B(H) lattices, density and arithmetic mean ideals

This part of a multi-paper project studies the lattice properties of the arithmetic mean ideals of B(H) introduced by Dykema, Figiel, Weiss, and Wodzicki. We prove: the lattices of all principal ideals, of arithmetic mean or arithmetic mean at infinity stable principal ideals or of principal ideals with a generator that satisfies the Delta_1/2 condition, are all both upper and lower dense in the lattice of general ideals. That is, between any ideal and an ideal (nested above or below respectively) in one of these sublattices, lies another ideal in that sublattice. Among the applications: a principal ideal I is am-stable (I = I_a) if and only if any of its first order arithmetic mean ideals are am-stable if and only if the ideal satisfies the first order equality cancellation property: J_a = I_a implies J = I. We show that this cancellation property can fail even for am-stable countably generated ideals. Similar results hold for arithmetic mean at infinity ideals. Inclusion cancellations do not hold in general even for principal ideals, but for every ideal I there is a largest ideal I^ for which J_a contains I_a implies that J contains I^. When I is principal, I^ too is principal. We show that I=I^ is a strictly stronger property than am-stability. For example, for I the p < 1 power of the principal ideal J generated by diag {1/n}, I^ is the q power of J where 1/p-1/q = 1.