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
A
{\displaystyle A}
is often denoted by
Δ
(
A
)
{\displaystyle \Delta (A)}
.
For a matrix
A
{\displaystyle A}
in
M
n
(
C
)
{\displaystyle M_{n}(\mathbb {C} )}
,
Δ
(
A
)
=
|
det
(
A
)
|
1
/
n
{\displaystyle \Delta (A)=\left|\det(A)\right|^{1/n}}
which is the normalized form of the absolute value of the determinant of
A
{\displaystyle A}
.
Definition
Let
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
be a finite factor with the canonical normalized trace
τ
{\displaystyle \tau }
and let
X
{\displaystyle X}
be an invertible operator in
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
. Then the Fuglede−Kadison determinant of
X
{\displaystyle X}
is defined as
-
Δ
(
X
)
:=
exp
τ
(
log
(
X
∗
X
)
1
/
2
)
,
{\displaystyle \Delta (X):=\exp \tau (\log(X^{*}X)^{1/2}),}
(cf. Relation between determinant and trace via eigenvalues). The number
Δ
(
X
)
{\displaystyle \Delta (X)}
is well-defined by continuous functional calculus.
Properties
-
Δ
(
X
Y
)
=
Δ
(
X
)
Δ
(
Y
)
{\displaystyle \Delta (XY)=\Delta (X)\Delta (Y)}
for invertible operators X , Y ∈ M {\displaystyle X,Y\in {\mathcal {M}}}
,
-
Δ
(
exp
A
)
=
|
exp
τ
(
A
)
|
=
exp
ℜ
τ
(
A
)
{\displaystyle \Delta (\exp A)=\left|\exp \tau (A)\right|=\exp \Re \tau (A)}
for A ∈ M . {\displaystyle A\in {\mathcal {M}}.}
-
Δ
{\displaystyle \Delta }
is norm-continuous on G L 1 ( M ) {\displaystyle GL_{1}({\mathcal {M}})}
, the set of invertible operators in M , {\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}},}
-
Δ
(
X
)
{\displaystyle \Delta (X)}
does not exceed the spectral radius of X {\displaystyle X}
.
Extensions to singular operators
There are many possible extensions of the Fuglede−Kadison determinant to singular operators in
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
. All of them must assign a value of 0 to operators with non-trivial nullspace. No extension of the determinant
Δ
{\displaystyle \Delta }
from the invertible operators to all operators in
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
is continuous in the uniform topology.
Algebraic extension
The algebraic extension of
Δ
{\displaystyle \Delta }
assigns a value of 0 to a singular operator in
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
.
Analytic extension
For an operator
A
{\displaystyle A}
in
M
{\displaystyle {\mathcal {M}}}
, the analytic extension of
Δ
{\displaystyle \Delta }
uses the spectral decomposition of
|
A
|
=
∫
λ
d
E
λ
{\displaystyle |A|=\int \lambda \;dE_{\lambda }}
to define
Δ
(
A
)
:=
exp
(
∫
log
λ
d
τ
(
E
λ
)
)
{\displaystyle \Delta (A):=\exp \left(\int \log \lambda \;d\tau (E_{\lambda })\right)}
with the understanding that
Δ
(
A
)
=
0
{\displaystyle \Delta (A)=0}
if
∫
log
λ
d
τ
(
E
λ
)
=
−
∞
{\displaystyle \int \log \lambda \;d\tau (E_{\lambda })=-\infty }
. This extension satisfies the continuity property
-
lim
ε
→
0
Δ
(
H
+
ε
I
)
=
Δ
(
H
)
{\displaystyle \lim _{\varepsilon \rightarrow 0}\Delta (H+\varepsilon I)=\Delta (H)}
for H ≥ 0. {\displaystyle H\geq 0.}
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 (
τ
{\displaystyle \tau }
), in which case it is denoted by
Δ
τ
(
⋅
)
{\displaystyle \Delta _{\tau }(\cdot )}
.
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.