C*-Algebras Associated with Endomorphisms and Polymorphisms of Compact Abelian Groups

Abstract

A surjective endomorphism or, more generally, a polymorphism in the sense of \cite{SV}, of a compact abelian group $H$ induces a transformation of $L^2(H)$. We study the C*-algebra generated by this operator together with the algebra of continuous functions $C(H)$ which acts as multiplication operators on $L^2(H)$. Under a natural condition on the endo- or polymorphism, this algebra is simple and can be described by generators and relations. In the case of an endomorphism it is always purely infinite, while for a polymorphism in the class we consider, it is either purely infinite or has a unique trace. We prove a formula allowing to determine the $K$-theory of these algebras and use it to compute the $K$-groups in a number of interesting examples.