A decomposition theorem for Lie ideals in nest algebras

Abstract

Let \({\mathcal {N}}\) be a nest and let \({\mathcal {L}}\) be a weakly closed Lie ideal of the nest algebra \({\mathcal {T} (\mathcal {N})}\) . We explicitly construct the greatest weakly closed associative ideal \({\mathcal {J} (\mathcal {L})}\) contained in \({\mathcal {L}}\) and show that \({\mathcal {J} (\mathcal {L}) \subseteq \mathcal {L} \subseteq \mathcal {J} (\mathcal {L})\oplus {\breve{\mathcal{D}}} (\mathcal {L})}\) , where \({{\breve{\mathcal{D}}}} (\mathcal {L})\) is an appropriate subalgebra of the diagonal \({\mathcal {D} (\mathcal {N})}\) of the nest algebra \({\mathcal {T} (\mathcal {N})}\) . We show that norm-preserving linear extensions of elements of the dual of \({\mathcal {L}}\) , satisfying a certain condition, are uniquely determined on the diagonal of the nest algebra by the ideal \({\mathcal {J} (\mathcal {L})}\) .