Operator *-correspondences in analysis and geometry

Abstract

An operator *-algebra is a non-selfadjoint operator algebra with completely isometric involution. We show that any operator *-algebra admits a faithful representation on a Hilbert space in such a way that the involution coincides with the operator adjoint up to conjugation by a symmetry. We introduce operator *-correspondences as a general class of inner product modules over operator *-algebras and prove a similar representation theorem for them. From this we derive the existence of linking operator *-algebras for operator *-correspondences. We illustrate the relevance of this class of inner product modules by providing numerous examples arising from noncommutative geometry.