Ground states of groupoid C*-algebras, phase transitions and arithmetic subalgebras for Hecke algebras

Abstract

We consider the Hecke pair consisting of the group $P^+_K$ of affine transformations of a number field $K$ that preserve the orientation in every real embedding and the subgroup $P^+_O$ consisting of transformations with algebraic integer coefficients. The associated Hecke algebra $C^*(P^+_K,P^+_O)$ has a natural time evolution $\sigma$, and we describe the corresponding phase transition for KMS$_\beta$-states and for ground states. From work of Yalkinoglu and Neshveyev it is known that a Bost-Connes type system associated to $K$ has an essentially unique arithmetic subalgebra. When we import this subalgebra through the isomorphism of $C^*(P^+_K,P^+_O)$ to a corner in the Bost-Connes system established by Laca, Neshveyev and Trifkovic, we obtain an arithmetic subalgebra of $C^*(P^+_K,P^+_O)$ on which ground states exhibit the `fabulous' property with respect to an action of the Galois group $Gal(K^{ab}/H_+(K))$, where $H_+(K)$ is the narrow Hilbert class field. In order to characterize the ground states of the $C^*$-dynamical system $(C^*(P^+_K,P^+_O),\sigma)$, we obtain first a characterization of the ground states of a groupoid $C^*$-algebra, refining earlier work of Renault. This is independent from number theoretic considerations, and may be of interest by itself in other situations.