Gleason Parts of Real Function Algebras

Abstract

Although the theory of complex Banach algebras is by now classical, the first systematic exposition of the theory of real Banach algebras was given by Ingelstam [5] as late as 1965. More recently, further attention to real Banach algebras was paid in 1970 [1], where, among other things, the (real) standard algebras on finite open Klein surfaces were introduced. Generalizing these considerations, real uniform algebras were studied in [7] and [6].In the present paper, an attempt is made to develop the theory of real function algebras (see Section 1 for the definition) along the lines of the complex function algebras. Although the real function algebras are not structurally different from the real uniform algebras introduced in [7], they are easier to deal with since their elements are actually (complex-valued) functions.