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# The generalized Chern character and Lefschetz numbers in W*-modules

## 1 Introduction

For an arbitrary von Neumann algebra $`A`$ we introduce an abelian group $`N_0(A)`$ in the following way. It is possible to define some equivalence relation between normal elements of the inductive limit $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)=\underset{}{lim}M_n(A)`$ such that for projections it coinside with the usual stable equivalence relation. Then the set of all equivalence classes of normal elements from $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$ is an abelian semigroup (with respect to the direct sum operation) and $`N_0(A)`$ is its symmetrization. The first part of our paper is devoted to the consideration of some propeties of $`N`$-groups. More detail on this subject can be found in .

Further, we introduce Banach cyclic homology of $`A`$ as some analogue of usual cyclic homology and construct the generalized Chern character as a map from $`N_0(A)`$ to even Banach cyclic homology. Furthermore, this map is an extension of the classic Chern character to the group $`N_0(A)K_0(A)`$ in some natural sence.

In the final section we define generalized Lefschetz numbers for an arbitrary unitary endomorphism $`U`$ of an $`A`$-elliptic complex. Besides, in the case when $`U`$ is an element of a representation of some compact Lie group we describe the connection of the generalized Lefschetz numbers with the W\*-Lefschetz numbers of the first and of the second types introduced in .

Some results of the present paper were formulated in .

The paper is organized as follows:

| 1. | Introduction |
| --- | --- |
| 2. | Some properties of $`N`$-groups |
| 3. | The group $`N_0(A)_{fin}`$ |
| 4. | Banach cyclic homology |
| 5. | The generalized Chern character |
| 6. | Generalized Lefschetz numbers |
|  | References |

## 2 Some properties of $`N`$-groups

Suppose $`A`$ is a von Neumann algebra, $`M_r(A)`$ is the set of $`r\times r`$ matrices with entries in $`A`$, $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$ is the inductive limit of the sequence $`\{M_r(A)\}_{r=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$, and $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu `$ is the set of normal elements for $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$. Denote by $`(𝐂)`$ the family of all Borel subsets of the complex plane. If $`aM_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu `$ and $`E(𝐂)`$, then by $`P_a(E)`$ we denote the spectral projection of $`a`$ corresponding to the set $`E`$. We remark that $`P_a(E)M_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu `$ since von Neumann algebras are closed with respect to the Borel calculus. We denote the stable equivalence relation (see ) of projections $`p,qM_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$ by $`pq`$. Finally, let $`sp(a)`$ denote the spectrum of an element $`a`$.

A Borel set $`E𝐂`$ is called admissible if zero does not belong to the closure of $`E`$. Denote by $`_{}(𝐂)`$ the family of all admissible Borel subsets of the complex plane.

###### Definition 1

Call elements $`a,bM_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$ equivalent (and denote by $`ab`$) if and only if $`P_a(E)P_b(E)`$ for all $`E_{}(𝐂)`$.

Note that this equivalence relation coinsides with the usual stable equivalence relation whenever $`a,b`$ are projections. It is easy to see that $`a0_ma`$, where $`0_m`$ is the zero $`m\times m`$ matrix and $`aM_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu `$. We put

$$𝒩(A)=M_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu /.$$

For $`aM_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu `$ let us denote by $`[a]`$ the equivalence class of $`a`$ in $`𝒩(A)`$. Since

$$P_{ab}(E)=P_a(E)P_b(E)$$

for all $`a,bM_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu ,E(𝐂)`$, this implies that the set $`𝒩(A)`$ is an abelian semigroup with respect to the direct sum operation.

###### Definition 2

The symmetrization of $`𝒩(A)`$ is called the $`N`$-group of $`A`$ and is denoted by $`N_0(A)`$.

Under the previous considerations, the following result is clear.

###### Proposition 1

$`K_0(A)`$ is a subgroup of the group $`N_0(A)`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Proposition 2

If the group $`K_0(A)`$ is trivial, then the group $`N_0(A)`$ is trivial too.

Proof. Suppose $`[a][b]N_0(A)`$. Since $`K_0(A)`$ is trivial, this implies that $`P_a(E)0P_b(E)`$ for all $`E_{}(𝐂)`$. Whence, $`ab`$. Thus the group $`N_0(A)`$ is trivial. $`\mathrm{}`$

Note that $`𝒩(A)`$ is a cancellation semigroup, i.e., the condition $`[a]+[c]=[b]+[c]`$ implies $`[a]=[b]`$ for any $`[a],[b],[c]𝒩(A)`$. In particular, the symmetrization homomorphism $`s:𝒩(A)N_0(A),s([a])=[a][0]`$ is injective.

Our next aim is to establish a functorial property for $`N_0`$. We recall that an arbitrary \*-homomorphism of C\*-algebras is a contraction, i.e., its norm does not exeed $`1`$ \[9, Theorem 2.1.7\]. Besides, an arbitrary surjective \*-homomorphism of von Neumann algebras is continuous with respect to the ultra-strong topology \[1, Theorem 2.4.23\].

Now let $`A,B`$ be von Neumann algebras and $`\phi :AB`$ an ultra-strong continuous unital \*-homomorphism. By definition, put $`\phi (a)=(\phi (a_{ij}))`$ and $`\phi _{}([a])=[\phi (a)]`$ for each matrix $`a=(a_{ij})M_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu `$.

###### Theorem 1

The map $`\phi _{}:N_0(A)N_0(B)`$ is a well defined homomorphism of abelian groups.

The following lemma is the main ingredient of the proof of Theorem 1.

###### Lemma 1

$`P_{\phi (a)}(E)=\phi (P_a(E))`$ for each $`aM_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu `$ and for each Borel subset $`Esp(a)`$.

Proof. We can assume that $`aM_r(A)`$ for some $`r1`$. It is clear that $`sp(\phi (a))sp(a)`$. It can be directly verified that $`\phi (R(a))=R(\phi (a))`$ for an arbitrary polynomial $`R`$. Further, for any function $`f`$, which is continuous on $`sp(a)`$, there exists a sequence of polinomials $`\{R_n\}_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ such that it converges uniformly to $`f`$. Then

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\phi (f(a))& =& \phi (lim_nR_n(a))=lim_n\phi (R_n(a))\hfill \\ & =& lim_nR_n(\phi (a))=f(\phi (a)).\hfill \end{array}$$

Now let $`\chi _E`$ be the characteristic function of $`E`$. Then we can find a sequence $`\{f_n\}_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ of continuous functions on the compact space $`sp(a)`$ such that $`\{f_n\}_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ converges to $`\chi _E`$ pointwise, i.e., with respect to the strong topology. Moreover, we can assume that the family $`\{f_n\}_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ is norm-bounded. In this case the sequence $`\{f_n(a)\}_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ of elements of the von Neumann algebra $`M_r(A)`$ converges strongly to the element $`\chi _E(a)=P_a(E)`$ and the family $`\{f_n(a)\}_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ is norm-bounded. Since strong and ultra-strong topologies coinside on bounded sets, we have the convergence with respect to the ultra-strong topology: $`P_a(E)=\sigma \text{-}lim_nf_n(a)`$. Finally, using the ultra-strong continuity of the \*-homomorphism $`\phi `$, we obtain:

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \phi (P_a(E))& =& \phi (\sigma \text{-}lim_nf_n(a))=\sigma \text{-}lim_n\phi (f_n(a))\hfill \\ & =& \sigma \text{-}lim_nf_n(\phi (a))=\chi _E(\phi (a))=P_{\phi (a)}(E).\mathrm{}\hfill \end{array}$$

Proof of Theorem 1. We have to establish that $`\phi _{}`$ is well defined. Let elements $`a,bM_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu `$ be equivalent. Then $`\phi (P_a(E))\phi (P_b(E))`$ for any $`E_{}(𝐂)`$. Now it immediately follows from Lemma 1 that the elements $`\phi (a)`$ and $`\phi (b)`$ are equivalent too. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 3 The group $`N_0(A)_{fin}`$

Let $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)_{fin}M_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu `$ be the subset of all elements $`aM_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$ such that their spectrum is finite. Suppose,

$$𝒩(A)_{fin}=\{[a]:aM_{\mathrm{}}(A)_{fin}\}.$$

We remark that $`𝒩(A)_{fin}`$ is a subsemigroup of $`𝒩(A)`$. By $`N_0(A)_{fin}`$ we denote the symmetrization of the abelian monoid $`𝒩(A)_{fin}`$. So $`N_0(A)_{fin}`$ is a subgroup of the group $`N_0(A)`$. Any element of the group $`N_0(A)_{fin}`$ we can represent in the form $`[_{i=1}^n\lambda _ip_i][_{i=1}^n\lambda _iq_i],`$ where $`\lambda _i𝐂`$ and $`p_i,q_i`$ are some (possibly zero) projections in $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$.

For an arbitrary map $`f:𝐂\{0\}K_0(A)`$ let us put $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_f=\{\lambda 𝐂\{0\}:f(\lambda )0\}`$. Let us denote by

$$_{fin;A}=_{fin}(𝐂\{0\},K_0(A))$$

the set of all maps from $`𝐂\{0\}`$ to $`K_0(A)`$ such that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_f`$ is finite (or empty). The set $`_{fin;A}`$ is an abelian group with respect to the pointwise addition of maps. Let us consider the map

$$\varphi :N_0(A)_{fin}_{fin;A},(\varphi ([a][b]))(\lambda )=[P_a(\{\lambda \})][P_b(\{\lambda \})].$$

###### Theorem 2

The map $`\varphi `$ is an isomorphism of groups.

Proof. It is clear that $`\varphi `$ is a well defined homomorphism. Let $`[a][b]N_0(A)_{fin}`$, and $`\varphi ([a][b])=0`$. Therefore for each $`\lambda 𝐂\{0\}`$ the projections $`P_a(\{\lambda \})`$ and $`P_b(\{\lambda \})`$ are stably equivalent. Since the spectra of elements $`a,b`$ are finite, we conclude that these elements are equivalent. Hence, $`\varphi `$ is injective.

Let us examine a map $`f_{fin;A}`$ such that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_f=\{\lambda _i\}_{i=1}^n`$ and $`f(\lambda _i)=[p_i][q_i]`$ $`(1in)`$, where $`p_i,q_i`$ are projections from $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$. Since $`p_i0_kp_i`$, we can assume that the projections $`\{p_i\}_{i=1}^n`$ (and $`\{q_i\}_{i=1}^n`$) are pairwise orthogonal. We put $`a=_{i=1}^n\lambda _ip_i`$ and $`b=_{i=1}^n\lambda _iq_i`$. Then the elements $`a,b`$ belong to $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)_{fin}`$. Furtermore, $`\varphi ([a][b])=f`$. Hence, $`\varphi `$ is surjective. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Corollary 1

The groups $`N_0(M_r(𝐂))`$ and $`_{fin}(𝐂\{0\},𝐙)`$ are isomorphic.

Proof. The spectrum of any element from $`M_{\mathrm{}}(𝐂)`$ is finite. Therefore, $`N_0(M_r(𝐂))=N_{fin}(M_r(𝐂))`$. To complete the proof, it remains to use Theorem 2. $`\mathrm{}`$

Assume $`h_{\lambda ,\mu ;p}:=[p(\lambda +\mu )][p\lambda p\mu ]`$ and $`g_{\lambda ;p}^{(n)}:=[\lambda p^n][n\lambda p]`$, where $`n𝐍`$, $`\lambda ,\mu 𝐂`$ and $`p`$ is a projection in $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$. Then $`h_{\lambda ,\mu ;p}`$ and $`g_{\lambda ;p}^{(n)}`$ are elements from $`N_0(A)_{fin}`$.

Let us denote by $`H`$ the subgroup of $`N_0(A)_{fin}`$ with the following system of generators $`\{h_{\lambda ,\mu ;p}:\lambda ,\mu 𝐂,p\text{ is a projection in }M_{\mathrm{}}(A)\},`$ and by $`G`$ the subgroup of $`N_0(A)_{fin}`$ with the following system of generators $`\{g_{\lambda ;p}^{(n)}:n𝐍,\lambda 𝐂,p\text{ is a projection in }M_{\mathrm{}}(A)\}.`$

###### Lemma 2

The group $`G`$ is a subgroup of $`H`$.

Proof. Take $`\lambda 𝐂`$ and a projection $`p`$ from $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$. We have to demonstrate that $`g_{\lambda ;p}^{(k)}`$ belongs to $`H`$ for all $`k1`$. Let us prove this statement by induction over $`k`$. The case $`k=1`$ is clear. Suppose $`g_{\lambda ;p}^{(k)}H`$ for all $`kn1`$. In particular,

$$g_{\lambda ;p}^{(n1)}=[\lambda p^{(n1)}][(n1)\lambda p]=y$$

for some $`yH`$. Therefore,

$$\begin{array}{ccc}g_{\lambda ;p}^{(n)}& =& [\lambda p^{(n1)}]+[\lambda p][((n1)\lambda +\lambda )p]\hfill \\ & =& [(n1)\lambda p]+y+[\lambda p][((n1)\lambda +\lambda )p]\hfill \\ & =& yh_{(n1)\lambda ,\lambda ;p}.\hfill \end{array}$$

Thus $`g_{\lambda ;p}^{(n)}H`$ and by induction we obtain the desired statement. $`\mathrm{}`$

Let us consider the map

$$h:N_0(A)_{fin}K_0(A)𝐂$$
(1)
defined as follows

$$h([a][b])=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}[P_a(\lambda _i)]\lambda _i\underset{j=1}{\overset{m}{}}[P_b(\mu _j)]\mu _j,$$

where $`a,bM_{\mathrm{}}(A)_{fin}`$ and $`sp(a)=\{\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _n\}`$, $`sp(b)=\{\mu _1,\mathrm{},\mu _m\}`$.

###### Proposition 3

The map $`h`$ is a surjective homomorphism of groups. Besides, the kernel of $`h`$ coinsides with the group $`H`$.

Proof. It is obvious that $`h`$ is a well defined surjective homomorphism. Also, it is clear that $`H`$ belongs to the kernel of $`h`$. To complete the proof let us construct the inverse for $`h`$ homomorphism

$$t:K_0(A)𝐂N_0(A)_{fin}/H.$$

We put

$$t(\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}([p_i][q_i])\lambda _i)=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}[p_i\lambda _i]\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}[q_i\lambda _i]+H.$$

Let us demonstrate that the map $`t`$ is well defined. In the other words, we have to verify that the homomorphism $`t`$ is trivial on the elements $`c_{\lambda ,\mu ;p}^{(1)}=[p](\lambda +\mu )[p]\lambda [p]\mu `$, $`c_{z;\lambda ;p}^{(2)}=[p]z\lambda [p]z\lambda `$, and $`c_{\lambda ;p,q}^{(3)}=([p]+[q])\lambda [p]\lambda [q]\lambda `$, where $`\lambda ,\mu 𝐂,z𝐙`$ and $`p,qM_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$ are projections. We derive $`t(c_{\lambda ,\mu ;p}^{(1)})=h_{\lambda ,\mu ;p}+H=H`$. Besides, $`c_{1;\lambda ;p}^{(2)}=c_{\lambda ,\lambda ;p}^{(1)}`$. Therefore it suffices to regard the elements $`c_{z;\lambda ;p}^{(2)}`$ provided $`z>0`$. In this case we conclude $`t(c_{z;\lambda ;p}^{(2)})=t([p^z]\lambda [p]z\lambda )=g_{\lambda ;p}^{(z)}+H=H`$, where we have used Lemma 2. Finally, it can be directly verified that $`t(c_{\lambda ;p,q}^{(3)})=0+H=H`$. To complete the proof, it remains to note that $`t=h^1`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 4 Banach cyclic homology

As above, let $`A`$ be a von Neumann algebra. First let us recall some concepts from noncommutative geometry (see, for example, ). Consider the complex vector space $`C_n(A)=A^{(n+1)}`$, where $`A^{(n+1)}=\underset{n+1}{\underset{}{AA\mathrm{}A}}`$. The cyclic operator $`\tau _n:C_n(A)C_n(A)`$ is defined on generators by the formula

$$\tau _n(a_0\mathrm{}a_n)=(1)^na_na_0\mathrm{}a_{n1}.$$

The cokernel of the endomorphism $`1\tau _n:C_n(A)C_n(A)`$ we denote by

$$CC_n(A)=A^{(n+1)}/Im(1\tau _n).$$

Further, we define the face operator $`b_n:C_n(A)C_{n1}(A)`$ by the formula

$$b_n(a_0a_1\mathrm{}a_n)=\underset{i=0}{\overset{n1}{}}(1)^ia_0a_1\mathrm{}a_ia_{i+1}\mathrm{}a_n+$$

$$(1)^na_na_0a_1\mathrm{}a_{n1}.$$

It is clear that

$$b=\underset{i=0}{\overset{n}{}}(1)^id_i,$$
(2)
where the linear maps $`d_i:A^{(n+1)}A^n`$ are defined as follows

$$\begin{array}{ccc}d_i(a_0\mathrm{}a_n)\hfill & =& a_0\mathrm{}a_ia_{i+1}\mathrm{}a_n,\\ & & 0in1,\\ d_n(a_0\mathrm{}a_n)\hfill & =& a_na_0a_1\mathrm{}a_{n1}.\end{array}$$

It can be verified by the direct calculation that the family of linear spaces $`CC_{}(A)=\{CC_n(A),b_n\}`$ is a chain complex. Homology of this complex is called cyclic homology of $`A`$ and is denoted by $`HC_n(A)=H_n(CC_{}(A))`$, $`n0`$.

The trace map $`Tr:M_r(A)^{(n+1)}A^{(n+1)}`$ is defined by the formula

$$Tr(\xi ^{(0)}\xi ^{(1)}\mathrm{}\xi ^{(n)})=\underset{i_0,\mathrm{},i_n=1}{\overset{r}{}}\xi _{i_0i_1}^{(0)}\xi _{i_1i_2}^{(1)}\mathrm{}\xi _{i_ni_0}^{(n)},$$

where $`\xi ^{(k)}=(\xi _{i,j}^{(k)})_{i,j=1}^rM_r(A)`$. It can be directly verified that the trace map $`Tr:CC_{}(M_r(A))CC_{}(A)`$ is a morphism of chain complexes. Furthermore, the induced map

$$Tr_{}:HC_{}(M_r(A))\stackrel{}{}HC_{}(A)$$

is an isomorphism.

Now let $`X,Y`$ be normed spaces, and $`xX,yY`$. A representative of the equivalence class $`xyXY`$ we shall denote by $`x\mathrm{}y`$. Assume

$$\underset{i}{}x_i\mathrm{}y_i:=\underset{i}{}x_iy_i(x_iX,y_iY).$$

Then the projective norm of an equivalence class $`\xi XY`$ is defined as follows

$$\xi =inf\{\underset{i}{}x_i\mathrm{}y_i:x_iX,y_iY\text{and}\underset{i}{}x_i\mathrm{}y_i\xi \}.$$

Below we assume that all tensor products of normed spaces are equipped with the projective norm.

Under the previous conventions, let us set

$$𝒞𝒞_n(A)=A^{(n+1)}/\overline{Im(1\tau _n)}.$$

Note that $`𝒞𝒞_n(A)`$ is a Banach space. For $`\xi A^{(n+1)}`$ we denote by $`[\xi ]_{CC_n(A)}`$ the quotient class of $`\xi `$ in $`CC_n(A)`$, and by $`[\xi ]_{𝒞𝒞_n(A)}`$ the quotient class of $`\xi `$ in $`𝒞𝒞_n(A)`$.

###### Lemma 3

The face operator $`b_n:A^{(n+1)}A^n`$ is a continuous map.

Proof. Under equality (2), it is sufficiently to prove that all maps $`d_i`$ $`(0in)`$ are continuous. Given any $`\epsilon >0`$. For each $`\xi A^{(n+1)}`$ we can find an element $`_ka_0^{(k)}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}a_n^{(k)}\xi `$ such that

$$\underset{k}{}a_0^{(k)}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}a_n^{(k)}\xi <\epsilon .$$

Therefore,

$$\begin{array}{ccc}d_i(\xi )\hfill & =& _kd_i(a_0^{(k)}\mathrm{}a_n^{(k)})\hfill \\ & =& _ka_0^{(k)}\mathrm{}a_i^{(k)}a_{i+1}^{(k)}\mathrm{}a_n^{(k)}\hfill \\ & & _ka_0^{(k)}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}a_i^{(k)}a_{i+1}^{(k)}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}a_n^{(k)}\hfill \\ & =& _ka_0^{(k)}\mathrm{}a_i^{(k)}a_{i+1}^{(k)}\mathrm{}a_n^{(k)}\hfill \\ & & _ka_0^{(k)}\mathrm{}a_i^{(k)}a_{i+1}^{(k)}\mathrm{}a_n^{(k)}\hfill \\ & =& _ka_0^{(k)}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}a_n^{(k)}<\xi +\epsilon \hfill \end{array}$$

for all $`\epsilon >0`$. Hence, $`d_i(\xi )\xi `$. $`\mathrm{}`$

Let us define the map $`\beta _n:𝒞𝒞_n(A)𝒞𝒞_{n1}(A)`$ by the formula

$$\beta _n([x]_{𝒞𝒞_n(A)})=[b_n(x)]_{𝒞𝒞_{n1}(A)}.$$

From Lemma 3 we conclude that the family $`𝒞𝒞_{}(A)=\{𝒞𝒞_n(A),\beta _n\}`$ is a well defined chain complex. Let us put

$$𝒞_n(A)=Ker\beta _n/\overline{Im\beta _{n+1}}.$$

The quotient space $`𝒞_{}(A)`$ we shall call Banach (cyclic) homology of $`A`$ (cf. ). Note that $`𝒞_n(A)`$ is a Banach space (for each $`n0`$).

For $`\xi M_r(A)^{(n+1)}`$ let us denote by $`\xi _{HC}=\xi _{HC_{}(M_r(A))}`$ the cyclic homology class of $`\xi `$ and by $`\xi _𝒞=\xi _{𝒞_{}(M_r(A))}`$ the Banach cyclic homology class of $`\xi `$.

Let $`pM_r(A)`$ be projection. Then

$$b_{2l}(p^{(2l+1)})=\underset{k=0}{\overset{2l}{}}d_k(p^{(2l+1)})=\underset{k=0}{\overset{2l}{}}(1)^kp^{2l}=p^{2l}.$$

On the other hand, we have $`[p^{2l}]_{CC_{}(M_r(A))}=(1)^{(2l1)}[p^{2l}]_{CC_{}(M_r(A))}`$. So $`[p^{2l}]_{CC_{}(M_r(A))}=0`$. Therefore $`p^{(2l+1)}`$ is a cycle. Now let us define the Chern character

$$Ch_{2l}^0:K_0(A)HC_{2l}(A)$$

by $`Ch_{2l}^0([p])=Tr_{}(1)^lp^{(2l+1)}_{HC}`$. The Chern character is a well defined homomorphism of groups \[6, Theorem 8.3.2\].

Let us study the linear epimorphism $`\pi _n:CC_n(A)𝒞𝒞_n(A)`$, where

$$\pi _n([\xi ]_{CC_n(A)})=[\xi ]_{𝒞𝒞_n(A)},\xi A^{(n+1)}.$$

It is obvious that the family of the maps $`\{\pi _n\}:CC_{}(A)𝒞𝒞_{}(A)`$ is a chain homomorphism, i.e., $`\pi _{n1}b_n=\beta _n\pi _n`$ for all $`n1`$. So $`\pi _n(Kerb_n)Ker\beta _n`$ and $`\pi _n(Imb_{n+1})\overline{Im\beta _{n+1}}`$. Therefore,

$$\pi _{}:HC_{}(A)𝒞_{}(A)$$
(3)
is a well defined map of homology spaces.

Below we shall need the following result.

###### Lemma 4

The trace $`Tr:M_r(A)^{(n+1)}A^{(n+1)}`$ is a continuous map.

Proof. Given any $`\epsilon >0`$. For each quotient class $`\xi M_r(A)^{(n+1)}`$ of the tensor product we can find a representative $`_{k=1}^N\xi ^{(0),k}\mathrm{}\xi ^{(1),k}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\xi ^{(n),k}`$ of $`\xi `$ such that

$$\underset{k=1}{\overset{N}{}}\xi ^{(0),k}\mathrm{}\xi ^{(1),k}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\xi ^{(n),k}\xi <\epsilon .$$

Therefore,

$$\begin{array}{ccc}Tr(\xi )\hfill & =& _{k=1}^NTr(\xi ^{(0),k}\xi ^{(1),k}\mathrm{}\xi ^{(n),k})\hfill \\ & =& _{k=1}^N_{i_0,\mathrm{},i_n=1}^r\xi _{i_0i_1}^{(0),k}\xi _{i_1i_2}^{(1),k}\mathrm{}\xi _{i_ni_0}^{(n),k}\hfill \\ & & _{k=1}^N_{i_0,\mathrm{},i_n=1}^r\xi _{i_0i_1}^{(0),k}\mathrm{}\xi _{i_1i_2}^{(1),k}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\xi _{i_ni_0}^{(n),k}\hfill \\ & =& _{k=1}^N_{i_0,\mathrm{},i_n=1}^r\xi _{i_0i_1}^{(0),k}\xi _{i_1i_2}^{(1),k}\mathrm{}\xi _{i_ni_0}^{(n),k}\hfill \\ & & _{k=1}^N_{i_0,\mathrm{},i_n=1}^r\xi ^{(0),k}\xi ^{(1),k}\mathrm{}\xi ^{(n),k}\hfill \\ & =& r^{n+1}_{k=1}^N\xi ^{(0),k}\mathrm{}\xi ^{(1),k}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\xi ^{(n),k}<r^{n+1}(\xi +\epsilon )\hfill \end{array}$$

for all $`\epsilon >0`$. So, $`Tr(\xi )r^{n+1}\xi `$. $`\mathrm{}`$

From Lemma 4 we conclude that the map

$$Tr:𝒞𝒞_{}(M_r(A))𝒞𝒞_{}(A),[\xi ]_{𝒞𝒞_{}(M_r(A))}[Tr(\xi )]_{𝒞𝒞_{}(A)}$$
(4)
is well defined. Furthermore, it can be directly checked up that trace map (4) is a morphism of chain complexes. By Lemma 4, this implies that the induced homomorphism

$$Tr_{}:𝒞_{}(M_r(A))𝒞_{}(A)$$

of Banach homology is well defined.

## 5 The generalized Chern character

Given $`l0`$. We want to define a map

$$T:M_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu 𝒞_{2l}(A)$$

to the even Banach homology by the following construction. Let an element $`a`$ belong to $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu `$. Then we can suppose that $`aM_r(A)`$ for some $`r1`$. For each natural number $`n`$ let us consider a cover $`^{(n)}=\{E_k^{(n)}\}_{k=1}^{k_n}`$ of the spectrum of $`a`$ by disjoint Borel sets such that the diameter of each of these sets does not exceed $`1/n`$. Moreover, we can assume that $`\{E_k^{(m)}\}_{k=1}^{k_m}`$ is a subdivision of the cover $`\{E_k^{(n)}\}_{k=1}^{k_n}`$ when $`mn`$. Therefore we can write

$$E_k^{(n)}=\underset{j=1}{\overset{j(k)}{}}E_{k,j}^{(m)},$$

where $`E_{k,j}^{(m)}`$ are some elements of the cover $`^{(m)}`$. Thus, $`^{(m)}=\{E_{k,j}^{(m)}\}_{k=1;j=1}^{k_n;j(k)}`$ and $`_{k=1}^{k_n}j(k)=k_m`$.

Also, for any $`\lambda _k^{(n)}E_k^{(n)}`$ let us consider a sequence $`\{a_n\}_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ from $`M_r(A)`$, where

$$a_n=\underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}P_a(E_k^{(n)})\lambda _k^{(n)}.$$

It follows from the spectral theorem that $`\{a_n\}_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ converges uniformly to $`a`$. Further, for each $`a_n`$ let us examine

$$\stackrel{~}{a}_n=\underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}P_a(E_k^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}\lambda _k^{(n)}M_r(A)^{(2l+1)}.$$

Given natural numbers $`n,m`$ $`(mn)`$. Under the previous notation, we see that

$$a_n=\underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}P_a(\underset{j=1}{\overset{j(k)}{}}E_{k,j}^{(m)})\lambda _k^{(n)}=\underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}\underset{j=1}{\overset{j(k)}{}}P_a(E_{k,j}^{(m)})\lambda _k^{(n)}$$

and $`a_m=_{k=1}^{k_n}_{j=1}^{j(k)}P_a(E_{k,j}^{(m)})\lambda _{k,j}^{(m)}`$, where $`\lambda _{k,j}^{(m)}E_{k,j}^{(m)}`$. This yields that

$$a_na_m=\underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}\underset{j=1}{\overset{j(k)}{}}P_a(E_{k,j}^{(m)})(\lambda _k^{(n)}\lambda _{k,j}^{(m)}).$$
(5)
Furthermore,

$`\stackrel{~}{a}_n`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}}P_a(E_k^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}\lambda _k^{(n)}={\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}}P_a({\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{j(k)}{}}}E_{k,j}^{(m)})^{(2l+1)}\lambda _k^{(n)}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}}({\displaystyle \underset{j_0=1}{\overset{j(k)}{}}}P_a(E_{k,j_0}^{(m)}))\mathrm{}({\displaystyle \underset{j_{2l}=1}{\overset{j(k)}{}}}P_a(E_{k,j_{2l}}^{(m)}))\lambda _k^{(n)}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}}({\displaystyle \underset{j_0=1}{\overset{j(k)}{}}}\mathrm{}{\displaystyle \underset{j_{2l}=1}{\overset{j(k)}{}}}P_a(E_{k,j_0}^{(m)})\mathrm{}P_a(E_{k,j_{2l}}^{(m)}))\lambda _k^{(n)}`$
and $`\stackrel{~}{a}_m=_{k=1}^{k_n}_{j=1}^{j(k)}P_a(E_{k,j}^{(m)})^{(2l+1)}\lambda _{k,j}^{(m)}`$.

For brevity we shall use the following notation

$$\stackrel{~}{}_{j_0,\mathrm{},j_{2l}=1}^{j(k)}:=\underset{\{1j_0\mathrm{}j_{2l}j(k):j_pj_q\}}{}$$

for the sum over $`j_0,\mathrm{},j_{2l}`$ from one to $`j(k)`$, where not all indices coinside.

So we obtain

$`\stackrel{~}{a}_n\stackrel{~}{a}_m`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{j(k)}{}}}P_a(E_{k,j}^{(m)})^{(2l+1)}(\lambda _k^{(n)}\lambda _{k,j}^{(m)})`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}}(\stackrel{~}{{\displaystyle }}_{j_0,\mathrm{},j_{2l}=1}^{j(k)}P_a(E_{k,j_0}^{(m)})\mathrm{}P_a(E_{k,j_{2l}}^{(m)}))\lambda _k^{(n)}`$
$`=`$ $`\alpha _{n,m}+\gamma _{n,m},`$
where by $`\alpha _{n,m}`$ $`(\gamma _{n,m})`$ we denote the first (the second) summand in expression (5).

The following result is the main ingredient of our definition of the map $`T`$.

###### Theorem 3

Let $`\{p_i\}_{i=1}^NM_r(A)`$ be a family of pairwise orthogonal projections and $`\eta =\stackrel{~}{}_{j_0,\mathrm{},j_{2l}=1}^Np_{j_0}\mathrm{}p_{j_{2l}}`$. Then the element $`\eta `$ belongs to the kernel of the face operator $`\beta _{2l}`$. Besides, $`\eta _{𝒞_{2l}(M_r(A))}=0`$.

Proof. We have

$$\eta =(\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}p_j)^{(2l+1)}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}p_j^{(2l+1)}.$$

So $`\eta `$ belongs to the kernel of the face operator $`\beta _{2l}`$ as a difference of elements from $`Ker\beta _{2l}`$.

Now let us examine the following element

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\alpha & \hfill :=& Tr_{}(_{j=1}^Np_j)^{(2l+1)}_{HC}\hfill \\ & \hfill =& (1)^lCh_{2l}^0(_{j=1}^N[p_j])=_{j=1}^N(1)^lCh_{2l}^0([p_j])\hfill \\ & \hfill =& _{j=1}^NTr_{}p_j^{(2l+1)}_{HC}=Tr_{}_{j=1}^Np_j^{(2l+1)}_{HC}.\hfill \end{array}$$

On the other hand,

$$\alpha =Tr_{}\underset{j_0,\mathrm{},j_{2l}=1}{\overset{N}{}}p_{j_0}\mathrm{}p_{j_{2l}}_{HC}.$$

Thus,

$$\begin{array}{ccc}0& =& Tr_{}_{j_0,\mathrm{},j_{2l}=1}^Np_{j_0}\mathrm{}p_{j_{2l}}_{HC}Tr_{}_{j=1}^Np_j^{(2l+1)}_{HC}\hfill \\ & =& Tr_{}_{j_0,\mathrm{},j_{2l}=1}^Np_{j_0}\mathrm{}p_{j_{2l}}_{j=1}^Np_j^{(2l+1)}_{HC}\hfill \\ & =& Tr_{}\stackrel{~}{}_{j_0,\mathrm{},j_{2l}=1}^Np_{j_0}\mathrm{}p_{j_{2l}}_{HC}.\hfill \end{array}$$

The trace map is an isomorphism. Therefore we conclude

$$\eta _{HC}=\stackrel{~}{}_{j_0,\mathrm{},j_{2l}=1}^Np_{j_0}\mathrm{}p_{j_{2l}}_{HC}=0.$$

Whence, $`\eta _𝒞=\pi _{}(\eta _{HC})=0`$, where $`\pi _{}`$ is map (3). $`\mathrm{}`$

Now let us return to expressions (5),(5). By the previous theorem, we see that $`\gamma _{n,m}_𝒞=0`$ so $`\stackrel{~}{a}_n\stackrel{~}{a}_m_𝒞=\alpha _{n,m}_𝒞`$.

We claim that $`\alpha _{n,m}=a_na_m`$. Indeed, it is clear that elements $`a_na_m`$ and $`\alpha _{n,m}`$ are normal. Besides, $`sp(a_na_m)\{0\}`$ and $`sp(\alpha _{n,m})\{0\}`$ coinside with the set $`\{\lambda _k^{(n)}\lambda _{k,j}^{(m)}\}_{k=1;j=1}^{k_n;j(k)}`$. This implies that spectral radii of these elements coinside too. Thus we obtain the desired statement.

So we can write

$$\stackrel{~}{a}_n\stackrel{~}{a}_m_𝒞=\alpha _{n,m}_𝒞\alpha _{n,m}=a_na_m.$$
(7)
By Lemma 4 and inequality (7), we conclude that $`\{Tr_{}(\stackrel{~}{a}_n_𝒞)\}_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ is a Cauchy sequence. Therefore it converges to some element $`T(a;\{a_n\})𝒞_{2l}(A)`$.

It remains to verify that the limit $`T(a;\{a_n\})`$ does not depend on $`\{a_n\}`$. Let us regard covers $`^{(n)}=\{E_k^{(n)}\}_{k=1}^{k_n}`$ and $`^{(n)}=\{F_j^{(n)}\}_{j=1}^{j_n}`$ of the spectrum of $`a`$ by disjoint Borel sets. Besides, we shall assume that the diameter of each of these sets does not exceed $`1/n`$. Also, for any $`\mu _j^{(n)}F_j^{(n)}`$ let us examine a sequence $`\{c_n\}_{n=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$, where $`c_n=_{j=1}^{j_n}P_a(F_j^{(n)})\mu _j^{(n)}`$.

###### Theorem 4

The elements $`T(a;\{a_n\})`$ and $`T(a;\{c_n\})`$ coinside. Thus the map

$$T:M_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu 𝒞_{2l}(A),aT(a;\{a_n\})=T(a)$$

is well defined.

Proof. Let us denote $`X_{k,j}^{(n)}=E_k^{(n)}F_j^{(n)}`$. Then

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill a_n=_{k=1}^{k_n}P_a(E_k^{(n)})\lambda _k^{(n)}& =& _{k=1}^{k_n}P_a(_{j=1}^{j(n)}E_k^{(n)}F_j^{(n)})\lambda _k^{(n)}\hfill \\ & =& _{k=1}^{k_n}_{j=1}^{j_n}P_a(X_{k,j}^{(n)})\lambda _k^{(n)}\hfill \end{array}$$

and by the same reason $`c_n=_{k=1}^{k_n}_{j=1}^{j_n}P_a(X_{k,j}^{(n)})\mu _j^{(n)}`$. Hence,

$$a_nc_n=\underset{k=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}\underset{j=1}{\overset{j_n}{}}P_a(X_{k,j}^{(n)})(\lambda _k^{(n)}\mu _j^{(n)}).$$
(8)
If $`X_{k,j}^{(n)}=\mathrm{}`$, then $`P_a(X_{k,j}^{(n)})=0`$. Therefore we can assume that $`X_{k,j}^{(n)}\mathrm{}`$ in expression (8). In this case let us consider $`zX_{k,j}^{(n)}`$. We deduce that $`|\lambda _k^{(n)}\mu _j^{(n)}||\lambda _k^{(n)}z|+|z\mu _j^{(n)}|1/n+1/n=2/n`$ for all $`1kk_n`$, $`1jj_n`$. Note that $`a_nc_n`$ is a normal element. Therefore,

$$a_nc_n=sup\{|\lambda _k^{(n)}\mu _j^{(n)}|:X_{k,j}^{(n)}\mathrm{},1kk_n,1jj_n\}2/n.$$
(9)
On the other hand, we have

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\stackrel{~}{a}_n& =& _{k=1}^{k_n}P_a(E_k^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}\lambda _k^{(n)}=_{k=1}^{k_n}(P_a(_{j=1}^{j(n)}X_{k,j}^{(n)}))^{(2l+1)}\lambda _k^{(n)}\hfill \\ & =& _{k=1}^{k_n}_{j_0,\mathrm{}j_{2l}=1}^{j_n}P_a(X_{k,j_0}^{(n)})\mathrm{}P_a(X_{k,j_{2l}}^{(n)})\lambda _k^{(n)}\hfill \end{array}$$

and by the same reason

$$\stackrel{~}{c}_n=\underset{j=1}{\overset{j_n}{}}\underset{k_0,\mathrm{}k_{2l}=1}{\overset{k_n}{}}P_a(X_{j,k_0}^{(n)})\mathrm{}P_a(X_{j,k_{2l}}^{(n)})\mu _j^{(n)}.$$

Thus we obtain

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\stackrel{~}{a}_n\stackrel{~}{c}_n& =& _{k=1}^{k_n}_{j=1}^{j_n}P_a(X_{k,j}^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}(\lambda _k^{(n)}\mu _j^{(n)})\hfill \\ & +& _{k=1}^{k_n}(\stackrel{~}{}_{j_0,\mathrm{},j_{2l}=1}^{j(n)}P_a(X_{k,j_0}^{(n)})\mathrm{}P_a(X_{k,j_{2l}}^{(n)}))\lambda _k^{(n)}\hfill \\ & & _{j=1}^{j_n}(\stackrel{~}{}_{k_0,\mathrm{},k_{2l}=1}^{k(n)}P_a(X_{j,k_0}^{(n)})\mathrm{}P_a(X_{j,k_{2l}}^{(n)}))\mu _j^{(n)}\hfill \\ & =& \gamma _n^{(1)}+\gamma _n^{(2)}\gamma _n^{(3)}.\hfill \end{array}$$

From Theorem 3 we conclude that $`\gamma _n^{(2)}_𝒞=\gamma _n^{(3)}_𝒞=0`$. The elements $`a_nc_n`$ and $`\gamma _n^{(1)}`$ are normal. Furtermore, the sets $`sp(a_nc_n)\{0\}`$ and $`sp(\gamma _n^{(1)})\{0\}`$ coinside. Therefore, $`a_nc_n=\gamma _n^{(1)}`$. Using inequality (9), we obtain

$$\stackrel{~}{a}_n_𝒞\stackrel{~}{c}_n_𝒞=\gamma _n^{(1)}_𝒞\gamma _n^{(1)}=a_nc_n2/n.$$

Therefore, $`Tr_{}(\stackrel{~}{a}_n_𝒞)Tr_{}(\stackrel{~}{c}_n_𝒞)2Tr_{}/n`$. This estimate implies that

$$T(a,\{a_n\})=\underset{n}{lim}Tr_{}(\stackrel{~}{a}_n_𝒞)=\underset{n}{lim}Tr_{}(\stackrel{~}{c}_n_𝒞)=T(a,\{c_n\}).$$

The proof is complete. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Proposition 4

Suppose $`a,bM_{\mathrm{}}(A)_\nu `$ are equivalent in the sence of Definition 1. Then $`T(a)=T(b)`$.

Proof. For each $`n𝐍`$ let us cover the space $`sp(a)sp(b)`$ by disjoint Borel sets and enlarge this system of sets to a disjoint cover $`\{E_k^{(n)}\}_{k=0}^{k_n}`$ of the space $`sp(a)sp(b)`$. As above, we suppose that $`\mathrm{diam}(E_k^{(n)})1/n`$ for all $`0kk_n`$. Also, let us consider $`\lambda _k^{(n)}E_k^{(n)}`$. If $`0sp(a)sp(b)`$, then we shall assume that $`0E_0^{(n)}`$ and $`\lambda _0^{(n)}=0`$. In the opposite case, we put $`E_0^{(n)}=\mathrm{}`$. Furtemore, for any $`1kk_n`$ we can assume that $`E_k^{(n)}`$ is an admissible Borel set.

Projections $`P_a(E_k^{(n)})`$ and $`P_b(E_k^{(n)})`$ are stably equivalent for all $`k,n1`$. Therefore, $`Ch_{2l}^0([P_a(E_k^{(n)})])=Ch_{2l}^0([P_b(E_k^{(n)})])`$. Since the trace map is an isomorphism, we conclude that $`P_a(E_k^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}_{HC}=P_b(E_k^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}_{HC}`$. Thus,

$$\begin{array}{ccc}P_a(E_k^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}_𝒞& =& \pi _{}(P_a(E_k^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}_{HC})\hfill \\ & =& \pi _{}(P_b(E_k^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}_{HC})=P_b(E_k^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}_𝒞,\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`\pi _{}`$ is map (3). So we obtain that

$$\stackrel{~}{a}_n_𝒞=\underset{k=0}{\overset{k_n}{}}P_a(E_k^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}_𝒞\lambda _k^{(n)}=\underset{k=0}{\overset{k_n}{}}P_b(E_k^{(n)})^{(2l+1)}_𝒞\lambda _k^{(n)}=\stackrel{~}{b}_n_𝒞$$

for all $`n1`$ so $`T(a)=T(b)`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Definition 3

We define the generalized Chern character as the map

$$𝒞h_{2l}^0:N_0(A)𝒞_{2l}(A),[a][b](1)^l(T(a)T(b)).$$

It follows from Proposition 4 that the generalized Chern character is well defined. An immediate verification gives us

###### Proposition 5

The generalized Chern character is a homomorphism of groups. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Theorem 5

For any $`l0`$ there is a commutative diagramm

$$\begin{array}{ccc}K_0(A)& & N_0(A)\\ Ch_0^{2l}& & 𝒞h_0^{2l}\\ HC_{2l}(A)& \stackrel{\pi _{}}{}& 𝒞_{2l}(A),\end{array}$$

where $`\pi _{}`$ is map (3).

Proof. Under the notation of the beginning of this section let us argue as follows. Let $`pM_{\mathrm{}}(A)`$ be a projection. In this case the cover $`^{(n)}`$ of the spectrum of $`p`$ coinside with the set $`\{\{1\},\{0\}\}`$ for all $`n1`$. Therefore for all $`n1`$ we have $`\stackrel{~}{p}_n=p^{(2l+1)}`$. Finally, we obtain

$$\begin{array}{ccc}𝒞h_0^{2l}([p])& =& lim_nTr_{}((1)^l\stackrel{~}{p}_n_{𝒞_{2l}})\hfill \\ & =& lim_nTr_{}((1)^lp^{(2l+1)}_{𝒞_{2l}})\hfill \\ & =& Tr_{}((1)^lp^{(2l+1)}_{𝒞_{2l}})\hfill \\ & =& (1)^lTr(p^{(2l+1)})_{𝒞_{2l}}\hfill \\ & =& \pi _{}((1)^lTr(p^{(2l+1)})_{HC_{2l}})=\pi _{}Ch_{2l}^0([p]).\hfill \end{array}$$

The proof is complete. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Theorem 6

For any $`l0`$ there is a commutative diagramm

$$\begin{array}{ccc}N_0(A)_{fin}& \stackrel{h}{}& K_0(A)𝐂\\ 𝒞h_0^{2l}& & \stackrel{~}{Ch}_0^{2l}\\ 𝒞_{2l}(A)& \stackrel{\pi _{}}{}& HC_{2l}(A),\end{array}$$

where $`h`$ is map (1) and $`\stackrel{~}{Ch}_{2l}^0([p]\lambda )=Ch_{2l}^0([p])\lambda `$.

Proof. Let $`a`$ be an element of $`M_{\mathrm{}}(A)_{fin}`$ such that $`sp(a)=\{\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _n\}`$. Assume $`p_i:=P_a(\{\lambda _i\})`$. Then we have

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\pi _{}\stackrel{~}{Ch}_0^{2l}h([a])& =& \pi _{}\stackrel{~}{Ch}_0^{2l}(_{i=1}^n[p_i]\lambda _i)\hfill \\ & =& \pi _{}(_{i=1}^nCh_0^{2l}([p_i])\lambda _i)\hfill \\ & =& _{i=1}^nTr_{}((1)^lp_i^{(2l+1)}_𝒞)\lambda _i.\hfill \end{array}$$

On the other hand, we can suppose that $`^{(k)}=\{\{\lambda _1\},\mathrm{},\{\lambda _n\}\}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{a}_k=_{i=1}^np_i^{(2l+1)}\lambda _i`$ for all $`k1`$. Whence,

$$\begin{array}{ccc}𝒞h_0^{2l}([a])=(1)^lT(a)& =& (1)^llim_kTr_{}\stackrel{~}{a}_k_𝒞\hfill \\ & =& (1)^l_{i=1}^nTr_{}(p_i^{(2l+1)}_𝒞)\lambda _i.\mathrm{}\hfill \end{array}$$

In particular, Theorem 6 implies that one can extend the generalized Chern character to the map from the quotient group $`N_0(A)/Kerh`$ to the even Banach homology.

## 6 Generalized Lefshetz numbers

Suppose $`A`$, as above, is a von Neumann algebra, $`G`$ is a compact Lie group, and $`X`$ is a compact $`G`$-manifold. Let us denote by $`𝒫(A)`$ the category of finitely generated projective modules over $`A`$.

Let us recall some notation from . The set of all $`G`$-$`A`$-bundles over $`X`$ is an abelian semigroup with respect to the direct sum operation. The symmetrization of this semigroup is denoted by $`K_G(X;A)`$. Assume $`K^G(A):=K_G(pt;A)`$. In this situation there is an isomorphism

$$K^G(A)K_0(A)R(G),$$
(10)
where $`R(G)`$ is the ring of representations for $`G`$.

Let us consider a sequence $`\{E^i\}`$ of $`G`$-$`A`$-bundles over $`X`$ together with equivariant pseudo-differential operators $`\{d_i:\mathrm{\Gamma }(E^i)\mathrm{\Gamma }(E^{i1})\}`$, where by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(E^i)`$ we denote the Banach (with respect to the uniform topology) $`A`$-module of continuous sections of $`E^i`$. Besides, let us denote by $`\sigma _i`$ the symbol of $`d_i`$. Then this sequence of bundles and operators is called a $`G`$-$`A`$-elliptic complex (and is denoted by $`(E,d)`$) if it satisfies the following conditions:

(i) $`d_id_{i+1}=0,`$

(ii) the sequence of symbols

$$0\pi ^{}E^n\stackrel{\sigma _n}{}\pi ^{}E^{n1}\mathrm{}\stackrel{\sigma _1}{}\pi ^{}E^00$$

is exact out of some compact neighbourhood of the zero section $`XT^{}X`$. Here $`\pi :T^{}XX`$ is the natural projection.

The index of the elliptic operator $`F=d+d^{}:\mathrm{\Gamma }(E_{ev})\mathrm{\Gamma }(E_{od})`$ is an element of the group $`K^G(A)`$. Furthermore, for any $`gG`$ by computation of the character we can define the map $`g:R(G)𝐂`$. Whence, using isomorphism (10), we obtain the map

$$g:K^G(A)K_0(A)𝐂.$$

Then the Lefschetz number of the first type is defined as follows

$$L_1(E,g)=g(\mathrm{index}(F))K_0(A)𝐂.$$

Note that there exists a connection between these Lefschetz numbers and fixed points of $`g`$ (see ).

Now let us consider an $`A`$-elliptic complex $`(E,d)`$ and its unitary endomorphism $`U`$. Furthermore, we shall assume that $`U=U_g`$ for some representation $`U_g`$ of a compact Lie group $`G`$.

Let $``$ be a Hilbert $`A`$-module (see, for example, ). We denote by $`\mathrm{End}_A()`$ the Banach algebra of all bounded $`A`$-homomorphisms of $``$. Now let us consider some strongly continuous representation $`G\mathrm{End}_A()`$. Then this representation is called unitary, if $`gx,gy=x,y`$ for any $`gG,x,y`$. A Hilbert $`A`$-module together with a unitary representation of the group $`G`$ is called a Hilbert $`G`$-$`A`$-module. Besides, a set $`\{x\}_{\beta B}`$ is a system of generators for $``$, if finite sums $`\{_kx_ka_k:a_kA\}`$ are dense in $``$.

We need the following result of .

###### Theorem 7

Let $``$ be a countably generated Hilbert $`G`$-$`A`$-module. Besides, let $`\{V_\pi \}`$ be a full system of pairwise not isomorphic unitary finite-dimentional irreducible representations for $`G`$. Then there exists a $`G`$-$`A`$-isomorphism

$$\underset{\pi }{}\mathrm{Hom}_G(V_\pi ,)_𝐂V_\pi .$$

Here the algebra $`A`$ (the group $`G`$) acts on the first (on the second) multiplier of the space $`\mathrm{Hom}_G(V_\pi ,)_𝐂V_\pi `$. $`\mathrm{}`$

Let the $`G`$-$`A`$-module $``$ belong to the class $`𝒫(A)`$. Then it is clear that $`_\pi :=\mathrm{Hom}_G(V_\pi ,)𝒫(A)`$. Furthermore, only finite number of terms in the sum $`\underset{\pi }{}_\pi _𝐂V_\pi `$ is not equal to zero (see \[13, 1.3.49\]).

In particular, we obtain for $`=A^n`$ the following formula

$$A^n\underset{k=1}{\overset{M}{}}Q_kV_k,$$

where $`V_k𝐂^{L_k}`$ and $`Q_k𝒫(A)`$. Therefore,

$$U_g(\underset{k=1}{\overset{M}{}}x_kv_k)=\underset{k=1}{\overset{M}{}}x_ku_g^kv_k=\underset{k=1}{\overset{M}{}}\underset{s=1}{\overset{L_k}{}}x_ke^{i\phi _s^k}v_k^sf_s.$$
(11)
Here $`f_1,\mathrm{},f_{L_k}`$ is a basis for $`V_k`$ such that the operator $`u_g^k`$ is diagonal with respect to it; $`v_k=v_k^sf_s`$. In this case let us define

$$\tau (U_g)=\underset{k=1}{\overset{M}{}}Ch_{2l}^0[Q_k]\mathrm{Trace}(u_g^k)HC_{2l}(A).$$

The following result was proved in .

###### Lemma 5

For the $`A`$-Fredholm operator $`F=d+d^{}:\mathrm{\Gamma }(E_{ev})\mathrm{\Gamma }(E_{od})`$ there exists a decomposition

$$F:M_0\stackrel{~}{N_0}M_1\stackrel{~}{N_1},F:M_0M_1$$
(12)
such that

$$\stackrel{~}{N_0}=\underset{j=0}{\overset{T}{}}N_{2j},\stackrel{~}{N_1}=\underset{j=1}{\overset{T}{}}N_{2j1},N_m\mathrm{\Gamma }(E_m),$$

where $`N_m`$ are projective $`U`$-invariant Hilbert $`A`$-modules. $`\mathrm{}`$

Now the Lefschetz number of the second type is defined as follows

$$L_{2l}(E,U_g)=\underset{j}{}(1)^j\tau (U_g|N_j)HC_{2l}(A).$$

This definition is well.

For more detail about W\*-Lefschetz numbers we refer to the works .

Now let us consider an $`A`$-elliptic complex $`(E,d)`$ and an arbitrary unitary endomorphism $`U`$ of it ($`U`$ is not necessarily an element of some representation of $`G`$). In this situation let us formulate the following

###### Definition 4

We define the generalized Lefschetz number $`_1`$ as follows

$$_1(E,U)=\underset{j}{}(1)^j[U|N_j]N_0(A).$$

Note that generalized Lefschetz numbers are well defined. This follows by the same reason that for the Lefschetz numbers of the second type (see \[13, 5.2.21\]).

###### Theorem 8

Let $`U`$ be a unitary endomorphism of an $`A`$-elliptic complex $`(E,d)`$. Besides, suppose that $`U=U_g`$ for some representation $`U_g`$ of a compact Lie group $`G`$. Then $`_1(E,U_g)`$ belongs to the group $`N_0(A)_{fin}`$ and $`h(_1(E,U_g))=L_1(E,U_g)`$, where $`h`$ is map (1).

Proof. Let us examine decomposition (12) for $`F`$. We have shown above that there exist isomorphisms

$$N_{2j}\underset{k_j=1}{\overset{K_j}{}}P_{k_j}^{(j)}V_{k_j}^{(j)},N_{2j1}\underset{l_j=1}{\overset{L_j}{}}Q_{l_j}^{(j)}W_{l_j}^{(j)},$$

where $`V_{k_j}^{(j)}`$ and $`W_{l_j}^{(j)}`$ are comlex vector spaces of irreducible unitary representations of $`G`$, $`P_{k_j}^{(j)}`$ and $`Q_{l_j}^{(j)}`$ are $`G`$-trivial modules from $`𝒫(A)`$. Thus we get

$$\mathrm{index}(F)=\underset{j=0}{\overset{T}{}}\underset{k_j=1}{\overset{K_j}{}}[P_{k_j}^{(j)}]\chi (V_{k_j}^{(j)})\underset{j=1}{\overset{T}{}}\underset{l_j=1}{\overset{L_j}{}}[Q_{l_j}^{(j)}]\chi (W_{l_j}^{(j)})$$

and

$$L_1(E,g)=\underset{j=0}{\overset{T}{}}\underset{k_j=1}{\overset{K_j}{}}[P_{k_j}^{(j)}]\mathrm{Trace}(g|V_{k_j}^{(j)})\underset{j=1}{\overset{T}{}}\underset{l_j=1}{\overset{L_j}{}}[Q_{l_j}^{(j)}]\mathrm{Trace}(g|W_{l_j}^{(j)}).$$

Here we have denoted by $`\chi `$ the character of the representation of $`G`$.

On the other hand, using expression (11), we conclude that

$$sp(U_g|(P_{k_j}^{(j)}V_{k_j}^{(j)}))=sp(u_g^{(j),k_j}|V_{k_j}^{(j)}).$$

This implies that $`_1(E,U_g)`$ belongs to the group $`N_0(A)_{fin}`$. Furtermore, for any $`e^{i\phi }`$ from $`sp(u_g^{(j),k_j}|V_{k_j}^{(j)})`$ the spectral projection of $`U_g`$ corresponding to this point is equal to $`P_{k_j}^{(j)}`$. Thus we obtain

$$\begin{array}{ccc}h(_1(E,U_g))& =& h(_{j=0}^{2T}(1)^j[U_g|N_j])\hfill \\ & =& h(_{j=0}^T_{k_j=1}^{K_j}[Id_{P_{k_j}^{(j)}}u_g^{(j),k_j}|V_{k_j}^{(j)}]\hfill \\ & & _{j=1}^T_{l_j=1}^{L_j}[Id_{Q_{l_j}^{(j)}}u_g^{(j),l_j}|W_{l_j}^{(j)}])\hfill \\ & =& h(_{j=0}^T_{k_j=1}^{K_j}[P_{k_j}^{(j)}\mathrm{Trace}(u_g^{(j),k_j}|V_{k_j}^{(j)})]\hfill \\ & & _{j=1}^T_{l_j=1}^{L_j}[Q_{l_j}^{(j)}\mathrm{Trace}(u_g^{(j),l_j}|W_{l_j}^{(j)})])\hfill \\ & =& _{j=0}^T_{k_j=1}^{K_j}[P_{k_j}^{(j)}]\mathrm{Trace}(u_g^{(j),k_j}|V_{k_j}^{(j)})\hfill \\ & & _{j=1}^T_{l_j=1}^{L_j}[Q_{l_j}^{(j)}]\mathrm{Trace}(u_g^{(j),l_j}|W_{l_j}^{(j)}).\hfill \end{array}$$

Thus we establish the required statement. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Theorem 9

Under the assumptions of the previous theorem, we have

$$\pi _{}(L_{2l}(E,U_g))=𝒞h_{2l}^0(_1(E,U_g)).$$

Here $`\pi _{}`$ is map (3).

Proof. From Theorems 68 we deduce that

$$\begin{array}{ccc}𝒞h_{2l}^0(_1(E,U_g))& =& \pi _{}\stackrel{~}{Ch}_{2l}^0h(_1(E,U_g))\hfill \\ & =& \pi _{}\stackrel{~}{Ch}_{2l}^0(L_1(E,g)).\hfill \end{array}$$

Furtermore, it follows from \[13, Theorem 5.2.22\] that $`\stackrel{~}{Ch}_{2l}^0(L_1(E,g))=L_{2l}(E,U_g)`$. The proof is complete. $`\mathrm{}`$

Acknowledgements. The author is grateful to Prof. E.V. Troitsky for the attention to the work and also to Dr. V.M. Manuilov and Prof. A.S. Mishchenko for helpful discussions.

Alexandre Pavlov

Chair of Higher Geometry and Topology

Dept. of Mech. and Mathematics

Moscow State University

Vorobjevi gori

Moscow 119899

Russia

email: pavlov@mech.math.msu.su


text:
# References

IMSc/2000/03/09

AN INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM ALGEBRAS
AND THEIR APPLICATIONS Article based on Narayani, N. and Kadayam S. Sankaran Memorial Lectures delivered by the author at the Department of Mathematics, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Mylapore, Chennai, on 23 & 27 January 1999

Ramaswamy JAGANATHAN

The Institute of Mathematical Sciences
C.I.T. Campus, Tharamani, Chennai - 600 113, India
E-Mail :jagan@imsc.ernet.in

Abstract : A very elementary introduction to quantum algebras is presented and a few examples of their physical applications are mentioned.

I shall give a very elementary introduction to the topic of quantum algebras and mention a few physical applications. Quantum algebras, or quantum groups, extend the domain of classical group theory and constitute a new and growing field of mathematics with vast potential for applications in physics. In fact, the origins of quantum groups lie in physics : in the studies on the behaviour of integrable systems in quantum field theory and statistical mechanics, using the quantum inverse scattering method, by Sklyanin, Kulish, Reshetikhin, Takhtajan, and Faddeev in the 1980s. Mathematical abstraction from the observations on the common features of these systems led to the definition of the concept of a quantum group and the studies of Drinfeld, Jimbo, Manin, Woronowicz, Connes, Wess, Zumino, Macfarlane, Biedenharn, …, revealed many aspects of quantum groups from different mathematical and physical points of view. I shall neither go into the history of the developements of the various significant concepts nor give any specific references to their origins. I shall cite at the end some books and articles which would give these details and lead to the vast literature on the subject of quantum groups and their applications.

Let us consider a two dimensional classical vector space whose elements can be written as

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}x\\ y\end{array}\right),$$
(1)
where the coordinates $`x`$ and $`y`$ are real variables and commute with each other, i.e.,

$$xy=yx.$$
(2)
In the space of functions $`\left\{f(x,y)\right\}`$ defined in the above vector space the partial derivative operations $`\frac{}{x}`$ and $`\frac{}{y}`$ and the operations of multiplications by $`x`$ and $`y`$ satisfy the differential calculus

$`[x,y]=0,[{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}},{\displaystyle \frac{}{y}}]`$ $`=`$ $`0,[{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}},y]=0,[{\displaystyle \frac{}{y}},x]=0,`$
$`[{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}},x]`$ $`=`$ $`1,[{\displaystyle \frac{}{y}},y]=1,`$ (3)
where the commutator bracket $`[,]`$ is defined by

$$[A,B]=ABBA.$$
(4)
Let us make a linear transformation of the vector $`\left(\begin{array}{c}x\\ y\end{array}\right)`$ as

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}x^{}\\ y^{}\end{array}\right)=M\left(\begin{array}{c}x\\ y\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}x\\ y\end{array}\right)$$
(5)
where the entries of the matrix $`M`$ are real and satisfy the condition

$$adbc=\text{det}M=1,$$
(6)
or in other words the transformation (5) is an element of the group $`SL(2,R)`$. Then, the new coordinates $`x^{}`$ and $`y^{}`$ and partial derivatives with respect to them, namely $`\frac{}{x^{}}`$ and $`\frac{}{y^{}}`$, also satisfy the same relations as (3). This is easily checked by noting

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{}{x^{}}\\ \\ \frac{}{y^{}}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill d& & \hfill c\\ & & \\ \hfill b& & \hfill a\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{}{x}\\ \\ \frac{}{y}\end{array}\right)=\stackrel{~}{M^1}\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{}{x}\\ \\ \frac{}{y}\end{array}\right),$$
(7)
where $`\stackrel{~}{A}`$ means the transpose of the matrix $`A`$. We say that the differential calculus on the two dimensional $`(x,y)`$-plane is covariant under the group $`SL(2,R)`$.

In nature all physical systems are quantum mechanical. But, the quantum mechanical behaviour is generally revealed only at the microscopic (molecular and deeper) level. At the macroscopic level of everyday experience quantum physics becomes classical physics as an approximation. So, only classical physics was discovered first and observations of failure of classical physics at the atomic level led to the discovery of quantum physics in the 20th century. This passage from classical physics to quantum physics can be mathematically described as a process of deformation of the classical physics wherein the commuting classical observables of a physical system are replaced by noncommuting hermitian operators. This process is characterized by a very small deformation parameter known as the Planck constant $`\mathrm{}`$ and, roughly speaking, in the limit $`\mathrm{}0`$ classical physics is recovered from the structure of quantum physics.

In analogy with the process of quantizing the classical physics let us now quantize the classical vector space to get a quantum vector space by assuming that the coordinates do not commute with each other at any point. Let us model the noncommutativity of the coordinates $`X`$ and $`Y`$ of a two dimensional quantum plane by

$$XY=qYX,$$
(8)
where $`q`$ is the deformation parameter which we shall consider, in general, to be any nonzero complex number. Note that in the limit $`q1`$ the noncommuting quantum coordinates $`X`$ and $`Y`$ become commuting classical coordinates. To be specific, let us choose

$$q=e^{i\theta }.$$
(9)
It is easy to find an example of such noncommuting variables. Let $`T_\alpha `$ and $`G_{\theta /\alpha }`$ be operators acting on functions of a single real variable $`x`$ such that

$$T_\alpha \psi (x)=\psi (x+\alpha ),G_{\theta /\alpha }\psi (x)=e^{i\theta x/\alpha }\psi (x).$$
(10)
Then, for any $`\psi (x)`$,

$$T_\alpha G_{\theta /\alpha }\psi (x)=e^{i\theta (x+\alpha )/\alpha }\psi (x+\alpha )=e^{i\theta }G_{\theta /\alpha }T_\alpha \psi (x),$$
(11)
for a given fixed value of $`\theta `$. Thus, with the variation of $`\alpha `$, $`T_\alpha `$ and $`G_{\theta /\alpha }`$ become noncommuting variables obeying the relation

$$T_\alpha G_{\theta /\alpha }=e^{i\theta }G_{\theta /\alpha }T_\alpha ,$$
(12)
with fixed value for $`\theta `$.

Now the interesting questions are :

* Is it possible to define a differential calculus on the two dimensional $`(X,Y)`$-plane?
* If so, will it be covariant under some generalization of the classical group $`SL(2)`$?

The answers are yes, yes! First let us understand how one can give a meaning to partial derivatives with respect to $`X`$ and $`Y`$. These have to operate on the space of functions $`\left\{f(X,Y)\right\}`$ which we shall consider to be polynomials in $`X`$ and $`Y`$. We can write $`f(X,Y)=_{m,n}f_{mn}X^mY^n`$ since any polynomial in $`X`$ and $`Y`$, with coefficients commuting with $`X`$ and $`Y`$, can be brought to this form using the commutation relation (8). Then, if we take formally

$$\frac{}{X}X^m=mX^{m1},\frac{}{Y}Y^n=nY^{n1},$$
(13)
we would have a differential calculus in the $`(X,Y)`$-plane, as desired, once we prescribe consistently the remaining commutation relations between $`X`$, $`Y`$, $`\frac{}{X}`$ and $`\frac{}{Y}`$.

Without going into any further details, let me state the complete set of commutation relations defining the differential calculus in the $`(X,Y)`$-plane (with $`q=e^{i\theta }`$) :

$`XY=qYX,{\displaystyle \frac{}{X}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{Y}}=q^1{\displaystyle \frac{}{Y}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{X}},{\displaystyle \frac{}{X}}Y=qY{\displaystyle \frac{}{X}},{\displaystyle \frac{}{Y}}X=qX{\displaystyle \frac{}{Y}},`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{X}}Xq^2X{\displaystyle \frac{}{X}}=1+(q^21)Y{\displaystyle \frac{}{Y}},{\displaystyle \frac{}{Y}}Yq^2Y{\displaystyle \frac{}{Y}}=1.`$ (14)
This noncommutative differential calculus on the two-dimensional quantum plane is seen to be covariant under the transformations

$`\left(\begin{array}{c}X^{}\\ Y^{}\end{array}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`T\left(\begin{array}{c}X\\ Y\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}A& B\\ C& D\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}X\\ Y\end{array}\right)`$ (23)
$`\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{}{X^{}}\\ \\ \frac{}{Y^{}}\end{array}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{T^1}\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{}{X}\\ \\ \frac{}{Y}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}D& & qC\\ & & \\ q^1B& & A\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{}{X}\\ \\ \frac{}{Y}\end{array}\right),`$ (36)
provided

$$A,B,C,\text{and}D\text{commute with}X\text{and}Y,$$
(37)
$`AB=qBA,CD=qDC,AC=qCA,BD=qDB,`$
$`BC=CB,ADDA=\left(qq^1\right)BC,`$ (38)
and

$$ADqBC=\text{det}_qT=1.$$
(39)
In other words $`X^{},Y^{},\frac{}{X^{}},\text{and}\frac{}{Y^{}}`$ defined by (36) satisfy the relations obtained from (14) by just replacing $`X`$ and $`Y`$ by $`X^{}`$ and $`Y^{}`$ respectively. Note that $`\text{det}_qT`$ defined in (38) commutes with all the matrix elements of $`T`$. Verify that

$$T^1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}D& q^1B\\ qC& A\end{array}\right)$$
(40)
is such that

$$TT^1=T^1T=1\mathrm{l}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 1& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 1\end{array}\right).$$
(41)
A matrix $`T=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill A& \hfill B\\ \hfill C& \hfill D\end{array}\right)`$ is called a $`2\times 2`$ quantum matrix if its matrix elements $`\{A,B,C,D\}`$ satisfy the commutation relations in (38). In the limit $`q1`$ a quantum matrix $`T`$ becomes a classical matrix with commuting elements. Note that the identity matrix $`1\mathrm{l}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 1& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 1\end{array}\right)`$ is a quantum matrix.

Entries of a quantum matrix $`T`$ are noncommuting variables satisfying the commutation relations (38). Let $`T_1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill A_1& \hfill B_1\\ \hfill C_1& \hfill D_1\end{array}\right)`$ and $`T_2=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill A_2& \hfill B_2\\ \hfill C_2& \hfill D_2\end{array}\right)`$ be any two quantum matrices; i.e., $`\{A_1,B_1,C_1,D_1\}`$ obey the relations (38), and $`\{A_2,B_2,C_2,D_2\}`$ also obey the relations (38). The matrix elements of $`T_1`$ and $`T_2`$ may be ordinary classical matrices satisfying the required relations (38). Define the product

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(T)`$ $`=`$ $`T_1\dot{}T_2=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill A_1& \hfill B_1\\ \hfill C_1& \hfill D_1\end{array}\right)\dot{}\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill A_2& \hfill B_2\\ \hfill C_2& \hfill D_2\end{array}\right)`$ (46)
$`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill A_1A_2+B_1C_2& \hfill A_1B_2+B_1D_2\\ \hfill C_1A_2+D_1C_2& \hfill C_1B_2+D_1D_2\end{array}\right)`$ (49)
$`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(A)& \hfill \mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(B)\\ \hfill \mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(C)& \hfill \mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(D)\end{array}\right)`$ (52)
where $``$ denotes the direct product with the property $`(PR)(QS)=PQRS`$. Then one finds that the matrix elements of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(T)`$, namely,

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(A)`$ $`=`$ $`A_1A_2+B_1C_2,\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(B)=A_1B_2+B_1D_2,`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(C)`$ $`=`$ $`C_1A_2+D_1C_2,\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(D)=C_1B_2+D_1D_2,`$ (53)
also satisfy the commutation relations (38). In other words, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(T)`$ is also a quantum matrix. This product, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(T)=T_1\dot{}T_2`$, is called the coproduct or comultiplication. Note that there is no inverse for this coproduct. Under this coproduct the $`2\times 2`$ quantum matrices $`\left\{T=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill A& \hfill B\\ \hfill C& \hfill D\end{array}\right)\right\}`$ form a pseudomatrix group, commonly called a quantum group, denoted by $`SL_q(2)`$. The algebra of functions over $`SL_q(2)`$, or the algebra of polynomials in $`\{A,B,C,D\}`$, is denoted by $`Fun_q(SL(2))`$. The coproduct operation ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$) defined by (53), is symbolically written as

$`\mathrm{\Delta }(A)`$ $`=`$ $`AA+BC,\mathrm{\Delta }(B)=AB+BD,`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }(C)`$ $`=`$ $`CA+DC,\mathrm{\Delta }(D)=CB+DD.`$ (54)
For any $`f(A,B,C,D)Fun_q(SL(2))`$ the definition of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is extended as $`\mathrm{\Delta }f(A,B,C,D)=f(\mathrm{\Delta }(A),\mathrm{\Delta }(B),\mathrm{\Delta }(C),\mathrm{\Delta }(D))`$. The algebra $`Fun_q(SL(2))`$ is technically a Hopf algebra. To complete this algebraic structure two more operations called the coinverse (or antipode) denoted by $`S`$, and the counit denoted by $`\epsilon `$, are defined and these operations $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, $`S`$, and $`\epsilon `$ are required to satisfy certain axioms. We shall not consider these details of the Hopf algebraic structure. From the point of view physical applications quantum groups provide a generalization of symmetry concepts and involve mainly two fundamental new ideas : deformation and noncommutative comultiplication.

The matrix $`T=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill A& \hfill B\\ \hfill C& \hfill D\end{array}\right)`$ corresponds to the fundamental irreducible representation of $`SL_q(2)`$. Higher dimensional representations are defined as follows. An $`n\times n`$ matrix

$$T=\left(T_{ij}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}T_{11}& T_{12}& \mathrm{}& T_{1n}\\ T_{21}& T_{22}& \mathrm{}& T_{2n}\\ .& .& \mathrm{}& .\\ .& .& \mathrm{}& .\\ T_{n1}& T_{n2}& \mathrm{}& T_{nn}\end{array}\right),$$
(55)
is said to be an $`n`$-dimensional representation of $`SL_q(2)`$ if its matrix elements $`\left(T_{ij}\right)`$ are polynomials in $`\{A,B,C,D\}`$, or in other words elements of $`Fun_q(SL(2))`$, and satisfy the property

$`\left(T\dot{}T\right)_{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{n}{}}}T_{il}T_{lj}=\mathrm{\Delta }\left(T_{ij}\right)`$ (56)
$`=`$ $`T_{ij}(\mathrm{\Delta }(A),\mathrm{\Delta }(B),\mathrm{\Delta }(C),\mathrm{\Delta }(D)),i,j=1,2,\mathrm{},n.`$
Now, for example, look at

$$T^{(1)}=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}A^2& \sqrt{1+q^2}AB& B^2\\ \sqrt{1+q^2}AC& AD+q^1BC& \sqrt{1+q^2}BD\\ C^2& \sqrt{1+q^2}CD& D^2\end{array}\right).$$
(57)
It can be verified that $`T^{(1)}`$ is the $`3`$-dimensional representation of $`SL_q(2)`$. For instance, see that

$`\left(T^{(1)}\dot{}T^{(1)}\right)_{11}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{3}{}}}T_{1l}^{(1)}T_{l1}^{(1)}`$ (58)
$`=`$ $`A^2A^2+\left(1+q^2\right)ABAC+B^2C^2`$
$`=`$ $`A^2A^2+ABAC+BACA+B^2C^2`$
$`=`$ $`(AA+BC)^2=(\mathrm{\Delta }(A))^2=\mathrm{\Delta }\left(T_{11}^{(1)}\right),`$
as required. Similarly, for other matrix elements of $`T^{(1)}`$ one can verify the property (56), namely,

$$\left(T\dot{}T\right)_{ij}=\mathrm{\Delta }\left(T_{ij}\right).$$
(59)
In the theory of classical Lie groups we know that an element of a Lie group $`G`$, say $`g`$, can be written as

$$g=e^{ϵ_1L_1}e^{ϵ_2L_2}\mathrm{}e^{ϵ_nL_n},$$
(60)
where the parameters $`\left\{ϵ_i\right\}`$ characterize the group element $`g`$ and $`\left\{L_i\right\}`$ are constant generators of the group $`G`$ satisfying a Lie algebra

$$[L_i,L_j]=\underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}C_{ij}^kL_k,i,j=1,2,\mathrm{},n,$$
(61)
with $`\left\{C_{ij}^k\right\}`$ as the structure constants. When the group element $`g`$ is close to the identity element ($`I`$) of the group, the parameters $`\left\{ϵ_i\right\}`$ are infinitesimals and one can write

$$gI+\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}ϵ_iL_i.$$
(62)
Now, the interesting question is

* Is there an analogue of the Lie algebra in the case of a quantum group?

The answer is yes! To this end, first we have to recall some basic notions of the theory of $`q`$-series.

One defines the $`q`$-shifted factorial by

$$(x;q)_n=\{\begin{array}{cc}1,\hfill & n=0,\hfill \\ (1x)(1xq)(1xq^2)\mathrm{}\left(1xq^{n1}\right),\hfill & n=1,2,\mathrm{}.\hfill \end{array}$$
(63)
Then, with the notation

$$(x_1,x_2,\mathrm{},x_m;q)_n=(x_1;q)_n(x_2;q)_n\mathrm{}(x_m;q)_n,$$
(64)
an $`{}_{r}{}^{}\varphi _{s}^{}`$ basic hypergeometric series, or a general $`q`$-hypergeometric series, is given by

$`{}_{r}{}^{}\varphi _{s}^{}(a_1,a_2,\mathrm{},a_r;b_1,b_2,\mathrm{},b_s;q,z)`$
$`={\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(a_1,a_2,\mathrm{},a_r;q)_n}{(b_1,b_2,\mathrm{},b_s;q)_n(q;q)_n}}\left((1)^nq^{n(n1)/2}\right)^{1+sr}z^n,`$
$`r,s=0,1,2,\mathrm{}.`$ (65)
Consider

$${}_{1}{}^{}\varphi _{0}^{}(0;;q,(1q)z)=e_q^z=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{z^n}{[n]_q!},$$
(66)
where

$`[n]_q={\displaystyle \frac{1q^n}{1q}},`$
$`[n]_q!=[n]_q[n1]_q[n2]_q\mathrm{}[2]_q[1]_q,n=1,2,\mathrm{},[0]_q!=1.`$ (67)
The $`q`$-number $`[n]_q`$, or the so-called basic number, was defined by Heine (1846). Much of Ramanujan’s work is related to these $`q`$-series. Note that

$$[n]_q\stackrel{q1}{}n,e_q^z\stackrel{q1}{}e^z.$$
(68)
Thus, $`e_q^z`$ defined by (66) is a $`q`$-generalization of the exponential function, called a $`q`$-exponential function ; note that there can be several generalizations of the exponential function satisfying the condition that in the limit $`q1`$ it should become the standard exponential function. In the theory of quantum groups a new definition of the $`q`$-number is often useful. It is

$$\left[\left[n\right]\right]_q=\frac{q^nq^n}{qq^1}.$$
(69)
Note that $`\left[\left[n\right]\right]_q`$ also becomes $`n`$ in the limit $`q1`$, and $`\left[\left[n\right]\right]_q`$ is symmetric with respect to the interchange of $`q`$ and $`q^1`$ unlike Heine’s $`[n]_q`$.

Now consider the $`2`$-dimensional $`T`$-matrix parametrized as

$$T=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill A& \hfill B\\ \hfill C& \hfill D\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^\alpha & e^\alpha \beta \\ \gamma e^\alpha & e^\alpha +\gamma e^\alpha \beta \end{array}\right),$$
(70)
which requires the variable parameters $`\{\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma \}`$ to satisfy a Lie algebra

$$[\alpha ,\beta ]=(\mathrm{log}q)\beta ,[\alpha ,\gamma ]=(\mathrm{log}q)\gamma ,[\beta ,\gamma ]=0,$$
(71)
so that $`\{A,B,C,D\}`$ obey the algebra (38). Then, one can write

$$T=e_{q^2}^{\gamma 𝒳_{}^{(1/2)}}e^{2\alpha 𝒳_0^{(1/2)}}e_{q^2}^{\beta 𝒳_+^{(1/2)}},$$
(72)
with

$$𝒳_0^{(1/2)}=\frac{1}{2}\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 1& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 1\end{array}\right),𝒳_{}^{(1/2)}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 0& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 1& \hfill 0\end{array}\right),𝒳_+^{(1/2)}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 0& \hfill 1\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 0\end{array}\right).$$
(73)
Of course, in this case, $`e_{q^2}^{\gamma 𝒳_{}^{(1/2)}}`$ and $`e_{q^2}^{\beta 𝒳_+^{(1/2)}}`$ are trivially the same as $`e^{\gamma 𝒳_{}^{(1/2)}}`$ and $`e^{\beta 𝒳_+^{(1/2)}}`$, respectively, since $`\left(𝒳_\pm ^{(1/2)}\right)^2=0`$.

Actually, equation (72) is the special case of a universal formula for the representations of the $`T`$-matrices of $`SL_q(2)`$ and corresponds to the fundamental representation. The generic form of the $`T`$-matrix is given by

$$T=e_{q^2}^{\gamma 𝒳_{}}e^{2\alpha 𝒳_0}e_{q^2}^{\beta 𝒳_+},$$
(74)
called the universal $`𝒯`$-matrix, where $`\{𝒳_0,𝒳_+,𝒳_{}\}`$ obey the algebra

$`[𝒳_0,𝒳_\pm ]=\pm 𝒳_\pm ,[𝒳_+,𝒳_{}]={\displaystyle \frac{q^{2𝒳_0}q^{2𝒳_0}}{qq^1}}=\left[\left[2𝒳_0\right]\right]_q,`$ (75)
called the quantum algebra $`sl_q(2)`$. In the limit $`q1`$, $`\{𝒳\}\{X\}`$ which generate $`sl(2)`$,

$$[X_0,X_\pm ]=\pm X_\pm ,[X_+,X_{}]=2X_0,$$
(76)
the Lie algebra of $`SL(2)`$. The matrices $`\{𝒳_0^{(1/2)},𝒳_+^{(1/2)},𝒳_{}^{(1/2)}\}`$ in (73) provide the fundamental $`2`$-dimensional irreducible representation of the algebra (75) (actually, they also provide the fundamental representation of the generators of $`sl(2)`$ algebra (76)). When a higher dimensional representation of (75) is plugged in the formula (74) $`𝒯`$ becomes a higher dimensional representation of the $`T`$-matrix. For example, the three dimensional representation (57) is obtained by substituting in (74)

$`𝒳_0^{(1)}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill 1& \hfill 0& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 1\end{array}\right),`$ (80)
$`𝒳_{}^{(1)}`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{\left[\left[2\right]\right]_q}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& 0& 0\\ \sqrt{q}& 0& 0\\ 0& 1/\sqrt{q}& 0\end{array}\right),`$ (84)
$`𝒳_+^{(1)}`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{\left[\left[2\right]\right]_q}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& 1/\sqrt{q}& 0\\ 0& 0& \sqrt{q}\\ 0& 0& 0\end{array}\right),`$ (88)
which provide the three dimensional irreducible representation of the $`sl_q(2)`$ algebra (75), and using the parametrization of $`\{A,B,C,D\}`$ in terms of $`\{\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma \}`$ as given by (70). Note that in the limit $`q1`$ these matrices (88) obey the $`sl(2)`$ algebra (76). As seen from (70), (74) and (75), one can say that for a quantum group the group-parameter space is noncommutative.

The algebra $`sl_q(2)`$ is also often called a quantum group. Actually, the relations in (75) define the generators of the $`q`$-deformation of the universal enveloping algebra of $`sl(2)`$. Hence, the relations (75) are also referred to, more properly, as $`U_q(sl(2))`$, the $`q`$-deformed universal enveloping algebra of $`sl(2)`$. The algebra $`U_q(sl(2))`$, generated by polynomials in $`\{𝒳_0,𝒳_+,𝒳_{}\}`$ obeying the relations (75), is also a Hopf algebra. We shall consider only the coproduct(s) for $`U_q(sl(2))`$. A coproduct for $`sl_q(2)`$ is

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_q\left(𝒳_0\right)=𝒳_01\mathrm{l}+1\mathrm{l}𝒳_0,\mathrm{\Delta }_q\left(𝒳_\pm \right)=𝒳_\pm q^{𝒳_0}+q^{𝒳_0}𝒳_\pm .`$ (89)
It can be easily verified that this comultiplication rule is an algebra isomorphism for $`sl_q(2)`$ :

$`[\mathrm{\Delta }_q\left(𝒳_0\right),\mathrm{\Delta }_q\left(𝒳_\pm \right)]=\pm \mathrm{\Delta }_q\left(𝒳_\pm \right),[\mathrm{\Delta }_q\left(𝒳_+\right),\mathrm{\Delta }_q\left(𝒳_{}\right)]=\left[\left[2\mathrm{\Delta }_q\left(𝒳_0\right)\right]\right]_q.`$ (90)
The most important property of this coproduct is its noncommutativity. Note that the algebra (75) is invariant under the interchange $`qq^1`$ since $`\left[\left[2𝒳_0\right]\right]_q=\left[\left[2𝒳_0\right]\right]_{q^1}`$. However, the comultiplication (89) is not invariant under such an interchange. This means that the comultiplication obtained from (89) by an interchange $`qq^1`$ should also be an equally good comultiplication. It can be verified that the coproduct so obtained, namely,

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{q^1}\left(𝒳_0\right)=𝒳_01\mathrm{l}+1\mathrm{l}𝒳_0,\mathrm{\Delta }_{q^1}\left(𝒳_\pm \right)=𝒳_\pm q^{𝒳_0}+q^{𝒳_0}𝒳_\pm .`$ (91)
is indeed an algebra isomorphism for $`sl_q(2)`$. This coproduct (91), $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{q^1}`$, is called the opposite coproduct in view of the relation

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{q^1}(𝒳)=\tau \left(\mathrm{\Delta }_q(𝒳)\right),\text{where}\tau (uv)=vu.$$
(92)
Since

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{q^1}\mathrm{\Delta }_q,\text{or}\tau (\mathrm{\Delta })\mathrm{\Delta },$$
(93)
the comultiplications $`\mathrm{\Delta }_q`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{q^1}`$ of $`sl_q(2)`$ are noncommutative. In the limit $`q1`$, the classical $`sl(2)`$ has only a single comultiplication, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(X)=X1\mathrm{l}+1\mathrm{l}X`$ , which is commutative (i.e., $`\tau (\mathrm{\Delta })=\mathrm{\Delta }`$).

One can show that the two comultiplications of $`sl_2(q)`$, namely $`\mathrm{\Delta }_q`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{q^1}`$, are related to each other by an equivalence relation such that there exists an $`U_q(sl(2))U_q(sl(2))`$, called the universal $``$-matrix, satisfying the relation

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{q^1}(𝒳)=\mathrm{\Delta }_q(𝒳)^1.$$
(94)
This universal $``$-matrix is the central object of the quantum group theory. In this case it can be shown that

$$=q^{2\left(𝒳_0𝒳_0\right)}\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\left(1q^2\right)^n}{\left[\left[n\right]\right]_q!}q^{n(n1)/2}\left(q^{𝒳_0}𝒳_+q^{𝒳_0}𝒳_{}\right)^n.$$
(95)
If we insert the matrix representations of $`\{𝒳\}`$ in this expression for $``$ we get numerical $`R`$-matrices. For example, substituting in (95) the $`2\times 2`$ representation of $`\{𝒳\}`$, given in (73), we get the fundamental $`4`$-dimensional $`R`$-matrix

$$R=\frac{1}{\sqrt{q}}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}q& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& \left(qq^1\right)& 0\\ 0& 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$
(96)
Let us now write any $`R`$ in the form

$$R=\underset{i}{}a_iu_iv_i.$$
(97)
It is clear from (95) that this can be done. Now, define

$`R_{12}=R1\mathrm{l},R_{13}={\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}a_iu_i1\mathrm{l}v_i,R_{23}=1\mathrm{l}R.`$ (98)
Then, these satisfy the remarkable relation

$$R_{12}R_{13}R_{23}=R_{23}R_{13}R_{12}.$$
(99)
known as the quantum Yang-Baxter equation, or simply the Yang-Baxter equation (YBE).

We have considered only the simplest example of a quantum group, namely $`SL_q(2)`$, associated with the classical group $`SL(2)`$. There exists a systematic theory of deformation of any classical group. It is also possible, in certain cases, to obtain deformations with several $`q`$-parameters. Actually, the study of quantum groups sheds more light on the structure of the classical group theory. I shall not go further into the details of the formalism of quantum group theory.

Now, I am in a position to mention a few applications of quantum groups and algebras. First, let us see how these things started. Define

$`T_1`$ $`=`$ $`T1\mathrm{l}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}A& B\\ C& D\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right),`$ (104)
$`T_2`$ $`=`$ $`1\mathrm{l}T=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}A& B\\ C& D\end{array}\right).`$ (109)
Note that

$$T_1T_2=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}A^2& AB& BA& B^2\\ AC& AD& BC& BD\\ CA& CB& DA& DB\\ C^2& CD& DC& D^2\end{array}\right)T_2T_1=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}A^2& BA& AB& B^2\\ CA& DA& CB& DB\\ AC& BC& AD& BD\\ C^2& DC& CD& D^2\end{array}\right),$$
(110)
because $`\{A,B,C,D\}`$ ae noncommutative. The relation between $`T_1T_2`$ and $`T_2T_1`$ turns out to be

$$RT_1T_2=T_2T_1R.$$
(111)
This type of relation is commonly encountered in the quantum inverse scattering method approach to integrable models in quantum field theory and statistical mechanics. Substituting in (111) $`R`$ from (96), and $`T_1`$ and $`T_2`$ from (109), it is found that equation (111) is a compact way of stating the commutation relations (38) defining the fundamental $`T`$-matrix of $`SL_q(2)`$. What about the commutation relations (75) defining $`sl_q(2)`$? Define

$`L^{(+)}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}q^{𝒳_0}& \sqrt{q}\left(qq^1\right)𝒳_{}\\ 0& q^{𝒳_0}\end{array}\right),`$ (114)
$`L^{()}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}q^{𝒳_0}& 0\\ q^{1/2}\left(qq^1\right)𝒳_+& q^{𝒳_0}\end{array}\right),`$ (117)
$`L_1^{(\pm )}`$ $`=`$ $`L^{(\pm )}1\mathrm{l},L_2^{(\pm )}=1\mathrm{l}L^{(\pm )}.`$ (118)
Then, the commutation relations (75), defining the generators of $`sl_q(2)`$, can be stated elegantly as

$`R^1L_1^{(\pm )}L_2^{(\pm )}=L_2^{(\pm )}L_1^{(\pm )}R^1,R^1L_1^{(+)}L_2^{()}=L_2^{()}L_1^{(+)}R^1.`$ (119)
Note that the $`L^{(\pm )}`$-matrices are special realizations of the $`T`$-matrices, i.e., the elements of $`L^{(\pm )}`$-matrices obey the commutation relations required of the $`T`$-matrix elements.

If we define for the $`R`$-matrix in (96),

$$S_1=\stackrel{ˇ}{R}1\mathrm{l},S_2=1\mathrm{l}\stackrel{ˇ}{R},$$
(120)
where

$$\stackrel{ˇ}{R}=PR,P=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}1& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 1& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right),$$
(121)
then, it is found that

$$S_1S_2S_1=S_2S_1S_2,$$
(122)
which is an alternative form of the YBE (99). For any general $`R`$-matrix the YBE (99) can be put in this form (122). This relation (122) represents a property of the generators of a braid group which is a generalization of the well known symmetric group $`S_n`$. The symmetric group $`S_n`$ is the group of all permutations of $`n`$ given objects. An element of the braid group $`B_n`$ can be depicted as a system of $`n`$ strings joining two sets of $`n`$ points, each set located on a line, the two lines, say top and bottom, being parallel, with over-crossings or under-crossings of the strings. The over-crossings and the under-crossings of the strings make $`B_n`$ an infinite group which will otherwise reduce to $`S_n`$. If $`i`$ and $`i+1`$ are two consecutive points on the top and bottom lines, the string starting at $`i`$ on the top line can reach $`i+1`$ on the bottom line by either under-crossing or over-crossing the string starting at $`i+1`$ on the top line and reaching $`i`$ on the bottom line. The corresponding elements of the braid group are usually denoted by $`\sigma _i`$ and $`\sigma _i^1`$, respectively. The elements $`\left\{\sigma _i\right|i=1,2,\mathrm{}n1\}`$ , generating the braid group $`B_n`$, satisfy two relations,

$$\sigma _i\sigma _j=\sigma _j\sigma _i\text{for}|ij|>1,$$
(123)
and

$$\sigma _i\sigma _{i+1}\sigma _i=\sigma _{i+1}\sigma _i\sigma _{i+1}.$$
(124)
Now, comparing the relations (122) and (124) it is obvious that the solutions of the YBE ($`R`$-matrices), or the quantum algebras, should play a central role in the theory of representations of braid groups. Braid groups have many applications. In mathematics they are useful in the study of complex functions of hypergeometric type having several variables. In physics they appear in knot theory, statistical mechanics, two-dimensional conformal field theory, and so on.

In quantum mechanics the notion of continuous space-time with commutative coordinates is taken over from classical mechanics. This is an assumption. What will happen if at some deeper microscopic level the space-time coordinates themselves are noncommutative? It is clear that to deal with such a situation one will have to use a noncommutative differential calculus and the theory of quantum groups provides the necessary framework as we have seen above. For example, consider the motion of a quantum particle in a two dimensional noncommutative plane with $`X`$ and $`Y`$ as the coordinates. If we take the corresponding conjugate momenta to be proportional to $`\frac{}{X}`$ and $`\frac{}{Y}`$, respectively, then the relations (14) indicate how the two-dimensional quantum mechanical phase-space would be deformed at that level. Thus, the theory of quantum groups would provide the mathematical framework for the future of quantum physics if it turns out that at some deeper microscopic level space-time manifold is noncommutative. Hence there has been a lot of interest in studying the fundamental modifications that would occur in the framework quantum mechanics, relativity theory, Poincaré group, …, etc., if the space-time manifold happens to be noncommutative.

Apart from applications of fundamental nature, such as those mentioned above, there have been many phenomenological applications of quantum algebras in nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, molecular physics, quantum optics, and elementary particle physics. In these applications either an existing model is identified with a quantum algebraic structure, or a standard model is deformed to have an underlying quantum algebraic structure and studied to reveal the new features emerging. To give an idea of such applications, let me mention, as the final example, the $`q`$-deformation of the quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator algebra, also known as the boson algebra. The algebraic treatment of the quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator involves a creation operator $`\left(a^{}\right)`$, an annihilation operator $`(a)`$, and a number operator $`(N)`$, obeying the commutation relations

$$[a,a^{}]=1,[N,a^{}]=a^{},$$
(125)
where $`N`$ is a hermitian operator and $`a^{}`$ is the hermitian conjugate of $`a`$. The energy spectrum of the harmonic oscillator is given by the eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian operator

$$H=\frac{1}{2}\left(aa^{}+a^{}a\right),$$
(126)
in the appropriate units. Taking two such sets of oscillator operators, $`\{a_1,a_1^{},N_1\}`$ and $`\{a_2,a_2^{},N_2\}`$, which are assumed to commute with each other, and defining

$$J_0=\frac{1}{2}\left(N_1N_2\right),J_+=a_1^{}a_2,J_{}=a_2^{}a_1,$$
(127)
it is found that

$$J_0^{}=J_0,J_+^{}=J_{},$$
(128)
and

$$[J_0,J_\pm ]=\pm J_\pm ,[J_+,J_{}]=2J_0.$$
(129)
This Lie algebra (129) is seen to be the same as the $`sl(2)`$ algebra (76) subject to the hermiticity conditions (128) and is known as $`su(2)`$ algebra, the Lie algebra of the group $`SU(2)`$. The $`su(2)`$ algebra is the algebra of three dimensional rotations, or the rigid rotator, with $`\{J_0,J_\pm \}`$ representing the angular momentum operators. The coproduct rule

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\left(J_0\right)=J_01\mathrm{l}+1\mathrm{l}J_0,\mathrm{\Delta }\left(J_\pm \right)=J_\pm 1\mathrm{l}+1\mathrm{l}J_\pm ,$$
(130)
for the algebra (129), obtained by setting $`q=1`$ in (89) (or (91)), represents the rule for addition of angular momenta. Correspondingly, the relations (75) rewritten as

$$[𝒥_0,𝒥_\pm ]=\pm 𝒥_\pm ,[𝒥_+,𝒥_{}]=\left[\left[2J_0\right]\right]_q,$$
(131)
with the hermiticity conditions

$$𝒥_0^{}=𝒥_0,𝒥_+^{}=𝒥_{},$$
(132)
represent the $`su_q(2)`$ (or $`U_q(su(2))`$) algebra or the $`q`$-deformed version of the $`su(2)`$ algebra (129). One can say that $`su_q(2)`$ is the algebra of the $`q`$-rotator. For the $`q`$-angular momentum operators there are two possible addition rules,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{q^{\pm 1}}\left(𝒥_0\right)=𝒥_01\mathrm{l}+1\mathrm{l}𝒥_0,\mathrm{\Delta }_{q^{\pm 1}}\left(𝒥_\pm \right)=𝒥_\pm q^{\pm 𝒥_0}+q^{𝒥_0}𝒥_\pm ,$$
(133)
as seen from (89) and (91). Now the interesting fact is that one has a realization of $`su_q(2)`$ generators given by

$$𝒥_0=\frac{1}{2}\left(𝒩_1𝒩_2\right),𝒥_+=A_1^{}A_2,𝒥_{}=A_2^{}A_1,$$
(134)
exactly analogous to the $`su(2)`$ case (127), where the two sets of operators $`\{A_1,A_1^{},𝒩_1\}`$ and $`\{A_2,A_2^{},𝒩_2\}`$ commute with each other and obey, within each set, the algebra

$$AA^{}qA^{}A=q^𝒩,[𝒩,A^{}]=A^{}.$$
(135)
Further, $`𝒩`$ is hermitian and $`\{A,A^{}\}`$ is a hermitian conjugate pair. The $`q`$-deformed oscillator algebra (135) is known as the $`q`$-oscillator or the $`q`$-boson algebra. When $`q1`$ the $`q`$-oscillator algebra (135) reduces to the canonical oscillator algebra (125). As is easy to guess, phenomenological applications of quantum algebras in nuclear and molecular spectroscopy involve the substitution of harmonic oscillator model by the $`q`$-oscillator model and the rigid rotator model by the $`q`$-rotator model. Such applications lead to impressive results showing that the actual vibrational-rotational spectra of nuclei and molecules can be fit into schemes in which the number of phenomenological $`q`$-parameters required are very much fewer than the number of traditional phenomenological parameters required to fit the same spectral data. Somehow such $`q`$-deformed models seem to take into account more efficiently the anharmonicity of vibrations and the nonrigidity of rotations in nuclear and molecular systems.

I wish to thank the Management, and Prof. Dr. K. V. Parthasarathy (Head, Department of Mathematics), of the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, for giving me the privilege of delivering the Narayani, N. and Kadayam S. Sankaran Memorial Lectures for 1999.