Welcome to Math 930

Instructor: John L. Orr
Email: jorr@math.unl.edu
Phone: (402) 472-4503
Office: Avery Hall 219

Class: Meets MWF 11:30 - 12:20, Burnett 124
Office Hours: Tues/Thurs 3:00-4:00pm
Recommended Texts:

C*-Algebras by Example, Kenneth R. Davidson, American Mathematical Society 1996.
Banach Algebra Techniques in Operator Algebras, Ronald Douglas, Springer, 1998.

Class Notes

Download a PDF of the class notes (updated 1/31/2008).

Goals

My goal is for us to cover the following areas, with some extra topics as time allows.

Basic properties of C*-algebras
Commutative C*-algebras: The Gelfand Naimark Theorem
Representations of C*-algebra: The Gelfand-Naimark-Siegel Theorem.
Approximately finite-dimensional C*-algebras, and subalgebras.
C*-algebras generated by isometries: Cuntz algebras, graph algebras, and subalgebras.

Homework

There will be five homework assignments, each worth 50 points.

Homework 1: Due Feb 11. See solution.
Homework 2: Work the three "New Problems" from the exam. Due March 10.
Homework 3: Due March 31.

Presentation

Toward the end of the semester, each of you will pick a topic and give a 1 - 2 period presentation on that topic. I will work with you individually to select a topic and identify reading resources on the topic.

Exams

There will be two exams, worth 50 points each. The exams will be mostly focussed on reproducing key results from class/reading. (The hard problem-solving is for the homework.)

Exam 1: Friday, February 29, in class.
Exam 2: Take-home exam. Available here, due Thursday May 8.

Quizzes

Every week except for exam weeks I will give a short quiz at the start of class Friday. The quiz covers only definitions and statements of results, and is intended to help keep on up to date with key statements and concepts. There will be more than 10 quizzes, and I will drop your lowest scores.

Grading Policies

Item	Number	Points	Total
Exams	2	50	100
Presentation	1	50	50
Homework	5	50	250
Quizzes	10	10	100
TOTAL			500