A note on lattice ordered $C^*$-algebras and Perron--Frobenius theory

A classical result of Sherman says that if the space of self-adjoint elements in a $C^*$-algebra $\mathcal{A}$ is a lattice with respect to its canonical order, then $\mathcal{A}$ is commutative. We give a new proof of this theorem which shows that it is intrinsically connected with the spectral theory of positive operator semigroups. Our methods also show that some important Perron--Frobenius like spectral results fail to hold in any non-commutative $C^*$-algebra.