Added order decomposition for C*-algebras.

This commit is contained in:
Bokuan Li
2026-07-07 12:33:11 -04:00
parent 2ce66064fe
commit f3c2c97f3b

View File

@@ -58,8 +58,24 @@
\begin{definition}[Absolute Value]
\label{definition:absolute-value-c-star}
Let $A$ be a $C^*$-algebra and $x \in A$, then $|x| = \sqrt{x^*x}$ is the \textbf{absolute value} of $x$. If $x$ is self-adjoint, then $|x| =
Let $A$ be a unital $C^*$-algebra and $x \in A$, then $|x| = \sqrt{x^*x}$ is the \textbf{absolute value} of $x$.
\end{definition}
\begin{definition}[Positive and Negative Parts]
\label{definition:positive-negative-cstar-algebra}
Let $A$ be a unital $C^*$-algebra and $x \in A$ be self-adjoint, then there exists unique positive elements $x^+, x^- \in A$ such that
\begin{enumerate}
\item $x = x^+ - x^-$.
\item $x^+x^- = x^-x^+ = 0$.
\end{enumerate}
The pair $(x^+, x^-)$ are the \textbf{positive and negative parts} of $x$.
\end{definition}
\begin{proof}
Since $x$ is self-adjoint, $\sigma_A(x) \subset \real$ by \autoref{proposition:self-adjoint-spectrum}. Using the continuous functional calculus, existence is given by the functions $f^+(\lambda) = \lambda \vee 0$ and $f^-(\lambda) = \lambda \wedge 0$ and \autoref{proposition:positive-norm-inequality}.
On the other hand, for each $p \in \real[z]$ with $p(0) = 0$, (2) implies that $p(x) = p(x^+) + p(-x^-)$. By the \hyperref[Stone-Weierstrass Theorem]{theorem:stone-weierstrass}, $f(x) = f(x^+) + f(-x^-)$ for all $f \in C(\real; \real)$ with $f(0) = 0$. In particular, (1) then implies that $f^+(x) = f+(x^+) + f^+(-x^-) = f^+(x^+) = x^+$, and likewise $f^-(x) = x^-$. Therefore the decomposition is given uniquely by the continuous functional calculus.
\end{proof}