We generalize the influential $C^*$-algebraic results of Kawamura–Tomiyama and Archbold–Spielberg for crossed products of discrete groups actions to the realm of Banach algebras and twisted actions. We prove that topological freeness is equivalent to the intersection property for all reduced twisted Banach algebra crossed products coming from subgroups, and in the untwisted case to a generalized intersection property for a full $L^p$-operator algebra crossed product for any $p\in [1,\,\infty ]$. This gives efficient simplicity criteria for various Banach algebra crossed products. We also use it to identify the prime ideal space of some crossed products as the quasi-orbit space of the action. For amenable actions we prove that the full and reduced twisted $L^p$-operator algebras coincide.

In this paper, we apply the theory of algebraic cohomology to study the amenability of Thompson’s group $\mathcal {F}$. We introduce the notion of unique factorization semigroup which contains Thompson’s semigroup $\mathcal {S}$ and the free semigroup $\mathcal {F}_n$ on n ($\geq 2$) generators. Let $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {S})$ and $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {F}_n)$ be the Banach algebras generated by the left regular representations of $\mathcal {S}$ and $\mathcal {F}_n$, respectively. We prove that all derivations on $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {S})$ and $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {F}_n)$ are automatically continuous, and every derivation on $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {S})$ is induced by a bounded linear operator in $\mathcal {L}(\mathcal {S})$, the weak-operator closed Banach algebra consisting of all bounded left convolution operators on $l^2(\mathcal {S})$. Moreover, we prove that the first continuous Hochschild cohomology group of $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {S})$ with coefficients in $\mathcal {L}(\mathcal {S})$ vanishes. These conclusions provide positive indications for the left amenability of Thompson’s semigroup.

Let H be a complex separable Hilbert space with $\dim H \geq 2$. Let $\mathcal {N}$ be a nest on H such that $E_+ \neq E$ for any $E \neq H, E \in \mathcal {N}$. We prove that every 2-local isometry of $\operatorname {Alg}\mathcal {N}$ is a surjective linear isometry.

We revisit tensor algebras of subproduct systems with Hilbert space fibers, resolving some open questions in the case of infinite-dimensional fibers. We characterize when a tensor algebra can be identified as the algebra of uniformly continuous noncommutative functions on a noncommutative homogeneous variety or, equivalently, when it is residually finite-dimensional: this happens precisely when the closed homogeneous ideal associated with the subproduct system satisfies a Nullstellensatz with respect to the algebra of uniformly continuous noncommutative functions on the noncommutative closed unit ball. We show that – in contrast to the finite-dimensional case – in the case of infinite-dimensional fibers, this Nullstellensatz may fail. Finally, we also resolve the isomorphism problem for tensor algebras of subproduct systems: two such tensor algebras are (isometrically) isomorphic if and only if their subproduct systems are isomorphic in an appropriate sense.

We characterize the ideals of the semicrossed product $C_0(X)\times _\phi {\mathbb Z}_+$, associated with suitable sequences of closed subsets of X, with left (resp. right) approximate unit. As a consequence, we obtain a complete characterization of ideals with left (resp. right) approximate unit under the assumptions that X is metrizable and the dynamical system $(X,\phi )$ contains no periodic points.

We show that all values in the interval $[0,{\pi }/{2}]$ can be attained as interior angles between intermediate subalgebras (as introduced by Bakshi and the first named author [‘Lattice of intermediate subalgebras’, J. Lond. Math. Soc. (2) 104(2) (2021), 2082–2127]) of a certain inclusion of simple unital $C^*$-algebras. We also calculate the interior angles between intermediate crossed product subalgebras of any inclusion of crossed product algebras corresponding to any action of a countable discrete group and its subgroups on a unital $C^*$-algebra.

In this article, we study the following question asked by Michael Hartz in a recent paper (Every complete Pick space satisfies the column-row property, to appear in Acta Mathematica): which operator spaces satisfy the column–row property? We provide a complete classification of the column–row property (CRP) for noncommutative $L_{p}$-spaces over semifinite von Neumann algebras. We study other relevant properties of operator spaces that are related to the CRP and discuss their existence and nonexistence for various natural examples of operator spaces.

Given a Fell bundle $\mathscr C\overset {q}{\to }\Xi $ over the discrete groupoid $\Xi $, we study the symmetry of the associated Hahn algebra $\ell ^{\infty ,1}(\Xi \!\mid \!\mathscr C)$ in terms of the isotropy subgroups of $\Xi $. We prove that $\Xi $ is symmetric (respectively hypersymmetric) if and only if all of the isotropy subgroups are symmetric (respectively hypersymmetric). We also characterise hypersymmetry using Fell bundles with constant fibres, showing that for discrete groupoids, ‘hypersymmetry’ equals ‘rigid symmetry’.

We prove a double commutant theorem for separable subalgebras of a wide class of corona C*-algebras, largely resolving a problem posed by Pedersen in 1988. Double commutant theorems originated with von Neumann, whose seminal result evolved into an entire field now called von Neumann algebra theory. Voiculescu later proved a C*-algebraic double commutant theorem for subalgebras of the Calkin algebra. We prove a similar result for subalgebras of a much more general class of so-called corona C*-algebras.

We resolve the isomorphism problem for tensor algebras of unital multivariable dynamical systems. Specifically, we show that unitary equivalence after a conjugation for multivariable dynamical systems is a complete invariant for complete isometric isomorphisms between their tensor algebras. In particular, this settles a conjecture of Davidson and Kakariadis, Inter. Math. Res. Not. 2014 (2014), 1289–1311 relating to work of Arveson, Acta Math. 118 (1967), 95–109 from the 1960s, and extends related work of Kakariadis and Katsoulis, J. Noncommut. Geom. 8 (2014), 771–787.

We prove that a Banach algebra B that is a completion of the universal enveloping algebra of a finite-dimensional complex Lie algebra $\mathfrak {g}$ satisfies a polynomial identity if and only if the nilpotent radical $\mathfrak {n}$ of $\mathfrak {g}$ is associatively nilpotent in B. Furthermore, this holds if and only if a certain polynomial growth condition is satisfied on $\mathfrak {n}$ .

Let $C_{\||.\||}$ be an ideal of compact operators with symmetric norm $\||.\||$ . In this paper, we extend the van Hemmen–Ando norm inequality for arbitrary bounded operators as follows: if f is an operator monotone function on $[0,\infty)$ and S and T are bounded operators in $\mathbb{B}(\mathscr{H}\;\,)$ such that ${\rm{sp}}(S),{\rm{sp}}(T) \subseteq \Gamma_a=\{z\in \mathbb{C} \ | \ {\rm{re}}(z)\geq a\}$ , then

\begin{equation*}\||f(S)X-Xf(T)\|| \leq\;f'(a) \ \||SX-XT\||,\end{equation*}

$X\in C_{\||.\||}$

${\rm{sp}}(S), {\rm{sp}}(T) \subseteq \Gamma_a$

\begin{equation*}\||S^r X-XT^r\|| \leq r a^{r-1} \ \||SX-XT\||,\end{equation*}

$X\in C_{\||.\||}$

$0\leq r\leq 1$

The classical Gelfand–Naimark theorems provide important insight into the structure of general and of commutative $C^*$-algebras. It is shown that these can be generalized to certain ordered $^*$-algebras. More precisely, for $\sigma $-bounded closed ordered $^*$-algebras, a faithful representation as operators is constructed. Similarly, for commutative such algebras, a faithful representation as complex-valued functions is constructed if an additional necessary regularity condition is fulfilled. These results generalize the Gelfand–Naimark representation theorems to classes of $^*$-algebras larger than $C^*$-algebras, and which especially contain $^*$-algebras of unbounded operators. The key to these representation theorems is a new result for Archimedean ordered vector spaces V: If V is $\sigma $-bounded, then the order of V is induced by the extremal positive linear functionals on V.

We show that every isometric action on a Cantor set is conjugate to an inverse limit of actions on finite sets; and that every faithful isometric action by a finitely generated amenable group is residually finite.

We study the isomorphic structure of $(\sum {\ell }_{q})_{c_{0}}\ (1< q<\infty )$ and prove that these spaces are complementably homogeneous. We also show that for any operator T from $(\sum {\ell }_{q})_{c_{0}}$ into ${\ell }_{q}$ , there is a subspace X of $(\sum {\ell }_{q})_{c_{0}}$ that is isometric to $(\sum {\ell }_{q})_{c_{0}}$ and the restriction of T on X has small norm. If T is a bounded linear operator on $(\sum {\ell }_{q})_{c_{0}}$ which is $(\sum {\ell }_{q})_{c_{0}}$ -strictly singular, then for any $\epsilon>0$ , there is a subspace X of $(\sum {\ell }_{q})_{c_{0}}$ which is isometric to $(\sum {\ell }_{q})_{c_{0}}$ with $\|T|_{X}\|<\epsilon $ . As an application, we show that the set of all $(\sum {\ell }_{q})_{c_{0}}$ -strictly singular operators on $(\sum {\ell }_{q})_{c_{0}}$ forms the unique maximal ideal of $\mathcal {L}((\sum {\ell }_{q})_{c_{0}})$ .

Let $\mathcal {X}$ be a Banach space over the complex field $\mathbb {C}$ and $\mathcal {B(X)}$ be the algebra of all bounded linear operators on $\mathcal {X}$ . Let $\mathcal {N}$ be a nontrivial nest on $\mathcal {X}$ , $\text {Alg}\mathcal {N}$ be the nest algebra associated with $\mathcal {N}$ , and $L\colon \text {Alg}\mathcal {N}\longrightarrow \mathcal {B(X)}$ be a linear mapping. Suppose that $p_n(x_1,x_2,\ldots ,x_n)$ is an $(n-1)\,$ th commutator defined by n indeterminates $x_1, x_2, \ldots , x_n$ . It is shown that L satisfies the rule

$$ \begin{align*}L(p_n(A_1, A_2, \ldots, A_n))=\sum_{k=1}^{n}p_n(A_1, \ldots, A_{k-1}, L(A_k), A_{k+1}, \ldots, A_n) \end{align*} $$

for all $A_1, A_2, \ldots , A_n\in \text {Alg}\mathcal {N}$ if and only if there exist a linear derivation $D\colon \text {Alg}\mathcal {N}\longrightarrow \mathcal {B(X)}$ and a linear mapping $H\colon \text {Alg}\mathcal {N}\longrightarrow \mathbb {C}I$ vanishing on each $(n-1)\,$ th commutator $p_n(A_1,A_2,\ldots , A_n)$ for all $A_1, A_2, \ldots , A_n\in \text {Alg}\mathcal {N}$ such that $L(A)=D(A)+H(A)$ for all $A\in \text {Alg}\mathcal {N}$ . We also propose some related topics for future research.

We show that every Lorentz sequence space $d(\textbf {w},p)$ admits a 1-complemented subspace Y distinct from $\ell _p$ and containing no isomorph of $d(\textbf {w},p)$ . In the general case, this is only the second nontrivial complemented subspace in $d(\textbf {w},p)$ yet known. We also give an explicit representation of Y in the special case $\textbf {w}=(n^{-\theta })_{n=1}^\infty $ ( $0<\theta <1$ ) as the $\ell _p$ -sum of finite-dimensional copies of $d(\textbf {w},p)$ . As an application, we find a sixth distinct element in the lattice of closed ideals of $\mathcal {L}(d(\textbf {w},p))$ , of which only five were previously known in the general case.

We establish several new characterizations of amenable $W^*$ - and $C^*$ -dynamical systems over arbitrary locally compact groups. In the $W^*$ -setting we show that amenability is equivalent to (1) a Reiter property and (2) the existence of a certain net of completely positive Herz–Schur multipliers of $(M,G,\alpha )$ converging point weak* to the identity of $G\bar {\ltimes }M$ . In the $C^*$ -setting, we prove that amenability of $(A,G,\alpha )$ is equivalent to an analogous Herz–Schur multiplier approximation of the identity of the reduced crossed product $G\ltimes A$ , as well as a particular case of the positive weak approximation property of Bédos and Conti [On discrete twisted $C^*$ -dynamical systems, Hilbert $C^*$ -modules and regularity. Münster J. Math.5 (2012), 183–208] (generalized to the locally compact setting). When $Z(A^{**})=Z(A)^{**}$ , it follows that amenability is equivalent to the 1-positive approximation property of Exel and Ng [Approximation property of $C^*$ -algebraic bundles. Math. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc.132(3) (2002), 509–522]. In particular, when $A=C_0(X)$ is commutative, amenability of $(C_0(X),G,\alpha )$ coincides with topological amenability of the G-space $(G,X)$ .

We formulate general conditions which imply that ${\mathcal L}(X,Y)$, the space of operators from a Banach space X to a Banach space Y, has $2^{{\mathfrak {c}}}$ closed ideals, where ${\mathfrak {c}}$ is the cardinality of the continuum. These results are applied to classical sequence spaces and Tsirelson-type spaces. In particular, we prove that the cardinality of the set ofclosed ideals in ${\mathcal L}\left (\ell _p\oplus \ell _q\right )$ is exactly $2^{{\mathfrak {c}}}$ for all $1<p<q<\infty $.