Given two unital C*-algebras equipped with states and a positive operator in the enveloping von Neumann algebra of their minimal tensor product, we define three parameters that measure the capacity of the operator to align with a coupling of the two given states. Further, we establish a duality formula that shows the equality of two of the parameters for operators in the minimal tensor product of the relevant C*-algebras. In the context of abelian C*-algebras, our parameters are related to quantitative versions of Arveson's null set theorem and to dualities considered in the theory of optimal transport. On the other hand, restricting to matrix algebras we recover and generalize quantum versions of Strassen's theorem. We show that in the latter case our parameters can detect maximal entanglement and separability.

For a C*-algebra A and a set X we give a Stinespring-type characterisation of the completely positive Schur A-multipliers on κ(ℓ2(X)) ⊗ A. We then relate them to completely positive Herz–Schur multipliers on C*-algebraic crossed products of the form A ⋊α,rG, with G a discrete group, whose various versions were considered earlier by Anantharaman-Delaroche, Bédos and Conti, and Dong and Ruan. The latter maps are shown to implement approximation properties, such as nuclearity or the Haagerup property, for A ⋊α,rG.

We determine when the $*$-double of a finite-dimensional complex algebra is $*$-finite, $*$-tame and $*$-wild.

AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 46K10; 16G60

Let $G$ be a compact group and ${\cal C}(G)$ be the $C^{*}$ -algebra of continuous complex-valued functions on $G$ . The paper constructs an imbedding of the Fourier algebra ${\rm A}(G)$ of $G$ into the algebra ${\rm V}(G) = {\cal C}(G)\otimes^h {\cal C}(G)$ (Haagerup tensor product) and deduces results about parallel spectral synthesis, generalizing a result of Varopoulos. It then characterizes which diagonal sets in $G \times G$ are sets of operator synthesis with respect to the Haar measure, using the definition of operator synthesis due to Arveson. This result is applied to obtain an analogue of a result of Froelich: a tensor formula for the algebras associated with the pre-orders defined by closed unital subsemigroups of $G$ .