This book is directed towards graduate students that wish to start from the basic theory of C*-algebras and advance to an overview of some of the most spectacular results concerning the structure of nuclear C*-algebras. The text is divided into three parts. First, elementary notions, classical theorems and constructions are developed. Then, essential examples in the theory, such as crossed products and the class of quasidiagonal C*-algebras, are examined, and finally, the Elliott invariant, the Cuntz semigroup, and the Jiang-Su algebra are defined. It is shown how these objects have played a fundamental role in understanding the fine structure of nuclear C*-algebras. To help understanding the theory, plenty of examples, treated in detail, are included. This volume will also be valuable to researchers in the area as a reference guide. It contains an extensive reference list to guide readers that wish to travel further.

The theory and applications of C Oeu -algebras are related to fields ranging from operator theory, group representations and quantum mechanics, to non-commutative geometry and dynamical systems. By Gelfand transformation, the theory of C Oeu -algebras is also regarded as non-commutative topology. About a decade ago, George A. Elliott initiated the program of classification of C Oeu -algebras (up to isomorphism) by their K -theoretical data. It started with the classification of AT -algebras with real rank zero. Since then great efforts have been made to classify amenable C Oeu -algebras, a class of C Oeu -algebras that arises most naturally. For example, a large class of simple amenable C Oeu -algebras is discovered to be classifiable. The application of these results to dynamical systems has been established. This book introduces the recent development of the theory of the classification of amenable C Oeu -algebras OCo the first such attempt. The first three chapters present the basics of the theory of C Oeu -algebras which are particularly important to the theory of the classification of amenable C Oeu -algebras. Chapter 4 otters the classification of the so-called AT -algebras of real rank zero. The first four chapters are self-contained, and can serve as a text for a graduate course on C Oeu -algebras. The last two chapters contain more advanced material. In particular, they deal with the classification theorem for simple AH -algebras with real rank zero, the work of Elliott and Gong. The book contains many new proofs and some original results related to the classification of amenable C Oeu -algebras. Besides being as an introduction to the theory of the classification of amenable C Oeu -algebras, it is a comprehensive reference for those more familiar with the subject. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1.1: Banach algebras (260 KB). Chapter 1.2: C*-algebras (210 KB). Chapter 1.3: Commutative C*-algebras (212 KB). Chapter 1.4: Positive cones (207 KB). Chapter 1.5: Approximate identities, hereditary C*-subalgebras and quotients (230 KB). Chapter 1.6: Positive linear functionals and a Gelfand-Naimark theorem (235 KB). Chapter 1.7: Von Neumann algebras (234 KB). Chapter 1.8: Enveloping von Neumann algebras and the spectral theorem (217 KB). Chapter 1.9: Examples of C*-algebras (270 KB). Chapter 1.10: Inductive limits of C*-algebras (252 KB). Chapter 1.11: Exercises (220 KB). Chapter 1.12: Addenda (168 KB). Contents: The Basics of C Oeu -Algebras; Amenable C Oeu -Algebras and K -Theory; AF- Algebras and Ranks of C Oeu -Algebras; Classification of Simple AT -Algebras; C Oeu -Algebra Extensions; Classification of Simple Amenable C Oeu -Algebras. Readership: Researchers and graduate students in operator algebras."

The subject of C*-algebras received a dramatic revitalization in the 1970s by the introduction of topological methods through the work of Brown, Douglas, and Fillmore on extensions of C*-algebras and Elliott's use of $K$-theory to provide a useful classification of AF algebras. These results were the beginning of a marvelous new set of tools for analyzing concrete C*-algebras. This book is an introductory graduate level text which presents the basics of the subject through a detailed analysis of several important classes of C*-algebras. The development of operator algebras in the last twenty years has been based on a careful study of these special classes. While there are many books on C*-algebras and operator algebras available, this is the first one to attempt to explain the real examples that researchers use to test their hypotheses. Topics include AF algebras, Bunce–Deddens and Cuntz algebras, the Toeplitz algebra, irrational rotation algebras, group C*-algebras, discrete crossed products, abelian C*-algebras (spectral theory and approximate unitary equivalence) and extensions. It also introduces many modern concepts and results in the subject such as real rank zero algebras, topological stable rank, quasidiagonality, and various new constructions. These notes were compiled during the author's participation in the special year on C*-algebras at The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences during the 1994–1995 academic year. The field of C*-algebras touches upon many other areas of mathematics such as group representations, dynamical systems, physics, $K$-theory, and topology. The variety of examples offered in this text expose the student to many of these connections. Graduate students with a solid course in functional analysis should be able to read this book. This should prepare them to read much of the current literature. This book is reasonably self-contained, and the author has provided results from other areas when necessary.

This book provides a very elementary introduction to K-theory for C*-algebras, and is ideal for beginning graduate students.

to the Encyclopaedia Subseries on Operator Algebras and Non-Commutative Geometry The theory of von Neumann algebras was initiated in a series of papers by Murray and von Neumann in the 1930's and 1940's. A von Neumann algebra is a self-adjoint unital subalgebra M of the algebra of bounded operators of a Hilbert space which is closed in the weak operator topology. According to von Neumann's bicommutant theorem, M is closed in the weak operator topology if and only if it is equal to the commutant of its commutant. Afactor is a von Neumann algebra with trivial centre and the work of Murray and von Neumann contained a reduction of all von Neumann algebras to factors and a classification of factors into types I, II and III. C* -algebras are self-adjoint operator algebras on Hilbert space which are closed in the norm topology. Their study was begun in the work of Gelfand and Naimark who showed that such algebras can be characterized abstractly as involutive Banach algebras, satisfying an algebraic relation connecting the norm and the involution. They also obtained the fundamental result that a commutative unital C* -algebra is isomorphic to the algebra of complex valued continuous functions on a compact space - its spectrum. Since then the subject of operator algebras has evolved into a huge mathematical endeavour interacting with almost every branch of mathematics and several areas of theoretical physics.

The theory of crossed products is extremely rich and intriguing. There are applications not only to operator algebras, but to subjects as varied as noncommutative geometry and mathematical physics. This book provides a detailed introduction to this vast subject suitable for graduate students and others whose research has contact with crossed product $C*$-algebras. in addition to providing the basic definitions and results, the main focus of this book is the fine ideal structure of crossed products as revealed by the study of induced representations via the Green-Mackey-Rieffel machine. in particular, there is an in-depth analysis of the imprimitivity theorems on which Rieffel's theory of induced representations and Morita equivalence of $C*$-algebras are based. There is also a detailed treatment of the generalized Effros-Hahn conjecture and its proof due to Gootman, Rosenberg, and Sauvageot. This book is meant to be self-contained and accessible to any graduate student coming out of a first course on operator algebras. There are appendices that deal with ancillary subjects, which while not central to the subject, are nevertheless crucial for a complete understanding of the material. Some of the appendices will be of independent interest. to view another book by this author, please visit Morita Equivalence and Continuous-Trace $C*$-Algebras.

From the reviews: "This book is an excellent and comprehensive survey of the theory of von Neumann algebras. It includes all the fundamental results of the subject, and is a valuable reference for both the beginner and the expert." Mathematical Reviews