The Cuntz semigroup, the Elliott conjecture, and dimension functions on C*-algebras

In this article we survey some of the recent goings-on in the classification programme of C$^*$-algebras, following the interesting link found between the Cuntz semigroup and the classical Elliott invariant and the fact that the Elliott conjecture does not hold at its boldest. We review the construction of this object both by means of positive elements and via its recent interpretation using countably generated Hilbert modules (due to Coward, Elliott and Ivanescu). The passag...

Building on work of Elliott and coworkers, we present three applications of the Cuntz semigroup: (i) for many simple C$^*$-algebras, the Thomsen semigroup is recovered functorially from the Elliott invariant, and this yields a new proof of Elliott's classification theorem for simple, unital AI algebras; (ii) for the algebras in (i), classification of their Hilbert modules is similar to the von Neumann algebra context; (iii) for the algebras in (i), approximate unitary equival...

Let A be a simple, unital, exact, and finite C*-algebra which absorbs the Jiang-Su algebra Z tensorially. We prove that the Cuntz semigroup of A admits a complete order embedding into an ordered semigroup obtained from the Elliott invariant in a functorial manner. We conjecture that this embedding is an isomorphism, and prove the conjecture in several cases. In these same cases -- Z-stable algebras all -- we prove that the Elliott conjecture in its strongest form is equivalen...

We study the Cuntz semigroup for non-simple $\text{C}^*$-algebras in this paper. In particular, we use the extended Elliott invariant to characterize the Cuntz comparison for $\text{C}^*$-algebras with the projection property which have only one ideal.

Let $A$ be a simple, separable C$^*$-algebra of stable rank one. We prove that the Cuntz semigroup of $\CC(\T,A)$ is determined by its Murray-von Neumann semigroup of projections and a certain semigroup of lower semicontinuous functions (with values in the Cuntz semigroup of $A$). This result has two consequences. First, specializing to the case that $A$ is simple, finite, separable and $\mathcal Z$-stable, this yields a description of the Cuntz semigroup of $\CC(\T,A)$ in te...

This paper argues that the unitary Cuntz semigroup, introduced in [10] and termed Cu$_1$, contains crucial information regarding the classification of non-simple C$^*$-algebras. We exhibit two (non-simple) C$^*$-algebras that agree on their Cuntz semigroups, termed Cu, and their K$_1$-groups and yet disagree at level of their unitary Cuntz semigroups. In the process, we establish that the unitary Cuntz semigroup contains rigorously more information about non-simple C$^*$-alge...

This paper contains computations of the Cuntz semigroup of separable C*-algebras of the form C_0(X,A), where A is a unital, simple, Z-stable ASH algebra. The computations describe the Cuntz semigroup in terms of Murray-von Neumann semigroups of C(K,A) for compact subsets K of X. In particular, the computation shows that the Elliott invariant is functorially equivalent to the invariant given by the Cuntz semigroup of C(T,A). These results are a contribution towards the goal of...

We prove stability theorems in the Cuntz semigroup of a commutative C*-algebra which are analogues of classical stability theorems for topological vector bundles over compact Hausdorff spaces. Several applications to simple unital AH algebras of slow dimension growth are then given: such algebras have strict comparison of positive elements; their Cuntz semigroups are recovered functorially from the Elliott invariant; the lower-semicontinuous dimension functions are dense in t...

In this paper, we exhibit two unital, separable, nuclear ${\rm C}^*$-algebras of stable rank one and real rank zero with the same ordered scaled total K-theory, but they are not isomorphic with each other, which forms a counterexample to Elliott Classification Conjecture for real rank zero setting. Thus, we introduce an additional normal condition and give a classification result in terms of total K-theory. For the general setting, with a new invariant -- total Cuntz semigrou...

We give a detailed introduction to the theory of Cuntz semigroups for C*-algebras. Beginning with the most basic definitions and technical lemmas, we present several results of historical importance, such as Cuntz's theorem on the existence of quasitraces, R{\o}rdam's proof that $\mathcal{Z}$-stability implies strict comparison, and Toms' example of a non $\mathcal{Z}$-stable simple, nuclear C*-algebra. We also give the reader an extensive overview of the state of the art and...