Fuglede−Kadison determinant
In mathematics, the Fuglede−Kadison determinant of an invertible operator in a finite factor is a positive real number associated with it. It defines a multiplicative homomorphism from the set of invertible operators to the set of positive real numbers. The Fuglede−Kadison determinant of an operator is often denoted by .
For a matrix in , which is the normalized form of the absolute value of the determinant of .
Definition
Let be a finite factor with the canonical normalized trace and let be an invertible operator in . Then the Fuglede−Kadison determinant of is defined as
(cf. Relation between determinant and trace via eigenvalues). The number is well-defined by continuous functional calculus.
Properties
- for invertible operators ,
- for
- is norm-continuous on , the set of invertible operators in
- does not exceed the spectral radius of .
Extensions to singular operators
There are many possible extensions of the Fuglede−Kadison determinant to singular operators in . All of them must assign a value of 0 to operators with non-trivial nullspace. No extension of the determinant from the invertible operators to all operators in , is continuous in the uniform topology.
Algebraic extension
The algebraic extension of assigns a value of 0 to a singular operator in .
Analytic extension
For an operator in , the analytic extension of uses the spectral decomposition of to define with the understanding that if . This extension satisfies the continuity property
- for
Generalizations
Although originally the Fuglede−Kadison determinant was defined for operators in finite factors, it carries over to the case of operators in von Neumann algebras with a tracial state () in the case of which it is denoted by .
References
- Fuglede, Bent; Kadison, Richard (1952), "Determinant theory in finite factors", Ann. Math., Series 2, 55 (3): 520–530, doi:10.2307/1969645, JSTOR 1969645.