We define the Schur multipliers of a separable von Neumann algebra M with Cartan masa A, generalising the classical Schur multipliers of $B(ell^2)$. We characterise these as the normal A-bimodule maps on M. If M contains a direct summand isomorphic to the hyperfinite II_1 factor, then we show that the Schur multipliers arising from the extended Haagerup tensor product $A otimes_{eh} A$ are strictly contained in the algebra of all Schur multipliers.
We introduce partially defined Schur multipliers and obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of extensions to fully defined positive Schur multipliers, in terms of operator systems canonically associated with their domains. We use these results to study the problem of extending a positive definite function defined on a symmetric subset of a locally compact group to a positive definite function defined on the whole group.
Let D be a masa in B(H) where H is a separable Hilbert space. We find real numbers eta_0 < eta_1 < eta_2 < ... < eta_6 so that for every bounded, normal D-bimodule map {Phi} on B(H) either ||Phi|| > eta_6, or ||Phi|| = eta_k for some k <= 6. When D is totally atomic, these maps are the idempotent Schur multipliers and we characterise those with norm eta_k for 0 <= k <= 6. We also show that the Schur idempotents which keep only the diagonal and superdiagonal of an n x n matrix, or of an n x (n+1) matrix, both have norm 2/(n+1) cot(pi/(n+1)), and we consider the average norm of a random idempotent Schur multiplier as a function of dimension. Many of our arguments are framed in the combinatorial language of bipartite graphs.
We consider the tensor product of the completely depolarising channel on $dtimes d$ matrices with the map of Schur multiplication by a $k times k$ correlation matrix and characterise, via matrix theory methods, when such a map is a mixed (random) unitary channel. When $d=1$, this recovers a result of OMeara and Pereira, and for larger $d$ is equivalent to a result of Haagerup and Musat that was originally obtained via the theory of factorisation through von Neumann algebras. We obtain a bound on the distance between a given correlation matrix for which this tensor product is nearly mixed unitary and a correlation matrix for which such a map is exactly mixed unitary. This bound allows us to give an elementary proof of another result of Haagerup and Musat about the closure of such correlation matrices without appealing to the theory of von Neumann algebras.
We study the dual relationship between quantum group convolution maps $L^1(mathbb{G})rightarrow L^{infty}(mathbb{G})$ and completely bounded multipliers of $widehat{mathbb{G}}$. For a large class of locally compact quantum groups $mathbb{G}$ we completely isomorphically identify the mapping ideal of row Hilbert space factorizable convolution maps with $M_{cb}(L^1(widehat{mathbb{G}}))$, yielding a quantum Gilbert representation for completely bounded multipliers. We also identify the mapping ideals of completely integral and completely nuclear convolution maps, the latter case coinciding with $ell^1(widehat{bmathbb{G}})$, where $bmathbb{G}$ is the quantum Bohr compactification of $mathbb{G}$. For quantum groups whose dual has bounded degree, we show that the completely compact convolution maps coincide with $C(bmathbb{G})$. Our techniques comprise a mixture of operator space theory and abstract harmonic analysis, including Fubini tensor products, the non-commutative Grothendieck inequality, quantum Eberlein compactifications, and a suitable notion of quasi-SIN quantum group, which we introduce and exhibit examples from the bicrossed product construction. Our main results are new even in the setting of group von Neumann algebras $VN(G)$ for quasi-SIN locally compact groups $G$.
We show that the set of Schur idempotents with hyperreflexive range is a Boolean lattice which contains all contractions. We establish a preservation result for sums which implies that the weak* closed span of a hyperreflexive and a ternary masa-bimodule is hyperreflexive, and prove that the weak* closed span of finitely many tensor products of a hyperreflexive space and a hyperreflexive range of a Schur idempotent (respectively, a ternary masa-bimodule) is hyperreflexive.