Hilbert C*-module

Hilbert C*-modules are mathematical objects which generalise the notion of a Hilbert space (which itself is a generalisation of Euclidean space), in that they endow a linear space with an "inner product" which takes values in a C*-algebra. Hilbert C*-modules were first introduced in the work of Irving Kaplansky in 1953, which developed the theory for commutative, unital algebras (though Kaplansky observed that the assumption of a unit element was not "vital"). In the 1970s the theory was extended to non-commutative C*-algebras independently by William Lindall Paschke and Marc Rieffel, the latter in a paper which used Hilbert C*-modules to construct a theory of induced representations of C*-algebras. Hilbert C*-modules are crucial to Kasparov's formulation of KK-theory, and provide the right framework to extend the notion of Morita equivalence to C*-algebras. They can be viewed as the generalization of vector bundles to noncommutative C*-algebras and as such play an important role in noncommutative geometry, notably in C*-algebraic quantum group theory, and groupoid C*-algebras.

Definitions

Inner-product A-modules

Let A be a C*-algebra (not assumed to be commutative or unital), its involution denoted by *. An inner-product A-module (or pre-Hilbert A-module) is a complex linear space E which is equipped with a compatible right A-module structure, together with a map

$\langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle : E \times E \rightarrow A$

which satisfies the following properties:

• For all x, y, z in E, and α, β in C:

$\langle x, \alpha y + \beta z \rangle = \alpha \langle x, y \rangle + \beta \langle x, z \rangle$

(i.e. the inner product is linear in its second argument).

• For all x, y in E, and a in A:

$\langle x, ya \rangle = \langle x, y \rangle a$

• For all x, y in E:

$\langle x, y \rangle = \langle y, x \rangle^*,$

from which it follows that the inner product is conjugate linear in its first argument (i.e. it is a sesquilinear form).

• For all x in E:

$\langle x, x \rangle \geq 0$

and

$\langle x, x \rangle = 0 \iff x = 0.$

(An element of a C*-algebra A is said to be positive if it is self-adjoint with non-negative spectrum.)

Hilbert A-modules

An analogue to the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality holds for an inner-product A-module E:

$\langle x, y \rangle \langle y, x \rangle \leq \Vert \langle x, x \rangle \Vert \langle y, y \rangle$

for x, y in E.

On the pre-Hilbert module E, define a norm by

$\Vert x \Vert = \Vert \langle x, x \rangle \Vert^\frac{1}{2}.$

The norm-completion of E, still denoted by E, is said to be a Hilbert A-module or a Hilbert C*-module over the C*-algebra A. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality implies the inner product is jointly continuous in norm and can therefore be extended to the completion.

The action of A on E is continuous: for all x in E

$a_{\lambda} \rightarrow a \Rightarrow xa_{\lambda} \rightarrow xa.$

Similarly, if {e_λ} is an approximate unit for A (a net of self-adjoint elements of A for which ae_λ and e_λa tend to a for each a in A), then for x in E

$xe_\lambda \rightarrow x$

whence it follows that EA is dense in E, and x1 = x when A is unital.

Let

$\langle E, E \rangle = \operatorname{span} \{ \langle x, y \rangle | x, y \in E \},$

then the closure of <E,E> is a two-sided ideal in A. Two-sided ideals are C*-subalgebras and therefore possess approximate units. One can verify that E<E,E> is dense in E. In the case when <E,E> is dense in A, E is said to be full. This does not generally hold.

Examples

Hilbert spaces

A complex Hilbert space H is a Hilbert C-module under its inner product, the complex numbers being a C*-algebra with an involution given by complex conjugation.

Vector bundles

If X is a locally compact Hausdorff space and E a vector bundle over X with a Riemannian metric g, then the space of continuous sections of E is a Hilbert C(X)-module. The inner product is given by

$\langle f,h\rangle (x):=g(f(x),h(x)).$

The converse holds as well: Every countably generated Hilbert C*-module over a commutative C*-algebra A = C(X) is isomorphic to the space of sections vanishing at infinity of a continuous field of Hilbert spaces over X.

C*-algebras

Any C*-algebra A is a Hilbert A-module under the inner product <a,b> = a*b. By the C*-identity, the Hilbert module norm coincides with C*-norm on A.

The (algebraic) direct sum of n copies of A

$A^n = \oplus_1^n A$

can be made into a Hilbert A-module by defining

$\langle (a_i), (b_i) \rangle = \sum a_i^* b_i.$

One may also consider the following subspace of elements in the countable direct product of A

$\mathcal{H}_A = \{ (a_i) | \sum a_i^{*}a_i\text{ converges in }A \}.$

Endowed with the obvious inner product (analogous to that of Aⁿ), the resulting Hilbert A-module is called the standard Hilbert module.

See also

• Operator algebra

External links

• Weisstein, Eric W., "Hilbert C*-Module", MathWorld.
• Hilbert C*-Modules Home Page, a literature list