A C*-cover lattice dichotomy

Abstract

In this paper, we show that the lattice of C*-covers of a non-selfadjoint operator algebra is either one point or uncountable. We prove that there are non-selfadjoint operator algebras with a one-point lattice in two ways: as an explicit subalgebra of the C*-algebra of a universal contraction, and via a direct limit construction inspired by the work of Kirchberg and Wassermann for operator systems. We also establish that the C*-envelope need not have an immediate successor C*-cover in the lattice, and that a semi-Dirichlet non-selfadjoint operator algebra never has a one-point lattice.