbitrary element of A and x*x E B, then x*x E £
and so lxl 112 E[, by Proposition 5.1. According to Proposition 4.6 there is
an element u in A such that x = ulxl 1 12. Therefore x E £.
(d) To show that B = [, n[,*, Proposition 3.2 implies it suffices to show
that B+ = (£ n £*)+ = £+. If x E£+, then x2 EB by the definition of£,
so x = (x2 ) 112 EB+ . Now assume that x E B+ . So (x 112 )*(x 112 ) = x E B,
and, by definition, this implies that x 112 E £. Thus x E £. •
An ideal of A always means a two-sided ideal, though it is not always

assumed that ideals are closed. The next result says that closed ideals
constitute C*-algebras. This is an easy consequence of Corollary 4.7.
5.4 Proposition. If I is a closed ideal of A, then a* E I whenever a E I.
Proof. If x E I, then Corollary 4.7 implies there is a u in A such that
x = ulxl 112. But lxl 1 12 EI by Proposition 5.1. Thus x* = lxl 1 /2 u* EI. •
Now for one of the standard rituals of mathematics. Whenever presented

with an algebra and an ideal, form the quotient. This must be carried out
in the C*-algebra setting.
5.5 Lemma. If I is a closed ideal in A and a E A, then Ila + Ill =
inf{ Il a - axil : x E (ballI)+ }.
Proof. If a denotes the infimum, clearly Ila+ Ill :S a since aI � I. Let
{ei} be an approximate identity for I. Since O :S 1 - ei :S 1, if y EI, then
ll (a + y)(l - ei)II :S Ila+ YII- Thus
Ila+ YII � lim inf ll(a+ y)(l - ei)II
i
= lim_inf ll(a - aei) + (y - yei)II

= lim inf Ila - aeill
i
since IIY - yeill - 0. Therefore Ila+ Ill � a. •
26 1. Introduction to C ∗ -Algebras
and only if μ and ν are mutually absolutely continuous; that is, if and only
if the two measures have the same sets of measure zero.
To see part (b), first assume that that the measures are mutually abso-
lutely continuous. If φ is the Radon–Nikodym
√ derivative dμ/dν, then define
U : L2 (μ) → L2 (ν) by U h = h φ. It is left to the reader to check that U
is the required isomorphism. For the converse, assume that an isomorphism
U : L2 (μ) → L2 (ν) is given such that for each f in C(X) and each h in L2 (μ),
U (f h) = f U h. Letting ψ = U (1), this implies that U (f ) = U (f · 1) = f ψ
for each f in C(X). Since U is an isometry, |f | |ψ|2 dν = |f |2 dμ. But
2
this implies that f |ψ| dν = f dμ for every positive continuous function

2
f on X. Thus μ = |ψ|2 ν and so μ << ν. The same argument applied to the

isomorphism U −1 shows that ν << μ.
This high ratio of definitions to results must continue a bit longer.
6.7 Definition. A representation π of a C∗ -algebra A is cyclic if there is a
vector e in H such that {π(a)e : a ∈ A } is dense in H. Any vector e that
satisfies this condition is called a cyclic vector for the representation π. The
representation π is called faithful if it is injective. A subrepresentation of
π is a representation of A of the form a → π(a)|M, where M is a closed
subspace of H that reduces π(A).
It is easy to see that if X is compact and μ is a positive Borel measure
on X, then πμ , the representation of C(X) defined in (6.2.c), is cyclic with
cyclic vector 1. In fact, any function in L2 (μ) that does not vanish on a
set of positive μ measure is cyclic for this representation. (See Exercise 1.)
Also the identity representation of B(H) is cyclic with any non-zero vector
as a cyclic vector.
It is also easy to see that the representation πμ is faithful if and only
if the support of μ is all of X. Note that a faithful representation is an
isometry. There is more about faithful representations in the next section.
The reader might find some subrepresentations of the representations in
Examples 6.2.b and 6.2.c.
6.8 Theorem. Every representation is equivalent to the direct sum of cyclic
representations. If the representation acts on a separable Hilbert space, the
representation is equivalent to the direct sum of a sequence of cyclic repre-
sentations.
Proof. The proof is a rather simple extrapolation from an elementary ob-
servation. Fix a representation π : A → B(H). For any vector e in H,
put M = [π(A)e]. (For any collection S of vectors in a Hilbert space, [S]
denotes the closed linear span of the set S.) Since A is a C∗ -algebra, M is
invariant for every operator π(a) as well as its adjoint. That is, M reduces

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Licensed to Univ Nac Autonoma de Mexico. Prepared on Wed Oct 4 17:23:03 EDT 2023for download from IP 132.248.9.8.

Proof. (a) Clearly B is a C*-algebra. Let a EB+ and suppose x EA with

An ideal of A always means a two-sided ideal, though it is not always

Now for one of the standard rituals of mathematics. Whenever presented

= lim_inf ll(a - aei) + (y - yei)II

since IIY - yeill - 0. Therefore Ila+ Ill � a. •

this implies that f |ψ| dν = f dμ for every positive continuous function

f on X. Thus μ = |ψ|2 ν and so μ << ν. The same argument applied to the

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