Math 123 Home page
An Introduction to
C*-algebras
| Meets: |
MWF 10:00 -- 11:05
|
| Instructor: |
Dana P. Williams |
| Room: |
120 Kemeny
|
| Text: |
See Below |
General
Description:
This course is meant to be a gentle introduction to the theory of
operator algebras. We will start with a review of spectral
theory
followed by the basics of C*-theory. After that, the content
will depend
on the participant's interests. (For a more formal course
announcement, click here.)
Text: It is
not necessary to buy a text for this course. We will losely
follow Gerard Murhy's C*-algebras
and Operator Theory,
and
this is a useful text to own if you are interested in the subject.
We will try to keep a copy of this text and other references
(mentioned in the course description document linked above) in the
graduate lounge in Kemeny Hall for everyone
in the course to use. You may also find sections
§§2-4 of my notes
on spectral theory useful.
Lecture Notes: I've
started LaTeXing my lecture notes.
Although this file may change almost daily, I'll make a link here for
folks who want to have a look. I most definitely recommend taking
your own notes in class and using these for comparision. Everyone
in class can have access to some sort of final version this summer.
Work load:
Please come see me
(305 Kemeny Hall) if you are uncertain about taking the course --
either due to your prepraration or the work load associated to the
course.
Homework:
- Assignment zero: please send me an email with the following
information:
- Tell me about your analysis background. For example, who
did you take Math 113 from?
- Have you used or seen nets before? If so, how comfortable
are you with the concept?
- What do you hope to get out of the course?
- Assignment one: Due Friday, April 8th.
I have divided the homework into parts. Part I consists of (what
I hope are) very routine problems. Typically, these are unproved
assertions from lecture. Part II consists of honest homework
problems that are (I think) interesting in their own right. Part
III consists of harder problems that are either a topic or deeper part
of the theory that we didn't have time to cover in lecture. I
hope to continue this classification throughout the term.
- Some partial solutions to assignment
one. I am always interested in finding typos and thinkos, so
please feel free to comment. Here is the LaTeX
source for those who want it. You'll need the macros below to LaTeX it.
- Optional Problems on nets: chick here.
For
partial
solutions,
click here.
For those of you who are interested, here is the LaTeX source: hw-nets.tex. You will also need these macros I wrote for exam writing and for
assignments like these.
- Assignment two: Due Friday, April 22nd.
- Partial solutions for homework two.
- Assignment Three: Due Friday
May 6th.
- Partial solutions for homework three.
- Last Assignment. Due at the end of term.