Representations of Group Algebras in Spaces of Completely Bounded Maps

Roger R. Smith, Nico Spronk

Published 2003-10-27, updated 2004-05-04Version 2

Let G be a locally compact group, M(G) denote its measure algebra and L^1(G) denote its group algebra. Also, let pi:G->U(H) be a strongly continuous unitary representation, and let CB^{sigma}(B(H)) be the space of normal completely bounded maps on B(H). We study the range of the map Gamma_pi:M(G)->CB^sigma(B(H)), Gamma_pi(mu)= int_G pi(s)\otimes pi(s)^*dmu(s) where we identify CB^sigma(B(H)) with the extended Haagerup tensor product B(H)\otimes^{eh}B(H)$. We use the fact that the C*-algebra generated by integrating pi to L^1(G) is unital exactly when pi is norm continuous to show that Gamma_pi(L^1(G))\subset B(H)\otimes^{eh}B(H) exactly when pi is norm continuous. For the case that G is abelian, we study Gamma_pi(M(G)) as a subset of the Varopoulos algebra. We also characterise positive definite elements of the Varopoulos algebra in terms of completely positive operators.