Browsing by Author "Ramsey, Christopher"
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Item Automorphisms and dilation theory of triangular UHF algebras(2013) Ramsey, ChristopherWe study the triangular subalgebras of UHF algebras which provide new examples of algebras with the Dirichlet property and the Ando property. This in turn allows us to describe the semicrossed product by an isometric automorphism. We also study the isometric automorphism group of these algebras and prove that it decomposes into the semidirect product of an abelian group by a torsion free group. Various other structure results are proven as well.Item Automorphisms of free products and their applications to multivariable dynamics(2016) Ramsey, ChristopherWe examine the completely isometric automorphisms of a free product of noncommutative disc algebras. It will be established that such an automorphism is given simply by a completely isometric automorphism of each component of the free product and a permutation of the components. This mirrors a similar fact in topology concerning biholomorphic automorphisms of product spaces with nice boundaries due to Rudin, Ligocka and Tsyganov. This paper is also a study of multivariable dynamical systems by their semicrossed product algebras. A new form of dynamical system conjugacy is introduced and is shown to completely characterize the semicrossed product algebra. This is proven by using the rigidity of free product automorphisms established in the first part of the paper. Lastly, a representation theory is developed to determine when the semicrossed product algebra and the tensor algebra of a dynamical system are completely isometrically isomorphic.Item Bistochastic operators and quantum random variables(2022) Plosker, Sarah; Ramsey, ChristopherGiven a positive operator-valued measure ν acting on the Borel sets of a locally compact Hausdorff space X, with outcomes in the algebra B(H) of all bounded operators on a (possibly infinite-dimensional) Hilbert space H, one can consider ν-integrable functions X → B(H) that are positive quantum random variables. We define a seminorm on the span of such functions which in the quotient leads to a Banach space. We consider bistochastic operators acting on this space and majorization of quantum random variables is then defined with respect to these operators. As in classical majorization theory, we relate majorization in this context to an inequality involving all possible convex functions of a certain type. Unlike the classical setting, continuity and convergence issues arise throughout the work.Item A completely bounded noncommutative Choquet boundary for operator spaces(2019) Clouâtre, Raphaël; Ramsey, ChristopherWe develop a completely bounded counterpart to the noncommutative Choquet boundary of an operator space. We show how the class of completely bounded linear maps is too large to accommodate our purposes. To overcome this obstacle, we isolate the subset of completely bounded linear maps admitting a dilation of the same norm that is multiplicative on the associated C*-algebra. We view such maps as analogs of the familiar unital completely contractive maps, and we exhibit many of their structural properties. Of particular interest to us are those maps that are extremal with respect to a natural dilation order. We establish the existence of extremals and show that they have a certain unique extension property. In particular, they give rise to *-homomorphisms that we use to associate to any representation of an operator space an entire scale of C*-envelopes. We conjecture that these C*-envelopes are all *-isomorphic and verify this in some important cases.Item Crossed products of operator algebras(2019) Katsoulis, Elias G.; Ramsey, ChristopherWe study crossed products of arbitrary operator algebras by locally compact groups of completely isometric automorphisms. We develop an abstract theory that allows for generalizations of many of the fundamental results from the selfadjoint theory to our context. We complement our generic results with the detailed study of many important special cases. In particular we study crossed products of tensor algebras, triangular AF algebras and various associated C°-algebras. We make contributions to the study of C°-envelopes, semisimplicity, the semi-Dirichlet property, Takai duality and the Hao-Ng isomorphism problem. We also answer questions from the pertinent literature.Item Crossed products of operator algebras: applications of Takai duality(2018) Katsoulis, Elias G.; Ramsey, ChristopherIn this paper we continue our study of crossed products of approximately unital operator algebras begun with our monograph. The main objectives of the paper is to strengthen ties and establish new connections between our theory of crossed products and the well-established theory of semicrossed products. Using these connections we broaden our understanding for various topics of investigation in both theories, including semisimplicity and the structure of invariant ideals by the dual action.Item Faithfulness of bi-free product states(2018) Ramsey, ChristopherGiven a non-trivial family of pairs of faces of unital C*- algebras where each pair has a faithful state, it is proved that if the bi-free product state is faithful on the reduced bi-free product of this family of pairs of faces then each pair of faces arises as a minimal tensor product. A partial converse is also obtained.Item The Hyperrigidity of Tensor Algebras of C*-Correspondences(2019) Katsoulis, Elias G.; Ramsey, ChristopherGiven a C∗-correspondence X, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the tensor algebra T+X to be hyperrigid. In the case where X is coming from a topological graph we obtain a complete characterization.Item The isomorphism problem for some universal operator algebras(2011) Davidson, Kenneth R.; Ramsey, Christopher; Shalit, Orr MosheThis paper addresses the isomorphism problem for the universal (nonself-adjoint) operator algebras generated by a row contraction subject to homogeneous polynomial relations. We find that two such algebras are isometrically isomorphic if and only if the defining polynomial relations are the same up to a unitary change of variables, and that this happens if and only if the associated subproduct systems are isomorphic. The proof makes use of the complex analytic structure of the character space, together with some recent results on subproduct systems. Restricting attention to commutative operator algebras defined by a radical ideal of relations yields strong resemblances with classical algebraic geometry. These commutative operator algebras turn out to be algebras of analytic functions on algebraic varieties. We prove a projective Nullstellensatz connecting closed ideals and their zero sets. Under some technical assumptions, we find that two such algebras are isomorphic as algebras if and only if they are similar, and we obtain a clear geometrical picture of when this happens. This result is obtained with tools from algebraic geometry, reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces, and some new complex-geometric rigidity results of independent interest. The C*-envelopes of these algebras are also determined. The Banach-algebraic and the algebraic classification results are shown to hold for the wot-closures of these algebras as well.Item The isomorphism problem for tensor algebras of multivariable dynamical systems(2022) Katsoulis, Elias G.; Ramsey, ChristopherWe resolve the isomorphism problem for tensor algebras of unital multivariable dynamical systems. Specifically, we show that unitary equivalence after a conjugation for multivariable dynamical systems is a complete invariant for complete isometric isomorphisms between their tensor algebras. In particular, this settles a conjecture of Davidson and Kakariadis, Inter. Math. Res. Not. 2014 (2014), 1289–1311 relating to work of Arveson, Acta Math. 118 (1967), 95–109 from the 1960s, and extends related work of Kakariadis and Katsoulis, J. Noncommut. Geom. 8 (2014), 771–787.Item Limit algebras and integer-valued cocycles, revisited(2016) Katsoulis, Elias G.; Ramsey, ChristopherA triangular limit algebra A is isometrically isomorphic to the tensor algebra of a C*-correspondence if and only if its fundamental relation R(A) is a tree admitting a Z+0-valued continuous and coherent cocycle. For triangular limit algebras which are isomorphic to tensor algebras, we give a very concrete description for their defining C*-correspondence and we show that it forms a complete invariant for isometric isomorphisms between such algebras. A related class of operator algebras is also classified using a variant of the Aho-Hopcroft-Ullman algorithm from computer aided graph theory.Item Lp spaces of operator-valued functions(2021) Ramsey, Christopher; Reeves, AdamWe define a p-norm in the context of quantum random variables, measurable operator-valued functions with respect to a positive operator-valued measure. This norm leads to a operator-valued Lp space that is shown to be complete. Various other norm candidates are considered as well as generalizations of H¨older’s inequality to this new context.Item The non-selfadjoint approach to the Hao–Ng isomorphism(2019) Katsoulis, Elias G.; Ramsey, ChristopherIn an earlier work, the authors proposed a non-selfadjoint approach to the Hao–Ng isomorphism problem for the full crossed product, depending on the validity of two conjectures stated in the broader context of crossed products for operator algebras. By work of Harris and Kim, we now know that these conjectures in the generality stated may not always be valid. In this paper we show that in the context of hyperrigid tensor algebras of C∗-correspondences, each one of these conjectures is equivalent to the Hao–Ng problem. This is accomplished by studying the representation theory of non-selfadjoint crossed products of C∗-correspondence dynamical systems; in particular we show that there is an appropriate dilation theory. A large class of tensor algebras of C∗-correspondences, including all regular ones, are shown to be hyperrigid. Using Hamana’s injective envelope theory, we extend earlier results from the discrete group case to arbitrary locally compact groups; this includes a resolution of the Hao–Ng isomorphism for the reduced crossed product and all hyperrigid C∗-correspondences. A culmination of these results is the resolution of the Hao–Ng isomorphism problem for the full crossed product and all row-finite graph correspondences; this extends a recent result of Bedos, Kaliszewski, Quigg, and Spielberg.Item On operator valued measures(2020) McLaren, Darian; Plosker, Sarah; Ramsey, ChristopherWe consider positive operator valued measures whose image is the bounded operators acting on an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space, and we relax, when possible, the usual assumption of positivity of the operator valued measure seen in the quantum information theory literature. We define the Radon-Nikod´ym derivative of a positive operator valued measure with respect to a complex measure induced by a given quantum state; this derivative does not always exist when the Hilbert space is infinite dimensional in so much as its range may include unbounded operators. We define integrability of a positive quantum random variable with respect to a positive operator valued measure. Emphasis is put on the structure of operator valued measures, and we develop positive operator valued versions of the Lebesque decomposition theorem and Johnson’s atomic and nonatomic decomposition theorem. Beyond these generalizations, we make connections between absolute continuity and the “cleanness” relation defined on positive operator valued measures as well as to the notion of atomic and nonatomic measures.Item Operator algebras and symbolic dynamical systems associated to symbolic substitutions(2022) Gawlak, Dylan; Ramsey, ChristopherIn this thesis, we shall look at symbolic dynamical systems and operator algebras that are associated with these systems. We shall focus on minimal shift dynamical systems generated by symbolic substitutions. By first characterizing the shift spaces associated to primitive substitutions, we shall see that all minimal dynamical systems generated by symbolic substitutions are conjugate to proper primitive substitutions. In doing this, we will look at ordered Bratteli diagrams and strongly maximal TAF-algebras and we will see how we can associate these to a type of dynamical system called a Cantor minimal system, of which infinite minimal shift spaces are an example. We also shall see how we can associate a semi-crossed product algebra to a topological dynamical system and how isomorphism of two semi-crossed product algebras is equivalent to conjugacy of their associated dynamical systems. The semi-crossed product algebra is more general in that it can be associated to any dynamical system, whereas TAF-algebras can only be associated to Cantor minimal systems.Item Operator algebras for analytic varieties(2015) Davidson, Kenneth R.; Ramsey, Christopher; Shalit, Orr MosheWe study the isomorphism problem for the multiplier algebras of irreducible complete Pick kernels. These are precisely the restrictions MV of the multiplier algebra M of Drury-Arveson space to a holomorphic subvariety V of the unit ball Bd. We find that MV is completely isometrically isomorphic to MW if and only if W is the image of V under a biholomorphic automorphism of the ball. In this case, the isomorphism is unitarily implemented. This is then strengthened to show that, when d<∞, every isometric isomorphism is completely isometric. The problem of characterizing when two such algebras are (algebraically) isomorphic is also studied. When V and W are each a finite union of irreducible varieties and a discrete variety in Bd with d<∞, then an isomorphism between MV and MW determines a biholomorphism (with multiplier coordinates) between the varieties; and the isomorphism is composition with this function. These maps are automatically weak-∗ continuous. We present a number of examples showing that the converse fails in several ways. We discuss several special cases in which the converse does hold---particularly, smooth curves and Blaschke sequences. We also discuss the norm closed algebras associated to a variety, and point out some of the differences.Item An operator-valued Lyapunov theorem(2019) Plosker, Sarah; Ramsey, ChristopherWe generalize Lyapunov's convexity theorem for classical (scalar-valued) measures to quantum (operator-valued) measures. In particular, we show that the range of a nonatomic quantum probability measure is a weak*-closed convex set of quantum effects (positive operators bounded above by the identity operator) under a sufficient condition on the non-injectivity of integration. To prove the operator-valued version of Lyapunov's theorem, we must first define the notions of essentially bounded, essential support, and essential range for quantum random variables (Borel measurable functions from a set to the bounded linear operators acting on a Hilbert space).Item Residually finite-dimensional operator algebras(2019) Clouâtre, Raphaël; Ramsey, ChristopherWe study non-selfadjoint operator algebras that can be entirely understood via their finite-dimensional representations. In contrast with the elementary matricial description of finite-dimensional C∗-algebras, in the non-selfadjoint setting we show that an additional level of flexibility must be allowed. Motivated by this peculiarity, we consider a natural non-selfadjoint notion of residual finite-dimensionality. We identify sufficient conditions for the tensor algebra of a C∗-correspondence to enjoy this property. To clarify the connection with the usual self-adjoint notion, we investigate the residual finite-dimensionality of the minimal and maximal C∗-covers associated to an operator algebra.Item Unitary dilation of freely independent contractions(2017) Atkinson, Scott; Ramsey, ChristopherInspired by the Sz.-Nagy-Foias dilation theorem we show that n freely independent contractions dilate to n freely independent unitaries.Item Unitary groups of nondegenerate Hermitian forms and the homotopy groups of pseudospheres(2008) Farenick, D.R.; Ramsey, ChristopherThe Witt Extension Theorem states that the unitary group of a finite-dimensional vector space V equipped with a nondegenerate hermitian form acts transitively on the pseudosphere induced by the form. We provide a new, constructive proof of this result for finite-dimensional vector spaces V over R , C , or H . This constructive proof is then used to prove a similar result for the unitary group of a finitely generated free right module over an abelian AW ∗-algebra. The topology of these unitary groups is examined and as an application we determine the homotopy groups π 1 and π 2 of the induced real, complex, and quaternionic pseudospheres.