Related papers: The Radial Masa in a Free Group Factor is Maximal …

We study Cartan subalgebras in the context of amalgamated free product II$_1$ factors and obtain several uniqueness and non-existence results. We prove that if $\Gamma$ belongs to a large class of amalgamated free product groups (which…

We establish several properties of the free Stein dimension, an invariant for finitely generated unital tracial $*$-algebras. We give formulas for its behaviour under direct sums and tensor products with finite dimensional algebras. Among a…

Let $\Gamma$ be a finitely generated torsion-free group. We show that the statement of $\Gamma$ being virtually abelian is equivalent to the statement that the $*$-regular closure of the group ring $\mathbb{C}[\Gamma]$ in the algebra of…

This paper includes a series of structural results for von Neumann algebras arising from measure preserving actions by product groups on probability spaces. Expanding upon the methods used earlier by the first two authors \cite{CS}, we…

In the past two decades, Sorin Popa's breakthrough deformation/rigidity theory has produced remarkable rigidity results for von Neumann algebras $M$ which can be deformed inside a larger algebra $\widetilde M \supseteq M$ by an action…

We introduce the notion of L^2-rigidity for von Neumann algebras, a generalization of property (T) which can be viewed as an analogue for the vanishing of 1-cohomology into the left regular representation of a group. We show that…

Suppose $M$ is a tracial von Neumann algebra embeddable into $\mathcal R^{\omega}$ (the ultraproduct of the hyperfinite $II_1$-factor) and $X$ is an $n$-tuple of selfadjoint generators for $M$. Denote by $\Gamma(X;m,k,\gamma)$ the…

We show that for F an invertible 2 by 2 matrix, the von Neumann algebra associated to the universal quantum group A_u(F) is a free Araki-Woods factor.

Let $G$ be a connected semisimple real algebraic group. Assume that $G(\bb R)$ has no compact factors and let $\Gamma$ be a torsion-free uniform lattice subgroup of $G(\bb R)$. Then $\Gamma$ contains a malnormal abelian subgroup $A$. This…

We prove that independent rectangular random matrices, when embedded in a space of larger square matrices, are asymptotically free with amalgamation over a commutative finite dimensional subalgebra $D$ (under an hypothesis of unitary…

We investigate factoriality, Connes' type ${\rm III}$ invariants and fullness of arbitrary amalgamated free product von Neumann algebras using Popa's deformation/rigidity theory. Among other things, we generalize many previous structural…

Consider a compact locally symmetric space $M$ of rank $r$, with fundamental group $\Gamma$. The von Neumann algebra $\vn(\Gamma)$ is the convolution algebra of functions $f\in\ell_2(\Gamma)$ which act by left convolution on…

In this paper we analyze the structure of some sets of non-commutative moments of elements in a finite von Neumann algebra M. If the fundamental group of M is R_+\{0}, then the moment sets are convex, and if M is isomorphic to M tensor M,…

We study the von Neumann algebra generated by q--deformed Gaussian elements l_i+l_i^* where operators l_i fulfill the q--deformed canonical commutation relations l_i l_j^*-q l_j^* l_i=delta_{ij} for -1<q<1. We show that if the number of…

We characterize injectivity of von Neumann algebras in terms of factoring bilinear maps as products of linear maps.

We establish a platform to transfer $L_p$-completely bounded maps on tensor products of von Neumann algebras to $L_p$-completely bounded maps on the corresponding amalgamated free products. As a consequence, we obtain a H\"ormander-Mikhlin…

We completely classify the atomic summands in a graph product $(M,\varphi) = *_{v \in \mathcal{G}} (M_v,\varphi_v)$ of von Neumann algebras with faithful normal states. Each type I factor summand $(N,\psi)$ is a tensor product of type I…

For $\MvN$ a separable, purely infinite von Neumann algebra with almost periodic weight $\phi$, a decomposition of $\MvN$ as a crossed product of a semifinite von Neumann algebra by a trace--scaling action of a countable abelian group is…

Given a finite, directed, connected graph $\Gamma$ equipped with a weighting $\mu$ on its edges, we provide a construction of a von Neumann algebra equipped with a faithful, normal, positive linear functional…

It is shown that if $C_1$ and $C_2$ are maximal abelian self-adjoint subalgebras (masas) of C*-algebras $A_1$ and $A_2$, respectively, then the completion $C_1\otimes C_2$ of the algebraic tensor product $C_1\odot C_2$ of $C_1$ and $C_2$ in…