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Published Aug. 12, 2025 2:49 PM

Welcome to the C*-algebra course!

Our plan is to cover the following topics, roughly in this order:

  • First examples of C*-algebras
  • Commutative case
    • Gelfand transform and functional calculus
    • Gelfand-Naimark theorem
  • Basic structure theory
    • Unitization Positive elements
    • Approximate units
    • Ideals and homomorphisms
    • Tensor products
  • von Neumann algebras
    • Operator topologies; von Neumann algebras
    • von Neumann's double commutant theorem
    • Kaplansky's density theorem
  • Representation theory of operator algebras
    • States; Gelfand-Naimark-Segal construction
    • Irreducible representations and pure states
    • Representations of algebras of compact operators; Voiculescu’s theorem
  • ...