The objects of study in this paper are certain fibre spaces which arise naturally in the representation theory of C*-algebras and locally compact groups. These are a type of Banach bundle, all of whose fibres are C*-algebras. The main aim of this paper is to give a pasting homotopy type classification theory for certain classes of C*-bundles having primarily finite-dimensional fibres and thus classifying the resulting second-order bundles.

This book is directed towards graduate students that wish to start from the basic theory of C*-algebras and advance to an overview of some of the most spectacular results concerning the structure of nuclear C*-algebras. The text is divided into three parts. First, elementary notions, classical theorems and constructions are developed. Then, essential examples in the theory, such as crossed products and the class of quasidiagonal C*-algebras, are examined, and finally, the Elliott invariant, the Cuntz semigroup, and the Jiang-Su algebra are defined. It is shown how these objects have played a fundamental role in understanding the fine structure of nuclear C*-algebras. To help understanding the theory, plenty of examples, treated in detail, are included. This volume will also be valuable to researchers in the area as a reference guide. It contains an extensive reference list to guide readers that wish to travel further.

The first unified, in-depth discussion of the now classical Gelfand-Naimark theorems, thiscomprehensive text assesses the current status of modern analysis regarding both Banachand C*-algebras.Characterizations of C*-Algebras: The Gelfand-Naimark Theorems focuses on general theoryand basic properties in accordance with readers' needs ... provides complete proofs of theGelfand-Naimark theorems as well as refinements and extensions of the original axioms. . . gives applications of the theorems to topology, harmonic analysis. operator theory.group representations, and other topics ... treats Hermitian and symmetric *-algebras.algebras with and without identity, and algebras with arbitrary (possibly discontinuous)involutions . . . includes some 300 end-of-chapter exercises . . . offers appendices on functionalanalysis and Banach algebras ... and contains numerous examples and over 400 referencesthat illustrate important concepts and encourage further research.Characterizations of C*-Algebras: The Gelfand-Naimark Theorems is an ideal text for graduatestudents taking such courses as The Theory of Banach Algebras and C*-Algebras: inaddition , it makes an outstanding reference for physicists, research mathematicians in analysis,and applied scientists using C*-algebras in such areas as statistical mechanics, quantumtheory. and physical chemistry.

The theory of crossed products is extremely rich and intriguing. There are applications not only to operator algebras, but to subjects as varied as noncommutative geometry and mathematical physics. This book provides a detailed introduction to this vast subject suitable for graduate students and others whose research has contact with crossed product $C*$-algebras. in addition to providing the basic definitions and results, the main focus of this book is the fine ideal structure of crossed products as revealed by the study of induced representations via the Green-Mackey-Rieffel machine. in particular, there is an in-depth analysis of the imprimitivity theorems on which Rieffel's theory of induced representations and Morita equivalence of $C*$-algebras are based. There is also a detailed treatment of the generalized Effros-Hahn conjecture and its proof due to Gootman, Rosenberg, and Sauvageot. This book is meant to be self-contained and accessible to any graduate student coming out of a first course on operator algebras. There are appendices that deal with ancillary subjects, which while not central to the subject, are nevertheless crucial for a complete understanding of the material. Some of the appendices will be of independent interest. to view another book by this author, please visit Morita Equivalence and Continuous-Trace $C*$-Algebras.

Lie groups and their "derived objects", Lie algebras, appear in various fields of mathematics and physics. At least since the beginning of the 20th century, and after the famous works of Wilhelm Killing, Elie Cartan, Eugenio Elia Levi, Anatoly Malcev and Igor Ado on the structure of finite-dimensional Lie algebras, the classification and structure theory of infinite-dimensional Lie algebras has become an interesting and fairly vast field of interest. This dissertation focusses on the structure of Lie algebras of smooth and k-times differentiable sections of finite-dimensional Lie algebra bundles, which are generalizations of the famous and well-understood affine Kac-Moody algebras. Besides answering the immediate structural questions (center, commutator algebra, derivations, centroid, automorphism group), this work approaches a classification of section algebras by homotopy theory. Furthermore, we determine a universal invariant symmetric bilinear form on Lie algebras of smooth sections and use this form to define a natural central extension which is universal, at least in the case of Lie algebra bundles with compact base manifold.

This book consists of reviewed original research papers and expository articles in index theory (especially on singular manifolds), topology of manifolds, operator and equivariant K-theory, Hopf cyclic cohomology, geometry of foliations, residue theory, Fredholm pairs and others, and applications in mathematical physics. The wide spectrum of subjects reflects the diverse directions of research for which the starting point was the Atiyah-Singer index theorem.