We investigate the notion of tracial $mathcal Z$-stability beyond unital C*-algebras, and we prove that this notion is equivalent to $mathcal Z$-stability in the class of separable simple nuclear C*-algebras.
We define a notion of tracial $mathcal{Z}$-absorption for simple not necessarily unital C*-algebras. This extends the notion defined by Hirshberg and Orovitz for unital (simple) C*-algebras. We provide examples which show that tracially $mathcal{Z}$-
absorbing C*-algebras need not be $mathcal{Z}$-absorbing. We show that tracial $mathcal{Z}$-absorption passes to hereditary C*-subalgebras, direct limits, matrix algebras, minimal tensor products with arbitrary simple C*-algebras. We find sufficient conditions for a simple, separable, tracially $mathcal{Z}$-absorbing C*-algebra to be $mathcal{Z}$-absorbing. We also study the Cuntz semigroup of a simple tracially $mathcal{Z}$-absorbing C*-algebra and prove that it is almost unperforated and weakly almost divisible.
A class of $C^*$-algebras, to be called those of generalized tracial rank one, is introduced, and classified by the Elliott invariant. A second class of unital simple separable amenable $C^*$-algebras, those whose tensor products with UHF-algebras of
infinite type are in the first class, to be referred to as those of rational generalized tracial rank one, is proved to exhaust all possible values of the Elliott invariant for unital finite simple separable amenable ${cal Z}$-stable $C^*$-algebras. An isomorphism theorem for a special sub-class of those $C^*$-algebras are presented. This provides the basis for the classification of $C^*$-algebras with rational generalized tracial rank one in Part II.
Let $epsilon>0$ be a positive number. Is there a number $delta>0$ satisfying the following? Given any pair of unitaries $u$ and $v$ in a unital simple $C^*$-algebra $A$ with $[v]=0$ in $K_1(A)$ for which $$ |uv-vu|<dt, $$ there is a continuous path o
f unitaries ${v(t): tin [0,1]}subset A$ such that $$ v(0)=v, v(1)=1 and |uv(t)-v(t)u|<epsilon forall tin [0,1]. $$ An answer is given to this question when $A$ is assumed to be a unital simple $C^*$-algebra with tracial rank no more than one. Let $C$ be a unital separable amenable simple $C^*$-algebra with tracial rank no more than one which also satisfies the UCT. Suppose that $phi: Cto A$ is a unital monomorphism and suppose that $vin A$ is a unitary with $[v]=0$ in $K_1(A)$ such that $v$ almost commutes with $phi.$ It is shown that there is a continuous path of unitaries ${v(t): tin [0,1]}$ in $A$ with $v(0)=v$ and $v(1)=1$ such that the entire path $v(t)$ almost commutes with $phi,$ provided that an induced Bott map vanishes. Oth
Let $C$ be a unital AH-algebra and let $A$ be a unital separable simple C*-algebra with tracial rank no more than one. Suppose that $phi, psi: Cto A$ are two unital monomorphisms. With some restriction on $C,$ we show that $phi$ and $psi$ are approxi
mately unitarily equivalent if and only if [phi]=[psi] in KL(C,A) taucirc phi=taucirc psi for all tracial states of A and phi^{ddag}=psi^{ddag}, here phi^{ddag} and psi^{ddag} are homomorphisms from $U(C)/CU(C)to U(A)/CU(A) induced by phi and psi, respectively, and where CU(C) and CU(A) are closures of the subgroup generated by commutators of the unitary groups of C and B.
Let $A$ be a unital separable simple amenable $C^*$-algebra with finite tracial rank which satisfies the Universal Coefficient Theorem (UCT). Suppose $af$ and $bt$ are two automorphisms with the Rokhlin property that {induce the same action on the $K
$-theoretical data of $A$.} We show that $af$ and $bt$ are strongly cocycle conjugate and uniformly approximately conjugate, that is, there exists a sequence of unitaries ${u_n}subset A$ and a sequence of strongly asymptotically inner automorphisms $sigma_n$ such that $$ af={rm Ad}, u_ncirc sigma_ncirc btcirc sigma_n^{-1}andeqn lim_{ntoinfty}|u_n-1|=0, $$ and that the converse holds. {We then give a $K$-theoretic description as to exactly when $af$ and $bt$ are cocycle conjugate, at least under a mild restriction. Moreover, we show that given any $K$-theoretical data, there exists an automorphism $af$ with the Rokhlin property which has the same $K$-theoretical data.