Algebraic K-Theory of Stable C*-Algebras
ADVANCES IN MATHEMATICS 67, 1-140 (1988) Algebraic K-Theory of Stable C*-Algebras NIGEL HICSON Department qf Mafhemarics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 Let A be a unital C*-algebra and let 9 denote the Calkin algebra (the bounded operators on a separable Hilbert space, module the compact operators Jr). We prove the following conjecture of M. Karoubi: the algebraic and topological K-theory groups of the tensor product C*-algebra A 02 are equal. The algebra A 01 may be regarded as a “suspension” of the more elementary C*-algebra A @IX; thus Karoubi’s conjecture asserts, roughly speaking, that the algebraic and topological K-theories of stable C*-algebras agree. t 1988 Academic Press, Inc. Let A be a C*-algebra and suppose, for the sake of simplicity, that A is unital. The general linear group of A of dimension n, denoted GL,,A, is the group of invertible elements in the n x n matrix algebra M,(A) over A. This paper is about comparing invariants of GL,,A, considered as a topological space (with the norm topology, inherited from A), to invariants of GL,,A considered as a discrete group. On the topological side, we are going to study the topological K-theory of A, denoted K’.+(A), which is nothing more than the homotopy, n,(GL,A), of GL,,A. To be precise, K’,(A) is the homotopy of the CL, A, the “limit” as n -+ IX) of the GL,,A: it turns out to be a great conveneince to study this “stable” group, rather that the non- stable groups CL,,.
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