If $A$ is a $\sigma$-unital $C^*$-algebra and $a$ is a strictly positive element of $A$ then for every compact subset $K$ of the complete regularization $\mathrm{Glimm}(A)$ of $\mathrm{Prim}(A)$ there exists $\alpha \gt 0$ such that $K\subset \{G\in \mathrm{Glimm}(A) \mid \Vert a + G\Vert \geq \alpha\}$. This extends a result of J. Dauns to all $\sigma$-unital $C^*$-algebras. However, there are a $C^*$-algebra $A$ and a compact subset of $\mathrm{Glimm}(A)$ that is not contained in any set of the form $\{G\in \mathrm{Glimm}(A) \mid \Vert a + G\Vert \geq \alpha\}$, $a\in A$ and $\alpha \gt 0$.

We show that the following $K_0$-monoid properties of $C^*$-algebras in the class $\Omega$ are inherited by simple unital $C^*$-algebras in the class $TA\Omega$: (1) weak comparability, (2) strictly unperforated, (3) strictly cancellative.

It is shown that a separable $C^*$-algebra is inner quasidiagonal if and only if it has a separating family of quasidiagonal irreducible representations. As a consequence, a separable $C^*$-algebra is a strong NF algebra if and only if it is nuclear and has a separating family of quasidiagonal irreducible representations. We also obtain some permanence properties of the class of inner quasidiagonal $C^*$-algebras.

We generalize Löwner's method for proving that matrix monotone functions are operator monotone. The relation $x\leq y$ on bounded operators is our model for a definition of $C^{*}$-relations being residually finite dimensional. Our main result is a meta-theorem about theorems involving relations on bounded operators. If we can show there are residually finite dimensional relations involved and verify a technical condition, then such a theorem will follow from its restriction to matrices. Applications are shown regarding norms of exponentials, the norms of commutators, and "positive" noncommutative $*$-polynomials.

We will give a characterization of stable real $C^*$-algebras analogous to the one given for complex $C^*$-algebras by Hjelmborg and Rørdam. Using this result, we will prove that any real $C^*$-algebra satisfying the corona factorization property is stable if and only if its complexification is stable. Real $C^*$-algebras satisfying the corona factorization property include AF-algebras and purely infinite $C^*$-algebras. We will also provide an example of a simple unstable $C^*$-algebra, the complexification of which is stable.

We investigate the behavior of the quasi-Baer and the right FI-extending right ring hulls under various ring extensions including group ring extensions, full and triangular matrix ring extensions, and infinite matrix ring extensions. As a consequence, we show that for semiprime rings $R$ and $S$, if $R$ and $S$ are Morita equivalent, then so are the quasi-Baer right ring hulls $\widehat{Q}_{\mathfrak{qB}}(R)$ and $\widehat{Q}_{\mathfrak{qB}}(S)$ of $R$ and $S$, respectively. As an application, we prove that if unital $C^*$-algebras $A$ and $B$ are Morita equivalent as rings, then the bounded central closure of $A$ and that of $B$ are strongly Morita equivalent as $C^*$-algebras. Our results show that the quasi-Baer property is always preserved by infinite matrix rings, unlike the Baer property. Moreover, we give an affirmative answer to an open question of Goel and Jain for the commutative group ring $A[G]$ of a torsion-free Abelian group $G$ over a commutative semiprime quasi-continuous ring $A$. Examples that illustrate and delimit the results of this paper are provided.

Let $\Gamma$ be a discrete group and let $f \in \ell^{1}(\Gamma)$. We observe that if the natural convolution operator $\rho_f: \ell^{\infty}(\Gamma)\to \ell^{\infty}(\Gamma)$ is injective, then $f$ is invertible in $\ell^{1}(\Gamma)$. Our proof simplifies and generalizes calculations in a preprint of Deninger and Schmidt by appealing to the direct finiteness of the algebra $\ell^{1}(\Gamma)$. We give simple examples to show that in general one cannot replace $\ell^{\infty}$ with $\ell^{p}$, $1\leq p< \infty$, nor with $L^{\infty}(G)$ for nondiscrete $G$. Finally, we consider the problem of extending the main result to the case of weighted convolution operators on $\Gamma$, and give some partial results.

We present a new approach to noncommutative real algebraic geometry based on the representation theory of $C^\ast$-algebras. An important result in commutative real algebraic geometry is Jacobi's representation theorem for archimedean quadratic modules on commutative rings. We show that this theorem is a consequence of the Gelfand--Naimark representation theorem for commutative $C^\ast$-algebras. A noncommutative version of Gelfand--Naimark theory was studied by I. Fujimoto. We use his results to generalize Jacobi's theorem to associative rings with involution.

We prove that a separable, nuclear, purely infinite, simple $C^*$-algebra satisfying the universal coefficient theorem is weakly semiprojective if and only if its $K$-groups are direct sums of cyclic groups.

Let $A$ be the inductive limit of a system $$A_{1}\xrightarrow{\phi_{1,2}}A_{2} \xrightarrow{\phi_{2,3}} A_{3}\longrightarrow \cd $$ with $A_n = \bigoplus_{i=1}^{t_n} P_{n,i}M_{[n,i]}(C(X_{n,i}))P_{n,i}$, where $~X_{n,i}$ is a finite simplicial complex, and $P_{n,i}$ is a projection in $M_{[n,i]}(C(X_{n,i}))$. In this paper, we will prove that $A$ can be written as another inductive limit $$B_1\xrightarrow{\psi_{1,2}} B_2 \xrightarrow{\psi_{2,3}} B_3\longrightarrow \cd $$ with $B_n = \bigoplus_{i=1}^{s_n} Q_{n,i}M_{\{n,i\}}(C(Y_{n,i}))Q_{n,i}$, where $Y_{n,i}$ is a finite simplicial complex, and $Q_{n,i}$ is a projection in $M_{\{n,i\}}(C(Y_{n,i}))$, with the extra condition that all the maps $\psi_{n,n+1}$ are \emph{injective}. (The result is trivial if one allows the spaces $Y_{n,i}$ to be arbitrary compact metrizable spaces.) This result is important for the classification of simple AH algebras (see \cite{G5,G6,EGL}. The special case that the spaces $X_{n,i}$ are graphs is due to the third named author \cite{Li1}.

We show that if $\mathcal{A}$ is a class of $C^\ast$-algebras for which the set of formal relations $\mathcal{R}$ is weakly stable, then $\mathcal{R}$ is weakly stable for the class $\mathcal{B}$ that contains $\mathcal{A}$ and all the inductive limits that can be constructed with the $C^\ast$-algebras in $\mathcal{A}$. A set of formal relations $\mathcal{R}$ is said to be {\it weakly stable\/} for a class $\mathcal{C}$ of $C^\ast$-algebras if, in any $C^\ast$-algebra $A\in \mathcal{C}$, close to an approximate representation of the set $\mathcal{R}$ in $A$ there is an exact representation of $\mathcal{R}$ in $A$.

This paper develops a refinement of Lasserre's algorithm for optimizing a polynomial on a basic closed semialgebraic set via semidefinite programming and addresses an open question concerning the duality gap. It is shown that, under certain natural stability assumptions, the problem of optimization on a basic closed set reduces to the compact case.

It is known that a unital simple $C^*$-algebra $A$ with tracial topological rank zero has real rank zero. We show in this note that, in general, there are unital $C^*$-algebras with tracial topological rank zero that have real rank other than zero. Let $0\to J\to E\to A\to 0$ be a short exact sequence of $C^*$-algebras. Suppose that $J$ and $A$ have tracial topological rank zero. It is known that $E$ has tracial topological rank zero as a $C^*$-algebra if and only if $E$ is tracially quasidiagonal as an extension. We present an example of a tracially quasidiagonal extension which is not quasidiagonal.

Let $\cZ$ be the unital simple nuclear infinite dimensional $C^*$-algebra which has the same Elliott invariant as $\bbC$, introduced in \cite{JS}. A $C^*$-algebra is called $\cZ$-stable if $A \cong A \otimes \cZ$. In this note we give some necessary conditions for a unital simple $C^*$-algebra to be $\cZ$-stable.

We consider \cst-algebras which are inductive limits of finite direct sums of copies of $ C([0,1]) \otimes \Otwo$. For such algebras, the lattice of closed two-sided ideals is proved to be a complete invariant.

If $A$ is a prime C$^*$-algebra, $a \in A$ and $\lambda$ is in the numerical range $W(a)$ of $a$, then for each $\varepsilon > 0$ there exists an element $h \in A$ such that $\norm{h} = 1$ and $\norm{h^* (a-\lambda)h} < \varepsilon$. If $\lambda$ is an extreme point of $W(a)$, the same conclusion holds without the assumption that $A$ is prime. Given any element $a$ in a von Neumann algebra (or in a general C$^*$-algebra) $A$, all normal elements in the weak* closure (the norm closure, respectively) of the C$^*$-convex hull of $a$ are characterized.