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’.

Since their inception in the 1930s by von Neumann, operator algebras have been used to shed light on many mathematical theories. Classification results for self-adjoint and non-self-adjoint operator algebras manifest this approach, but a clear connection between the two has been sought since their emergence in the late 1960s. We connect these seemingly separate types of results by uncovering a hierarchy of classification for non-self-adjoint operator algebras and $C^{*}$-algebras with additional $C^{*}$-algebraic structure. Our approach naturally applies to algebras arising from $C^{*}$-correspondences to resolve self-adjoint and non-self-adjoint isomorphism problems in the literature. We apply our strategy to completely elucidate this newly found hierarchy for operator algebras arising from directed graphs.

Let $n$ be a positive integer. A $C^{\ast }$-algebra is said to be $n$-subhomogeneous if all its irreducible representations have dimension at most $n$. We give various approximation properties characterising $n$-subhomogeneous $C^{\ast }$-algebras.

We consider a linear operator pencil with complex parameter mapping one Hilbert space onto another. It is known that the resolvent is analytic in an open annular region of the complex plane centred at the origin if and only if the coefficients of the Laurent series satisfy a doubly-infinite set of left and right fundamental equations and are suitably bounded. If the resolvent has an isolated singularity at the origin we propose a recursive orthogonal decomposition of the domain and range spaces that enables us to construct the key nonorthogonal projections that separate the singular and regular components of the resolvent and subsequently allows us to find a formula for the basic solution to the fundamental equations. We show that each Laurent series coefficient in the singular part of the resolvent can be approximated by a weakly convergent sequence of finite-dimensional matrix operators and we show how our analysis can be extended to find a global expression for the resolvent of a linear pencil in the case where the resolvent has only a finite number of isolated singularities.

Let $P$ be a finitely generated cancellative abelian monoid. A $P$-graph ${\rm\Lambda}$ is a natural generalization of a $k$-graph. A pullback of ${\rm\Lambda}$ is constructed by pulling it back over a given monoid morphism to $P$, while a pushout of ${\rm\Lambda}$ is obtained by modding out its periodicity, which is deduced from a natural equivalence relation on ${\rm\Lambda}$. One of our main results in this paper shows that, for some $k$-graphs ${\rm\Lambda}$, ${\rm\Lambda}$ is isomorphic to the pullback of its pushout via a natural quotient map, and that its graph $\text{C}^{\ast }$-algebra can be embedded into the tensor product of the graph $\text{C}^{\ast }$-algebra of its pushout and $\text{C}^{\ast }(\text{Per}\,{\rm\Lambda})$. As a consequence, in this case, the cycline algebra generated by the standard generators corresponding to equivalent pairs is a maximal abelian subalgebra, and there is a faithful conditional expectation from the graph $\text{C}^{\ast }$-algebra onto it.

Let G be a finitely generated group with polynomial growth, and let ω be a weight, i.e. a sub-multiplicative function on G with positive values. We study when the weighted group algebra ℓ1 (G, ω) is isomorphic to an operator algebra. We show that ℓ1 (G, ω) is isomorphic to an operator algebra if ω is a polynomial weight with large enough degree or an exponential weight of order 0 < α < 1. We demonstrate that the order of growth of G plays an important role in this problem. Moreover, the algebraic centre of ℓ1 (G, ω) is isomorphic to a Q-algebra, and hence satisfies a multi-variable von Neumann inequality. We also present a more detailed study of our results when G consists of the d-dimensional integers ℤd or the three-dimensional discrete Heisenberg group ℍ3(ℤ). The case of the free group with two generators is considered as a counter-example of groups with exponential growth.

It has been a long-standing question whether every amenable operator algebra is isomorphic to a (necessarily nuclear) $\mathrm{C}^*$-algebra. In this note, we give a nonseparable counterexample. Finding out whether a separable counterexample exists remains an open problem. We also initiate a general study of unitarizability of representations of amenable groups in $\mathrm{C}^*$-algebras and show that our method cannot produce a separable counterexample.

Recently, Daws introduced a notion of co-representation of abelian Hopf–von Neumann algebras on general reflexive Banach spaces. In this note, we show that this notion cannot be extended beyond subhomogeneous Hopf–von Neumann algebras. The key is our observation that, for a von Neumann algebra 𝔐 and a reflexive operator space E, the normal spatial tensor product is a Banach algebra if and only if 𝔐 is subhomogeneous or E is completely isomorphic to column Hilbert space.

A left ideal on any C*-algebra is an example of an operator algebra with a right contractive approximate indentiy (r.c.a.i.). Indeed, left ideal in C*-algebras may be charcterized as the class of such operator algebras, which happen also to be triple systems. Conversely, we show here and in a sequel to this paper, that operator algebras with r.c.a.i. shoulod be studied in terms of a certain let ideal of a C*-algebra. We study left ideals from the perspective of ‘Hamana theory’ and using the multiplier algebras of an operator space studied elsewhere by the author. More generally, we develop some general theory for operator algebras which have a 1-sided identity or approzimate indentity, including a Banach-Stone theorem for these algebras, and an analysis of the ‘multiplier operator algebra’.