Dominance and equivalence for states on $C^*$-algebras: Quasi-Invariant states

Abstract

We study the noncommutative generalization of measure-theoretic dominance and equivalence of states on $C^*$-algebras to explore quasi-invariance under group actions. For a dominated state, we derive an unbounded "Radon-Nikodym" derivative affiliated with the commutant algebra of the dominating state's GNS representation. Interestingly, this dominance is generally non-transitive because the product of the corresponding closed operators can be non-closable. When looking at group actions by $*$-automorphisms, the orbit of a fixed quasi-invariant state consists entirely of mutually equivalent states. However, the orbit closure may contain singular states, meaning the set of quasi-invariant states is closed under convex combinations but not topologically closed. The paper also provides a unitary implementation of the group action on the GNS Hilbert space-generalizing covariant representations and compares this approach with the Pedersen-Takesaki construction, where the Radon-Nikodym derivative sits in the centraliser instead of the commutant.