Dual spaces of operator systems

Abstract

This article is to give an infinite dimensional analogue of a result of Choi and Effros. We say that an (not necessarily unital) operator system $T$ is \emph{dualizable} if one can find an equivalent dual matrix norm on the dual space $T^*$ such that under this dual matrix norm and the canonical dual matrix cone, $T^*$ becomes a dual operator system. We show that "a complete" operator system $T$ is dualizable if and only if $M_\infty(T)^\mathrm{sa}$ satisfies a bounded decomposition property. In this case, $$\|f\|^\mathrm{d}:= \sup \big\{\big\|[f_{i,j}(x_{k,l})]\big\|: x\in M_n(T)^+; \|x\|\leq 1; n\in \mathbb{N}\big\},$$ is the largest dual matrix norm that is equivalent to and dominated by the original dual matrix norm on $T^*$ that turns it into a dual operator system, denoted by $T^\mathrm{d}$. $T^\mathrm{d}$ is again dualizable. For every completely positive completely bounded map $\phi:S\to T$ between dualizable operator systems, there is a unique weak-$^*$-continuous completely positive completely bounded map $\phi^\mathrm{d}:T^\mathrm{d} \to S^\mathrm{d}$ which is compatible with the dual map $\phi^*$. This gives a full and faithful functor from the category of dualizable operator systems to that of dualizable dual operator systems. Moreover, we will verify that that if $S$ is either a $C^*$-algebra or a unital operator system, then $S$ is dualizable and the canonical weak-$^*$-homeomorphism from the unital operator system $S^{**}$ to the operator system $(S^\mathrm{d})^\mathrm{d}$ is a completely isometric complete order isomorphism. Furthermore, the category of $C^*$-algebras and that of unital "complete" operator systems can be regarded as full subcategories of the category of dual operator systems.