Contractively decomposable projections on noncommutative $\mathrm{L}^p$-spaces

Abstract

We describe and characterize the contractively decomposable projections on noncommutative $\mathrm{L}^p$-spaces. Our result relies on a new lifting result for decomposable maps of independent interest and on some tools from ergodic theory. Our theorem is new even for finite-dimensional Schatten spaces. Our description allows us to connect this topic with $\mathrm{W}^*$-ternary rings of operators and a slight generalization of our result for more general projections makes $\mathrm{JBW}^*$-triples appear in this context. We also prove that all rectangular $\mathrm{L}^p$-spaces associated with $\mathrm{W}^*$-ternary rings of operators arise as contractively decomposable complemented subspaces of noncommutative $\mathrm{L}^p$-spaces. Finally, we introduce a notion of $\mathrm{L}^p$-space associated to each $\sigma$-finite $\mathrm{JBW}^*$-triple and we explain the link with the context of this paper.