arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Alejandro Varela.
Let X and Y be two nxn Hermitian matrices. In the article "Proof of a conjectured exponential formula" (Linear and Multilinear Algebra (19) 1986, 187-197) R. C. Thompson proved that there exist two nxn unitary matrices U and V such that $$ e^{i X}e^{i Y}=e^{i (UXU^*+VBV^*)}. $$ In this note we consider extensions of this result to compact operators as well as to operators in an embeddable II$_1$ factor.
We describe properties of a Hermitian square matrix M in M_n(C) equivalent to that of having minimal quotient norm in the following sense: ||M|| <= ||M+D|| for all real diagonal matrices D in M_n(C) and || || the operator norm. These matrices are related to some particular positive matrices with their range included in the eigenspaces of the eigenvalues +||M|| and -||M|| of M. We show how a constructive method can be used to obtain minimal matrices of any dimension relating this problem with majorization results in R^n.
Let $B$ be a C$^*$-algebra and $X$ a C$^*$ Hilbert $B$-module. If $p\in B$ is a projection, denote by $S_p =\{x\in X : < x,x> =p\}$, the $p$-sphere of $X$. For $ϕ$ a state of $B$ with support $p$ in $B$ and $x\in S_p$, consider the state $ϕ_x$ of $L_B(X)$ given by $ϕ_x(t)= ϕ(< x,t(x)>)$. In this paper we study certain sets associated to these states, and examine their topologic properties. As an application of these techniques, we prove that the space of states of the hyperfinite II$_1$ factor $R_0$, with support equivalent to a given projection $p\in R_0$, regarded with the norm topology (of the conjugate space of $R_0$), has trivial homotopy groups of all orders. The same holds for the space $$ S_p(R_0)=\{v\in R_0:v^*v=p\}\subset R_0 $$ of partial isometries with initial space $p$, regarded with the ultraweak topology.