A new application of Random Matrices: Ext(C*_{red}(F_2)) is not a group

dc.creatorHaagerup, Uffe
dc.creatorThorbjornsen, Steen
dc.date2002-12-19
dc.date2007-06-21
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T08:11:25Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T08:11:25Z
dc.descriptionIn the process of developing the theory of free probability and free entropy, Voiculescu introduced in 1991 a random matrix model for a free semicircular system. Since then, random matrices have played a key role in von Neumann algebra theory (cf. [V8], [V9]). The main result of this paper is the following extension of Voiculescu's random matrix result: Let X_1^(n),...,X_r^(n) be a system of r stochastically independent n by n Gaussian self-adjoint random matrices as in Voiculescu's random matrix paper [V4], and let (x_1,...,x_r) be a semi-circular system in a C*-probability space. Then for every polynomial p in r noncommuting variables lim_{n->oo}||p(X_1^(n),...,X_r^(n))|| = ||p(x_1,...,x_r)||, for almost all omega in the underlying probability space. We use the result to show that the Ext-invariant for the reduced C*-algebra of the free group on 2 generators is not a group but only a semi-group. This problem has been open since Anderson in 1978 found the first example of a C*-algebra A for which Ext(A) is not a group.
dc.description65 pages, published version
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/math/0212265
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/math/0212265
dc.identifierAnn. of Math. (2) 162 (2005), no. 2, 711--775
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/132114
dc.subjectOperator Algebras
dc.subjectFunctional Analysis
dc.subjectProbability
dc.titleA new application of Random Matrices: Ext(C*_{red}(F_2)) is not a group
dc.typetext

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