Two basic examples of von Neumann algebras are as follows. The ring L∞(R) of essentially bounded measurable functions on the real line is a commutative von Neumann algebra, which acts by pointwise multiplication on the Hilbert space L2(R) of square integrable functions. The algebra B(H) of all bounded operators on a Hilbert space H is a von Neumann algebra, non-commutative if the Hilbert space has dimension at least 2.
Von Neumann algebras were first studied by ; he and Francis Murray developed the basic theory, under the original name of rings of operators, in a series of papers written in the 1930s and 1940s reprinted in the collected works of .
Introductory accounts of von Neumann algebras are given in the online notes of and and the books by , , and . The three volume work by gives an encyclopedic account of the theory. The book by discusses more advanced topics.
There are three common ways to define von Neumann algebras.
The first and most common way is to define them as weakly closed * algebras of bounded operators (on a Hilbert space) containing the identity. In this definition the weak (operator) topology can be replaced by almost any common topology other than the norm topology, in particular by the strong, ultrastrong or ultraweak operator topologies. (The *-algebras of bounded operators that are closed in the norm topology are C*-algebras, so in particular any von Neumann algebra is a C*-algebra.)
The second definition is that a von Neumann algebra is a subset of the bounded operators closed under * and equal to its double commutant, or equivalently the commutant of some subset closed under *. The von Neumann double commutant theorem says that the first two definitions are equivalent.
The first two definitions define a von Neumann algebras concretely as a set of operators acting on some given Hilbert space. showed that Von Neumann algebras can also be defined abstractly as C*-algebras that have a predual; in other words the von Neumann algebra, considered as a Banach space, is the dual of some other Banach space called the predual. The predual of a von Neumann algebra is in fact unique up to isomorphism. Some authors use "von Neumann algebra" for the algebras together with a Hilbert space action, and "W*-algebra" for the abstract concept, so a von Neumann algebra is a W*-algebra together with a Hilbert space and a suitable faithful unital action on the Hilbert space. The concrete and abstract definitions of a von Neumann algebra are similar to the concrete and abstract definitions of a C*-algebra, which can be defined either as norm-closed * algebras of operators on a Hilbert space, or as Banach *-algebras such that ||a a*||=||a|| ||a*||.
The relationship between commutative von Neumann algebras and measure spaces is analogous to that between commutative C*-algebras and locally compact Hausdorff spaces. Every commutative von Neumann algebra is isomorphic to L∞(X) for some measure space (X, μ) and for every σ-finite measure space X, conversely, L∞(X) is a von Neumann algebra.
Due to this analogy, the theory of von Neumann algebras has been called noncommutative measure theory, while the theory of C*-algebras is sometimes called noncommutative topology.
Operators E in a von Neumann algebra for which E = EE = E* are called projections; they are exactly the operators which give an orthogonal projection of H onto some closed subspace. A subspace of the Hilbert space H is said to belong to the von Neumann algebra M if it is the image of some projection in M. Informally these are the closed subspaces that can be described using elements of M, or that M "knows" about. The closure of the image of any operator in M, or the kernel of any operator in M belong to M, and the closure of the image of any subspace belonging to M under an operator of M also belongs to M. There is a 1:1 correspondence between projections of M and subspaces that belong to it.
The basic theory of projections was worked out by . Two subspaces belonging to M are called (Murray-von Neumann) equivalent if there is a partial isometry mapping the first isomorphically onto the other that is an element of the von Neumann algebra (informally, if M "knows" that the subspaces are isomorphic). This induces a natural equivalence relation on projections by defining E to be equivalent to F if the corresponding subspaces are equivalent, or in other words if there is a partial isometry of H that maps the image of E isometrically to the image of F and is an element of the von Neumann algebra. Another way of stating this is that E is equivalent to F if E=uu* and F=u*u for some partial isometry u in M.
The equivalence relation ~ thus defined is additive in the following sense: Suppose E1 ~ F1 and E2 ~ F2. If E1 ⊥ E2 and F1 ⊥ F2, then E1 + E2 ~ F1 + F2. This is not true in general if one requires unitary equivalence in the definition of ~, i.e. if we say E is equivalent to F if u*Eu = F for some unitary u. .
The subspaces belonging to M are ordered by inclusion, and this induces a partial order ≤ of projections. There is also a natural partial order on the set of equivalence classes of projections, induced by the partial order ≤ of projections. If M is a factor, ≤ is a total order on equivalence classes of projections, described in the section on traces below.
A projection (or subspace belonging to M) E is said to be finite if there is no projection F < E that is equivalent to E. For example, all finite-dimensional projections (or subspaces) are finite (since isometries between Hilbert spaces leave the dimension fixed), but the identity operator on an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space is not finite in the von Neumann algebra of all bounded operators on it, since it is isometrically isomorphic to a proper subset of itself. However it is possible for infinite dimensional subspaces to be finite.
Orthogonal projections are noncommutative analogues of indicator functions in L∞(R). L∞(R) is the ||·||∞-closure of the subspace generated by the indicator functions. Similarly, a von Neumann algebra is generated by its projections; this is a consequence of the spectral theorem for self-adjoint operators.
A von Neumann algebra N whose center consists only of multiples of the identity operator is called a factor. showed that every von Neumann algebra on a separable Hilbert space is isomorphic to a direct integral of factors. This decomposition is essentially unique. Thus, the problem of classifying isomorphism classes of von Neumann algebras on separable Hilbert spaces can be reduced to that of classifying isomorphism classes of factors. showed that every factor has one of 3 types as described below. The type classification can be extended to von Neumann algebras that are not factors, and a von Neumann algebra is of type X if it can be decomposed as a direct integral of type X factors; for example, every commutative von Neumann algebra has type I1. Every von Neumann algebra can be written uniquely as a sum of von Neumann algebras of types I, II, and III.
There are several other ways to divide factors into classes that are sometimes used:
A factor is said to be of type II if there are no minimal projections but there are non-zero finite projections. This implies that every projection E can be halved in the sense that there are equivalent projections F and G such that E = F + G. If the identity operator in a type II factor is finite, the factor is said to be of type II1; otherwise, it is said to be of type II∞. The best understood factors of type II are the hyperfinite type II1 factor and the hyperfinite type II∞ factor, found by . These are the unique hyperfinite factors of types II1 and II∞; there are an uncountable number of other factors of these types that are the subject of intensive study. proved the fundamental result that a factor of type II1 has a unique finite tracial state, and the set of traces of projections is [0,1].
A factor of type II∞ has a semifinite trace, unique up to rescaling, and the set of traces of projections is [0,∞]. The set of real numbers λ such that there is an automorphism rescaling the trace by a factor of λ is called the fundamental group of the type II∞ factor.
The tensor product of a factor of type II1 and an infinite type I factor has type II∞, and conversely any factor of type II∞ can be constructed like this. The fundamental group of a type II1 factor is defined to be the fundamental group of its tensor product with the infinite (separable) factor of type I. For many years it was an open problem to find a type II factor whose fundamental group was not the group of all positive reals, but Connes then showed that the von Neumann group algebra of a countable discrete group with Kazhdan's property T (the trivial representation is isolated in the dual space), such as SL3(Z), has a countable fundamental group. Subsequently Sorin Popa showed that the fundamental group can be trivial for certain groups, including the semidirect product of Z2 by SL2(Z).
An example of a type II1 factor is the von Neumann group algebra of a countable infinite discrete group such that every non-trivial conjugacy class is infinite. found an uncountable family of such groups with non-isomorphic von Neumann group algebras, thus showing the existence of uncountably many different separable type II1 factors.
Lastly, type III factors are factors that do not contain any nonzero finite projections at all. In their first paper were unable decide whether or not they existed; the first examples were later found by . Since the identity operator is always infinite in those factors, they were sometimes called type III∞ in the past, but recently that notation has been superseded by the notation IIIλ, where λ is a real number in the interval [0,1]. More precisely, if the Connes spectrum (of its modular group) is 1 then the factor is of type III0, if the Connes spectrum is all integral powers of λ for 0<λ<1, then the type is IIIλ, and if the Connes spectrum is all positive reals then the type is III1. (The Connes spectrum is a closed subgroup of the positive reals, so these are the only possibilities.) The only trace on type III factors takes value ∞ on all non-zero positive elements, and any two non-zero projections are equivalent. At one time type III factors were considered to be intractable objects, but Tomita-Takesaki theory has led to a good structure theory. In particular, any type III factor can be written in a canonical way as the crossed product of a type II∞ factor and the real numbers.
The definition of the predual given above seems to depend on the choice of Hilbert space that M acts on, as this determines the ultraweak topology. However the predual can also be defined without using the Hilbert space that M acts on, by defining it to be the space generated by all positive normal linear functionals on M. (Here "normal" means that it preserves suprema when applied to increasing nets of self adjoint operators; or equivalently to increasing sequences of projections.)
The predual M* is a closed subspace of the dual M* (which consists of all norm-continuous linear functionals on M) but is generally smaller. The proof that M* is (usually) not the same as M* is nonconstructive and uses the axiom of choice in an essential way; it is very hard to exhibit explicit elements of M* that are not in M*. For example, exotic positive linear forms on the von Neumann algebra l∞ (Z) are given by free ultrafilters; they correspond to exotic *-homomorphisms into C and describe the Stone-Cech compactification of Z.
Examples:
Any factor has a trace such that the trace of a non-zero projection is non-zero and the trace of a projection is infinite if and only if the projection is infinite. Such a trace is unique up to rescaling. For factors that are separable or finite, two projections are equivalent if and only if they have the same trace. The type of a factor can be read off from the possible values of this trace as follows:
If a von Neumann algebra acts on a Hilbert space containing a norm 1 vector v, then the functional a → (av,v) is a normal state. This construction can be reversed to give an action on a Hilbert space from a normal state: this is the GNS construction for normal states.
A module is called standard if it has a cyclic separating vector. Each factor has a standard representation, which is unique up to isomorphism. The standard representation has an antilinear involution J such that JMJ = M′. For finite factors the standard module is given by the GNS construction applied to the unique normal tracial state and the M-dimension is normalized so that the standard module has M-dimension 1, while for infinite factors the standard module is the module with M-dimension equal to ∞.
The possible M-dimensions of modules are given as follows:
There is no generally accepted term for the class of algebras above; Connes has suggested that amenable should be the standard term.
The amenable factors have been classified: there is a unique one of each of the types In, I∞, II1, II∞, IIIλ, for 0<λ≤ 1, and the ones of type III0 correspond to certain ergodic flows. (For type III0 calling this a classification is a little misleading, as it is known that there is no easy way to classify the corresponding ergodic flows.) The ones of type I and II1 were classified by , and the remaining ones were classified by , except for the type III0 case which was completed by Haagerup.
All amenable factors can be constructed using the group-measure space construction of Murray and von Neumann for a single ergodic transformation. In fact they are precisely the factors arising as crossed products by free ergodic actions of Z or Zn on abelian von Neumann algebras L∞(X). Type I factors occur when the measure space X is atomic and the action transitive. When X is diffuse or non-atomic, it is equivalent to [0,1] as a measure space. Type II factors occur when X admits an equivalent finite (II1) or infinite (II∞,) measure, invariant under . Type III factors occur in the remaining cases where there is no invariant measure, but only an invariant measure class: these factors are called Kreiger factors.
The Hilbert space tensor product of two Hilbert spaces is the completion of their algebraic tensor product. One can define a tensor product of von Neumann algebras (a completion of the algebraic tensor product of the algebras considered as rings), which is again a von Neumann algebra, and act on the tensor product of the corresponding Hilbert spaces. The tensor product of two finite algebras is finite, and the tensor product of an infinite algebra and a non-zero algebra is infinite. The type of the tensor product of two von Neumann algebras (I, II, or III) is the maximum of their types. The commutation theorem for tensor products states that
The tensor product of an infinite number of von Neumann algebras, if done naively, is usually a ridiculously large non-separable algebra. Instead showed that one should choose a state on each of the von Neumann algebras, use this to define a state on the algebraic tensor product, which can be used to product a Hilbert space and a (reasonably small) von Neumann algebra. studied the case where all the factors are finite matrix algebras; these factors are called Araki-Woods factors or ITPFI factors (ITPFI stands for "infinite tensor product of finite type I factors"). The type of the infinite tensor product can vary dramatically as the states are changed; for example, the infinite tensor product of an infinite number of type I2 factors can have any type depending on the choice of states. In particular found an uncountable family of non-isomorphic hyperfinite type IIIλ factors for 0<λ<1, called Powers factors, by taking an infinite tensor product of type I2 factors, each with the state given by : All hyperfinite von Neumann algebras not of type III0 are isomorphic to Araki-Woods factors, but there are uncountably many of type III0 that are not.
A bimodule (or correspondence) is a Hilbert space H with module actions of two commuting von Neumann algebras. Bimodules have a much richer structure than that of modules. Any bimodule over two factors always gives a subfactor since one of the factors is always contained in the commutant of the other. There is also a subtle relative tensor product operation due to Connes on bimodules. The theory of subfactors, initiated by Vaughan Jones, reconciles these two seemingly different points of view.
Bimodules are also important for the von Neumann group algebra M of a discrete group . Indeed if V is any unitary representation of , then, regarding as the diagonal subgroup of x , the corresponding induced representation on l2 (,V) is naturally a bimodule for two commuting copies of M. Important representation theoretic properties of can be formulated entirely in terms of bimodules and therefore make sense for the von Neumann algebra itself. For example Connes and Jones gave a definition of an analogue of Kazhdan's Property T for von Neumann algebras in this way.
Two basic examples of von Neumann algebras are as follows. The ring L∞(R) of essentially bounded measurable functions on the real line is a commutative von Neumann algebra, which acts by pointwise multiplication on the Hilbert space L2(R) of square integrable functions. The algebra B(H) of all bounded operators on a Hilbert space H is a von Neumann algebra, non-commutative if the Hilbert space has dimension at least 2.
Von Neumann algebras were first studied by ; he and Francis Murray developed the basic theory, under the original name of rings of operators, in a series of papers written in the 1930s and 1940s reprinted in the collected works of .
Introductory accounts of von Neumann algebras are given in the online notes of and and the books by , , and . The three volume work by gives an encyclopedic account of the theory. The book by discusses more advanced topics.
There are three common ways to define von Neumann algebras.
The first and most common way is to define them as weakly closed * algebras of bounded operators (on a Hilbert space) containing the identity. In this definition the weak (operator) topology can be replaced by almost any common topology other than the norm topology, in particular by the strong, ultrastrong or ultraweak operator topologies. (The *-algebras of bounded operators that are closed in the norm topology are C*-algebras, so in particular any von Neumann algebra is a C*-algebra.)
The second definition is that a von Neumann algebra is a subset of the bounded operators closed under * and equal to its double commutant, or equivalently the commutant of some subset closed under *. The von Neumann double commutant theorem says that the first two definitions are equivalent.
The first two definitions define a von Neumann algebras concretely as a set of operators acting on some given Hilbert space. showed that Von Neumann algebras can also be defined abstractly as C*-algebras that have a predual; in other words the von Neumann algebra, considered as a Banach space, is the dual of some other Banach space called the predual. The predual of a von Neumann algebra is in fact unique up to isomorphism. Some authors use "von Neumann algebra" for the algebras together with a Hilbert space action, and "W*-algebra" for the abstract concept, so a von Neumann algebra is a W*-algebra together with a Hilbert space and a suitable faithful unital action on the Hilbert space. The concrete and abstract definitions of a von Neumann algebra are similar to the concrete and abstract definitions of a C*-algebra, which can be defined either as norm-closed * algebras of operators on a Hilbert space, or as Banach *-algebras such that ||a a*||=||a|| ||a*||.
The relationship between commutative von Neumann algebras and measure spaces is analogous to that between commutative C*-algebras and locally compact Hausdorff spaces. Every commutative von Neumann algebra is isomorphic to L∞(X) for some measure space (X, μ) and for every σ-finite measure space X, conversely, L∞(X) is a von Neumann algebra.
Due to this analogy, the theory of von Neumann algebras has been called noncommutative measure theory, while the theory of C*-algebras is sometimes called noncommutative topology.
Operators E in a von Neumann algebra for which E = EE = E* are called projections; they are exactly the operators which give an orthogonal projection of H onto some closed subspace. A subspace of the Hilbert space H is said to belong to the von Neumann algebra M if it is the image of some projection in M. Informally these are the closed subspaces that can be described using elements of M, or that M "knows" about. The closure of the image of any operator in M, or the kernel of any operator in M belong to M, and the closure of the image of any subspace belonging to M under an operator of M also belongs to M. There is a 1:1 correspondence between projections of M and subspaces that belong to it.
The basic theory of projections was worked out by . Two subspaces belonging to M are called (Murray-von Neumann) equivalent if there is a partial isometry mapping the first isomorphically onto the other that is an element of the von Neumann algebra (informally, if M "knows" that the subspaces are isomorphic). This induces a natural equivalence relation on projections by defining E to be equivalent to F if the corresponding subspaces are equivalent, or in other words if there is a partial isometry of H that maps the image of E isometrically to the image of F and is an element of the von Neumann algebra. Another way of stating this is that E is equivalent to F if E=uu* and F=u*u for some partial isometry u in M.
The equivalence relation ~ thus defined is additive in the following sense: Suppose E1 ~ F1 and E2 ~ F2. If E1 ⊥ E2 and F1 ⊥ F2, then E1 + E2 ~ F1 + F2. This is not true in general if one requires unitary equivalence in the definition of ~, i.e. if we say E is equivalent to F if u*Eu = F for some unitary u. .
The subspaces belonging to M are ordered by inclusion, and this induces a partial order ≤ of projections. There is also a natural partial order on the set of equivalence classes of projections, induced by the partial order ≤ of projections. If M is a factor, ≤ is a total order on equivalence classes of projections, described in the section on traces below.
A projection (or subspace belonging to M) E is said to be finite if there is no projection F < E that is equivalent to E. For example, all finite-dimensional projections (or subspaces) are finite (since isometries between Hilbert spaces leave the dimension fixed), but the identity operator on an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space is not finite in the von Neumann algebra of all bounded operators on it, since it is isometrically isomorphic to a proper subset of itself. However it is possible for infinite dimensional subspaces to be finite.
Orthogonal projections are noncommutative analogues of indicator functions in L∞(R). L∞(R) is the ||·||∞-closure of the subspace generated by the indicator functions. Similarly, a von Neumann algebra is generated by its projections; this is a consequence of the spectral theorem for self-adjoint operators.
A von Neumann algebra N whose center consists only of multiples of the identity operator is called a factor. showed that every von Neumann algebra on a separable Hilbert space is isomorphic to a direct integral of factors. This decomposition is essentially unique. Thus, the problem of classifying isomorphism classes of von Neumann algebras on separable Hilbert spaces can be reduced to that of classifying isomorphism classes of factors. showed that every factor has one of 3 types as described below. The type classification can be extended to von Neumann algebras that are not factors, and a von Neumann algebra is of type X if it can be decomposed as a direct integral of type X factors; for example, every commutative von Neumann algebra has type I1. Every von Neumann algebra can be written uniquely as a sum of von Neumann algebras of types I, II, and III.
There are several other ways to divide factors into classes that are sometimes used:
A factor is said to be of type II if there are no minimal projections but there are non-zero finite projections. This implies that every projection E can be halved in the sense that there are equivalent projections F and G such that E = F + G. If the identity operator in a type II factor is finite, the factor is said to be of type II1; otherwise, it is said to be of type II∞. The best understood factors of type II are the hyperfinite type II1 factor and the hyperfinite type II∞ factor, found by . These are the unique hyperfinite factors of types II1 and II∞; there are an uncountable number of other factors of these types that are the subject of intensive study. proved the fundamental result that a factor of type II1 has a unique finite tracial state, and the set of traces of projections is [0,1].
A factor of type II∞ has a semifinite trace, unique up to rescaling, and the set of traces of projections is [0,∞]. The set of real numbers λ such that there is an automorphism rescaling the trace by a factor of λ is called the fundamental group of the type II∞ factor.
The tensor product of a factor of type II1 and an infinite type I factor has type II∞, and conversely any factor of type II∞ can be constructed like this. The fundamental group of a type II1 factor is defined to be the fundamental group of its tensor product with the infinite (separable) factor of type I. For many years it was an open problem to find a type II factor whose fundamental group was not the group of all positive reals, but Connes then showed that the von Neumann group algebra of a countable discrete group with Kazhdan's property T (the trivial representation is isolated in the dual space), such as SL3(Z), has a countable fundamental group. Subsequently Sorin Popa showed that the fundamental group can be trivial for certain groups, including the semidirect product of Z2 by SL2(Z).
An example of a type II1 factor is the von Neumann group algebra of a countable infinite discrete group such that every non-trivial conjugacy class is infinite. found an uncountable family of such groups with non-isomorphic von Neumann group algebras, thus showing the existence of uncountably many different separable type II1 factors.
Lastly, type III factors are factors that do not contain any nonzero finite projections at all. In their first paper were unable decide whether or not they existed; the first examples were later found by . Since the identity operator is always infinite in those factors, they were sometimes called type III∞ in the past, but recently that notation has been superseded by the notation IIIλ, where λ is a real number in the interval [0,1]. More precisely, if the Connes spectrum (of its modular group) is 1 then the factor is of type III0, if the Connes spectrum is all integral powers of λ for 0<λ<1, then the type is IIIλ, and if the Connes spectrum is all positive reals then the type is III1. (The Connes spectrum is a closed subgroup of the positive reals, so these are the only possibilities.) The only trace on type III factors takes value ∞ on all non-zero positive elements, and any two non-zero projections are equivalent. At one time type III factors were considered to be intractable objects, but Tomita-Takesaki theory has led to a good structure theory. In particular, any type III factor can be written in a canonical way as the crossed product of a type II∞ factor and the real numbers.
The definition of the predual given above seems to depend on the choice of Hilbert space that M acts on, as this determines the ultraweak topology. However the predual can also be defined without using the Hilbert space that M acts on, by defining it to be the space generated by all positive normal linear functionals on M. (Here "normal" means that it preserves suprema when applied to increasing nets of self adjoint operators; or equivalently to increasing sequences of projections.)
The predual M* is a closed subspace of the dual M* (which consists of all norm-continuous linear functionals on M) but is generally smaller. The proof that M* is (usually) not the same as M* is nonconstructive and uses the axiom of choice in an essential way; it is very hard to exhibit explicit elements of M* that are not in M*. For example, exotic positive linear forms on the von Neumann algebra l∞ (Z) are given by free ultrafilters; they correspond to exotic *-homomorphisms into C and describe the Stone-Cech compactification of Z.
Examples:
Any factor has a trace such that the trace of a non-zero projection is non-zero and the trace of a projection is infinite if and only if the projection is infinite. Such a trace is unique up to rescaling. For factors that are separable or finite, two projections are equivalent if and only if they have the same trace. The type of a factor can be read off from the possible values of this trace as follows:
If a von Neumann algebra acts on a Hilbert space containing a norm 1 vector v, then the functional a → (av,v) is a normal state. This construction can be reversed to give an action on a Hilbert space from a normal state: this is the GNS construction for normal states.
A module is called standard if it has a cyclic separating vector. Each factor has a standard representation, which is unique up to isomorphism. The standard representation has an antilinear involution J such that JMJ = M′. For finite factors the standard module is given by the GNS construction applied to the unique normal tracial state and the M-dimension is normalized so that the standard module has M-dimension 1, while for infinite factors the standard module is the module with M-dimension equal to ∞.
The possible M-dimensions of modules are given as follows:
There is no generally accepted term for the class of algebras above; Connes has suggested that amenable should be the standard term.
The amenable factors have been classified: there is a unique one of each of the types In, I∞, II1, II∞, IIIλ, for 0<λ≤ 1, and the ones of type III0 correspond to certain ergodic flows. (For type III0 calling this a classification is a little misleading, as it is known that there is no easy way to classify the corresponding ergodic flows.) The ones of type I and II1 were classified by , and the remaining ones were classified by , except for the type III0 case which was completed by Haagerup.
All amenable factors can be constructed using the group-measure space construction of Murray and von Neumann for a single ergodic transformation. In fact they are precisely the factors arising as crossed products by free ergodic actions of Z or Zn on abelian von Neumann algebras L∞(X). Type I factors occur when the measure space X is atomic and the action transitive. When X is diffuse or non-atomic, it is equivalent to [0,1] as a measure space. Type II factors occur when X admits an equivalent finite (II1) or infinite (II∞,) measure, invariant under . Type III factors occur in the remaining cases where there is no invariant measure, but only an invariant measure class: these factors are called Kreiger factors.
The Hilbert space tensor product of two Hilbert spaces is the completion of their algebraic tensor product. One can define a tensor product of von Neumann algebras (a completion of the algebraic tensor product of the algebras considered as rings), which is again a von Neumann algebra, and act on the tensor product of the corresponding Hilbert spaces. The tensor product of two finite algebras is finite, and the tensor product of an infinite algebra and a non-zero algebra is infinite. The type of the tensor product of two von Neumann algebras (I, II, or III) is the maximum of their types. The commutation theorem for tensor products states that
The tensor product of an infinite number of von Neumann algebras, if done naively, is usually a ridiculously large non-separable algebra. Instead showed that one should choose a state on each of the von Neumann algebras, use this to define a state on the algebraic tensor product, which can be used to product a Hilbert space and a (reasonably small) von Neumann algebra. studied the case where all the factors are finite matrix algebras; these factors are called Araki-Woods factors or ITPFI factors (ITPFI stands for "infinite tensor product of finite type I factors"). The type of the infinite tensor product can vary dramatically as the states are changed; for example, the infinite tensor product of an infinite number of type I2 factors can have any type depending on the choice of states. In particular found an uncountable family of non-isomorphic hyperfinite type IIIλ factors for 0<λ<1, called Powers factors, by taking an infinite tensor product of type I2 factors, each with the state given by : All hyperfinite von Neumann algebras not of type III0 are isomorphic to Araki-Woods factors, but there are uncountably many of type III0 that are not.
A bimodule (or correspondence) is a Hilbert space H with module actions of two commuting von Neumann algebras. Bimodules have a much richer structure than that of modules. Any bimodule over two factors always gives a subfactor since one of the factors is always contained in the commutant of the other. There is also a subtle relative tensor product operation due to Connes on bimodules. The theory of subfactors, initiated by Vaughan Jones, reconciles these two seemingly different points of view.
Bimodules are also important for the von Neumann group algebra M of a discrete group . Indeed if V is any unitary representation of , then, regarding as the diagonal subgroup of x , the corresponding induced representation on l2 (,V) is naturally a bimodule for two commuting copies of M. Important representation theoretic properties of can be formulated entirely in terms of bimodules and therefore make sense for the von Neumann algebra itself. For example Connes and Jones gave a definition of an analogue of Kazhdan's Property T for von Neumann algebras in this way.
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