The Banach algebra of continuous bounded functions with separable support

Abstract

We prove a commutative Gelfand--Naimark type theorem, by showing that the set $C_s(X)$ of continuous bounded (real or complex valued) functions with separable support on a locally separable metrizable space $X$ (provided with the supremum norm) is a Banach algebra, isometrically isomorphic to $C_0(Y)$, for some unique (up to homeomorphism) locally compact Hausdorff space $Y$. The space $Y$, which we explicitly construct as a subspace of the Stone--\v{C}ech compactification of $X$, is countably compact, and if $X$ is non-separable, is moreover non-normal; in addition $C_0(Y)=C_{00}(Y)$. When the underlying field of scalars is the complex numbers, the space $Y$ coincides with the spectrum of the ${C}^*$-algebra $C_s(X)$. Further, we find the dimension of the algebra $C_s(X)$.