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Commutative Gelfand Naimark
Statement
Assume the Axiom of Choice (The Axiom of Choice). Let be a nonzero unital commutative complex C*-algebra (C star algebra, Unital Banach algebra). Then the Gelfand transform
is an isometric unital -isomorphism onto : is a unital complex-algebra homomorphism satisfying and for every , and .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: An assumed Axiom of Choice, a nonzero unital commutative complex C*-algebra , its character space , and the Gelfand transform .
is a nonempty compact Hausdorff space (Maximal ideal space is compact Hausdorff, The Axiom of Choice).
Every element of is normal, because holds in a commutative algebra (C star algebra).
for every character and every (Characters on a unital commutative C star algebra preserve star).
is a unital complex-algebra homomorphism and for every (Gelfand transform is a contractive unital homomorphism).
for every normal in a unital C*-algebra (C star spectral radius equals norm for normal elements).
If is compact Hausdorff and is a unital point-separating self-adjoint complex function algebra, then is uniformly dense in (Complex Stone–Weierstrass dichotomy for separating self-adjoint algebras; the unital case is dense).
Proof
is a nonempty compact Hausdorff space by [L1], so is a complex Banach algebra under the supremum norm with pointwise operations.
Every element of is normal by [L2], so for all by [L5].
is a unital algebra homomorphism with , by [L4].
for every , by [L3]; that is, .
is isometric: for every , by [step 1.2] and [step 1.3].
The range is a unital self-adjoint complex subalgebra of : it is a subalgebra by [step 1.3] and contains the constant function one; it is self-adjoint by [step 1.4]; and it separates points, since for there is with , and then .
By [L6] applied to the compact Hausdorff space and the unital point-separating self-adjoint function algebra , the range is uniformly dense in .
The range is closed in : is isometric by [step 2.1] and is complete, so is a complete subspace of the Banach space , hence closed.
A dense and closed subset equals the whole space, so by [step 3.1] and [step 3.2]; together with [step 2.1], [step 1.3] and [step 1.4] this says that is an isometric unital -isomorphism onto .
Remarks
- Every hypothesis is used. Normality for the isometry, the C*-identity to make elements normal, the algebra-commutativity for the -property through the character lemma, compactness of for Stone–Weierstrass, and completeness for closedness of the range.
- The inverse is the inverse of an isometry, so it is a contraction; it is nevertheless not claimed to be multiplicative beyond what the isomorphism statement already gives.
Depends on
Gelfand transform is a contractive unital homomorphism
C star spectral radius equals norm for normal elements
Characters on a unital commutative C star algebra preserve star
Complex Stone–Weierstrass dichotomy for separating self-adjoint algebras; the unital case is dense
C star algebra
Maximal ideal space is compact Hausdorff
The Axiom of Choice
Unital Banach algebra