A Banach algebra P over C with identity element is called an N-algebra if any closed ideal in P is the intersection of maximal ideals. An example is given by the algebra of the continuous C-valued functions on a compact Hausdorff space X under the supremum norm; two others are discussed in § 3.

Let L be a semilattice and let a ∊ L. We refer the reader to Definitions 2.2, 2.4, 2.5 and 2.12 below for the terminology. If L is a-implicative, let Ca be the set of a-closed elements of L, and let Da be the filter of a-dense elements of L. Then Ca is a Boolean algebra. If a = 0, then C0 and D0 are the usual closed algebra and dense filter of L. If L is a-admissible and f : Ca × Da → Da is the corresponding admissible map, we can form a quotient semilattice Ca × D0f. In case a = 0, Murty and Rao [4] have shown that C0 × D0/f is isomorphic to L, and hence that C0 × D0 is 0-admissible. In case L is in fact implicative, Nemitz [5] has shown that C0 × D0/f is isomorphic to L, and that C0 × D0/f is also implicative.

We study the image of the model subspace ${{K}_{\theta }}$ under the composition operator ${{C}_{\varphi }}$, where $\varphi $ and $\theta $ are inner functions, and find the smallest model subspace which contains the linear manifold ${{C}_{\varphi }}{{K}_{\theta }}$. Then we characterize the case when ${{C}_{\varphi }}$ maps ${{K}_{\theta }}$ into itself. This case leads to the study of the inner functions $\varphi $ and $\psi $ such that the composition $\psi \,\text{o}\,\varphi $ is a divisor of $\psi $ in the family of inner functions.

If f(z) is univalent (regular and one-to-one) in the open unit disk Δ, Δ = {z ∊ C:│z│ < 1}, and has a Maclaurin series expansion of the form

(1.1)

then, as de Branges has shown, │ak│ = k, for k = 2, 3, … and the Koebe function.

(1.1)

serves to show that these bounds are the best ones possible (see [3]). The functions defined above are generally said to constitute the class .

In recent years there has been a growing interest in problems of factorization for bounded linear operators. We first show that many of these problems properly belong to the category of C*-algebras. With this interpretation, it becomes evident that the problem is fundamental both to the structure of operator algebras and the elements therein. In this paper we consider the direct integral algebra with separable and infinite dimensional. We generalize a theorem of Wu (1988) and characterize those decomposable operators which are products of non-negative decomposable operators. We do this by first showing that various results on operator ranges may be generalized to “measurable fields of operator ranges”.

By previous work of Giordano and the author, ergodic actions of $\mathbf{Z}$ (and other discrete groups) are completely classified measure-theoretically by their dimension space, a construction analogous to the dimension group used in $\text{C}^{\ast }$-algebras and topological dynamics. Here we investigate how far from approximately transitive (AT) actions can be that derive from circulant (and related) matrices. It turns out not very: although non-AT actions can arise from this method of construction, under very modest additional conditions, approximate transitivity arises. KIn addition, if we drop the positivity requirement in the isomorphism of dimension spaces, then all these ergodic actions satisfy an analogue of AT. Many examples are provided.

On post-critically finite self-similar sets, whose walk dimensions of diffusions are in general larger than 2, we find a sharp region where two classes of Besov spaces, the heat Besov spaces $B^{p,q}_\sigma (K)$ and the Lipschitz–Besov spaces $\Lambda ^{p,q}_\sigma (K)$, are identical. In particular, we provide concrete examples that $B^{p,q}_\sigma (K)=\Lambda ^{p,q}_\sigma (K)$ with $\sigma>1$. Our method is purely analytical, and does not involve heat kernel estimate.

We use a special tiling for the hyperbolic d-space $\mathbb {H}^d$ for $d=2,3,4$ to construct an (almost) explicit isomorphism between the Lipschitz-free space $\mathcal {F}(\mathbb {H}^d)$ and $\mathcal {F}(P)\oplus \mathcal {F}(\mathcal {N})$, where P is a polytope in $\mathbb {R}^d$ and $\mathcal {N}$ a net in $\mathbb {H}^d$ coming from the tiling. This implies that the spaces $\mathcal {F}(\mathbb {H}^d)$ and $\mathcal {F}(\mathbb {R}^d)\oplus \mathcal {F}(\mathcal {M})$ are isomorphic for every net $\mathcal {M}$ in $\mathbb {H}^d$. In particular, we obtain that, for $d=2,3,4$, $\mathcal {F}(\mathbb {H}^d)$ has a Schauder basis. Moreover, using a similar method, we also give an explicit isomorphism between $\mathrm {Lip}(\mathbb {H}^d)$ and $\mathrm {Lip}(\mathbb {R}^d)$.

We shall say that a plane set D has the Kakeya property if a unit segment can be turned continuously in D through 360° back to its original position. The famous solution of this problem by A. S. Besicovitch (1; 2; 4; 5; 6), to the effect that there are sets of arbitrarily small area having the Kayeka property, leaves open the problem obtained by adding the new condition that the set D be also simply connected. Since we do not know whether there is an attainable minimum, we define the Kakeya constant K to be the greatest lower bound of areas of simply connected sets having the Kakeya property. We shall refer to such sets as Kakeya sets.

For k ≧ 2 denote by Vk the class of functions f regular in and having the representation

(1.1)

where μ is a real-valued function of bounded variation on [0, 2π] with

(1.2)

Vk is the class of functions with boundary rotation at most kπ.

Let $L$ be an oriented Lagrangian submanifold in an $n$-dimensional Kähler manifold $M$. Let $u:\,D\,\to \,M$ be a minimal immersion from a disk $D$ with $u(\partial D)\,\subset \,L$ such that $u(D)$ meets $L$ orthogonally along $u(\partial D)$. Then the real dimension of the space of admissible holomorphic variations is at least $n\,+\,\mu (E,\,F)$, where $\mu (E,\,F)$ is a boundary Maslov index; the minimal disk is holomorphic if there exist $n$ admissible holomorphic variations that are linearly independent over $\mathbb{R}$ at some point $p\,\in \,\partial D;$; if $M=\mathbb{C}{{P}^{n}}$ and $u$ intersects $L$ positively, then $u$ is holomorphic if it is stable, and its Morse index is at least $n\,+\,\mu (E,\,F)$ if $u$ is unstable.

For almost any compact connected Lie group $G$ and any field $\mathbb{F}_{p}$, we compute the Batalin–Vilkovisky algebra $H^{\star +\text{dim}\,G}(\text{LBG};\mathbb{F}_{p})$ on the loop cohomology of the classifying space introduced by Chataur and the second author. In particular, if $p$ is odd or $p=0$, this Batalin–Vilkovisky algebra is isomorphic to the Hochschild cohomology $HH^{\star }(H_{\star }(G),H_{\star }(G))$. Over $\mathbb{F}_{2}$ , such an isomorphism of Batalin–Vilkovisky algebras does not hold when $G=\text{SO}(3)$ or $G=G_{2}$. Our elaborate considerations on the signs in string topology of the classifying spaces give rise to a general theorem on graded homological conformal field theory.

This paper studies the $K$-theoretic invariants of the crossed product ${{C}^{*}}$-algebras associated with an important family of homeomorphisms of the tori ${{\mathbb{T}}^{n}}$ called Furstenberg transformations. Using the Pimsner–Voiculescu theorem, we prove that given $n$, the $K$-groups of those crossed products whose corresponding $n\,\times \,n$ integer matrices are unipotent of maximal degree always have the same rank ${{a}_{n}}$. We show using the theory developed here that a claim made in the literature about the torsion subgroups of these $K$-groups is false. Using the representation theory of the simple Lie algebra $\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{l}\left( 2,\,\mathbb{C} \right)$, we show that, remarkably, ${{a}_{n}}$ has a combinatorial significance. For example, every ${{a}_{2n+1}}$ is just the number of ways that 0 can be represented as a sum of integers between –$n$ and $n$ (with no repetitions). By adapting an argument of van Lint (in which he answered a question of Erdős), a simple explicit formula for the asymptotic behavior of the sequence $\{{{a}_{n}}\}$ is given. Finally, we describe the order structure of the ${{K}_{0}}$-groups of an important class of Furstenberg crossed products, obtaining their complete Elliott invariant using classification results of H. Lin and N. C. Phillips.

In [18], the author initiated an investigation of compact, Banach-module-valued derivations of C*-algebras. In collaboration with C. A. Akemann [3] and S.-K. Tsui [16], he determined the structure of all compact and weakly compact, A-valued derivations of a C*-algebra A, and of all compact, B(H)-valued derivations of a C*-subalgebra of B(H), the algebra of bounded linear operators on a Hilbert space H. In this paper, we begin the study of weakly compact, B(H)-valued derivations of C*-subalgebras of B(H).

Let R be a C*-subalgebra of B(H), δ:R → B(H) a weakly compact derivation, i.e., a weakly compact linear map which has

Since δ has a unique weakly compact extension to a derivation of the closure of R in the weak operator topology (WOT) on B(H) (consult the proof of Theorem 3.1 of [16]), we may assume with no loss of generality that R is a von Neumann subalgebra of B(H). In this paper, we determine in Lemma 4.1 and Theorems 4.3 and 4.10 the structure of δ when R is type I, using I. E. Segal's multiplicity theory [14] for type I von Neumann algebras and results of E. Christensen [6], [7] on B(H)-valued derivations of von Neumann algebras.