The classical Gelfand–Naimark theorems provide important insight into the structure of general and of commutative $C^*$-algebras. It is shown that these can be generalized to certain ordered $^*$-algebras. More precisely, for $\sigma $-bounded closed ordered $^*$-algebras, a faithful representation as operators is constructed. Similarly, for commutative such algebras, a faithful representation as complex-valued functions is constructed if an additional necessary regularity condition is fulfilled. These results generalize the Gelfand–Naimark representation theorems to classes of $^*$-algebras larger than $C^*$-algebras, and which especially contain $^*$-algebras of unbounded operators. The key to these representation theorems is a new result for Archimedean ordered vector spaces V: If V is $\sigma $-bounded, then the order of V is induced by the extremal positive linear functionals on V.

We study the structure and compute the stable rank of $C^{*}$-algebras of finite higher-rank graphs. We completely determine the stable rank of the $C^{*}$-algebra when the $k$-graph either contains no cycle with an entrance or is cofinal. We also determine exactly which finite, locally convex $k$-graphs yield unital stably finite $C^{*}$-algebras. We give several examples to illustrate our results.

Given an infinite, compact, monothetic group $G$ we study decompositions and structure of unbounded derivations in a crossed product $\text{C}^{\ast }$-algebra $C(G)\rtimes \mathbb{Z}$ obtained from a translation on $G$ by a generator of a dense cyclic subgroup. We also study derivations in a Toeplitz extension of the crossed product and the question whether unbounded derivations can be lifted from one algebra to the other.

In this paper we introduce a new way of deforming convolution algebras and Fourier algebras on locally compact groups. We demonstrate that this new deformation allows us to reveal some information about the underlying groups by examining Banach algebra properties of deformed algebras. More precisely, we focus on representability as an operator algebra of deformed convolution algebras on compact connected Lie groups with connection to the real dimension of the underlying group. Similarly, we investigate complete representability as an operator algebra of deformed Fourier algebras on some finitely generated discrete groups with connection to the growth rate of the group.

Let Γ be an Ã2 subgroup of PGL3(), where is a local field with residue field of order q. The module of coinvariants C(,ℤ)Γ is shown to be finite, where is the projective plane over . If the group Γ is of Tits type and if q ≢ 1 (mod 3) then the exact value of the order of the class [1]K0 in the K-theory of the (full) crossed product C*-algebra C(Ω) ⋊ Γ is determined, where Ω is the Furstenberg boundary of PGL3(). For groups of Tits type, this verifies a conjecture of G. Robertson and T. Steger.

Recently, Daws introduced a notion of co-representation of abelian Hopf–von Neumann algebras on general reflexive Banach spaces. In this note, we show that this notion cannot be extended beyond subhomogeneous Hopf–von Neumann algebras. The key is our observation that, for a von Neumann algebra 𝔐 and a reflexive operator space E, the normal spatial tensor product is a Banach algebra if and only if 𝔐 is subhomogeneous or E is completely isomorphic to column Hilbert space.

In the present paper we study some homotopy invariants which can be defined by means of bundles with fiber being a matrix algebra. In particular, we introduce some generalization of the Brauer group in the topological context and show that any of its elements can be represented as a locally trivial bundle with the structure group , k ∈ . Finally, we discuss its possible applications in the twisted K-theory.

We construct algebras of pseudodifferential operators on a continuous family groupoid $\mathcal{G}$ that are closed under holomorphic functional calculus, contain the algebra of all pseudodifferential operators of order 0 on $\mathcal{G}$ as a dense subalgebra and reflect the smooth structure of the groupoid $\mathcal{G}$, when $\mathcal{G}$ is smooth. As an application, we get a better understanding on the structure of inverses of elliptic pseudodifferential operators on classes of non-compact manifolds. For the construction of these algebras closed under holomorphic functional calculus, we develop three methods: one using semi-ideals, one using commutators and one based on Schwartz spaces on the groupoid.

One of our main results is to reduce the construction of spectrally invariant algebras of order 0 pseudodifferential operators to the analogous problem for regularizing operators. We then show that, in the case of the generalized ‘cusp’-calculi$c_n$, $n\ge2$, it is possible to construct algebras of regularizing operators that are closed under holomorphic functional calculus and consist of smooth kernels. For $n=1$, this was shown not to be possible by the first author in an earlier paper.

AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 35S05. Secondary 35J15; 47G30; 58J40; 46L87

As a consequence of the main result of the paper we obtain that every 2-local isometry of the $C^*$-algebra $B(H)$ of all bounded linear operators on a separable infinite-dimensional Hilbert space $H$ is an isometry. We have a similar statement concerning the isometries of any extension of the algebra of all compact operators by a separable commutative $C^*$-algebra. Therefore, on those $C^*$-algebras the isometries are completely determined by their local actions on the two-point subsets of the underlying algebras.

AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 47B49