A measurable field of Hilbert spaces is the exact analogue of a vector bundle over a topological space in the setting of fiber bundles of infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces over measurable spaces.
The original definition is due to John von Neumann (Definition 1 in Neumann).
We present here a slightly modernized version, which can be found in many modern sources, e.g., Takesaki.
Suppose is a measurable space equipped with a σ-finite measure? , or, less specifically, with a σ-ideal of negligible subsets so that is an enhanced measurable space. A measurable field of Hilbert spaces over is a family of Hilbert spaces indexed by points together with a vector subspace? of the product of vector spaces . The elements of are known as measurable sections. The pair must satisfy the following conditions.
The last condition restrict us to bundles of separable Hilbert spaces. One can also define bundles of nonseparable Hilbert spaces, but this cannot be done simply by dropping the last condition.
The category of measurable fields of Hilbert spaces on (as defined above) is equivalent to the category of countably-generated W*-modules over the commutative von Neumann algebra .
(If we work with bundles of general, possibly nonseparable Hilbert spaces, then the W*-modules do not need to be countably generated.)
John von Neumann, On Rings of Operators. Reduction Theory, The Annals of Mathematics 50:2 (1949), 401. doi.
Masamichi Takesaki, Theory of Operator Algebras. I, Springer, 1979.
Last revised on October 12, 2022 at 12:53:51. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.