Noncommutative function theory and unique extensions
Volume 178 / 2007
                    
                    
                        Studia Mathematica 178 (2007), 177-195                    
                                        
                        MSC: Primary 46L51, 46L52, 47L75; Secondary 46J15, 46K50, 47L45.                    
                                        
                        DOI: 10.4064/sm178-2-4                    
                                    
                                                Abstract
We generalize, to the setting of Arveson's maximal subdiagonal subalgebras of finite von Neumann algebras, the Szegő $L^p$-distance estimate and classical theorems of F. and M. Riesz, Gleason and Whitney, and Kolmogorov. As a byproduct, this completes the noncommutative analog of the famous cycle of theorems characterizing the function algebraic generalizations of $H^\infty $ from the 1960's. A sample of our other results: we prove a Kaplansky density result for a large class of these algebras, and give a necessary condition for every completely contractive homomorphism on a unital subalgebra of a $C^*$-algebra to have a unique completely positive extension.
 
             
                                                             
                                                             
                                                             
                                                             
                                                             
                                                             
                                                         
                                                            