We investigate when the algebraic numerical range is a C-spectral set in a Banach algebra. While providing several counterexamples based on classical ideas as well as combinatorial Banach spaces, we discuss positive results for matrix algebras and provide an absolute constant in the case of complex $2\times 2$-matrices with the induced $1$-norm. Furthermore, we discuss positive results for infinite-dimensional Banach algebras, including the Calkin algebra.

In this paper, we study the cyclicity of the shift operator $S$ acting on a Banach space $\mathcal {X}$ of analytic functions on the open unit disc $\mathbb {D}$. We develop a general framework where a method based on a corona theorem can be used to show that if $f,g\in \mathcal {X}$ satisfy $|g(z)|\leq |f(z)|$, for every $z\in \mathbb {D}$, and if g is cyclic, then f is cyclic. We also give sufficient conditions for cyclicity in this context. This enable us to recapture some recent results obtained in de Branges–Rovnayk spaces, in Besov–Dirichlet spaces and in weighted Dirichlet type spaces.

We identify a class of smooth Banach *-algebras that are differential subalgebras of commutative C*-algebras whose openness of multiplication is completely determined by the topological stable rank of the target C*-algebra. We then show that group algebras of Abelian groups of unbounded exponent fail to have uniformly open convolution. Finally, we completely characterize in the complex case (uniform) openness of multiplication in algebras of continuous functions in terms of the covering dimension.

In this paper, we apply the theory of algebraic cohomology to study the amenability of Thompson’s group $\mathcal {F}$. We introduce the notion of unique factorization semigroup which contains Thompson’s semigroup $\mathcal {S}$ and the free semigroup $\mathcal {F}_n$ on n ($\geq 2$) generators. Let $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {S})$ and $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {F}_n)$ be the Banach algebras generated by the left regular representations of $\mathcal {S}$ and $\mathcal {F}_n$, respectively. We prove that all derivations on $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {S})$ and $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {F}_n)$ are automatically continuous, and every derivation on $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {S})$ is induced by a bounded linear operator in $\mathcal {L}(\mathcal {S})$, the weak-operator closed Banach algebra consisting of all bounded left convolution operators on $l^2(\mathcal {S})$. Moreover, we prove that the first continuous Hochschild cohomology group of $\mathfrak {B}(\mathcal {S})$ with coefficients in $\mathcal {L}(\mathcal {S})$ vanishes. These conclusions provide positive indications for the left amenability of Thompson’s semigroup.

We show that $\ell ^1(\mathbb {N}_\wedge )$ is $\varphi $-amenable for each multiplicative linear functional $\varphi :\ell ^1(\mathbb {N}_\wedge )\rightarrow \mathbb {C}.$ This is a counterexample to the final corollary of Jaberi and Mahmoodi [‘On $\varphi $-amenability of dual Banach algebras’, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 105 (2022), 303–313] and shows that the final theorem in that paper is not valid.

Let G be a group that is either virtually soluble or virtually free, and let ω be a weight on G. We prove that if G is infinite, then there is some maximal left ideal of finite codimension in the Beurling algebra $\ell^1(G, \omega)$, which fails to be (algebraically) finitely generated. This implies that a conjecture of Dales and Żelazko holds for these Banach algebras. We then go on to give examples of weighted groups for which this property fails in a strong way. For instance, we describe a Beurling algebra on an infinite group in which every closed left ideal of finite codimension is finitely generated and which has many such ideals in the sense of being residually finite dimensional. These examples seem to be hard cases for proving Dales and Żelazko’s conjecture.

In this article, we study the Bohr operator for the operator-valued subordination class $S(f)$ consisting of holomorphic functions subordinate to f in the unit disk $\mathbb {D}:=\{z \in \mathbb {C}: |z|<1\}$, where $f:\mathbb {D} \rightarrow \mathcal {B}(\mathcal {H})$ is holomorphic and $\mathcal {B}(\mathcal {H})$ is the algebra of bounded linear operators on a complex Hilbert space $\mathcal {H}$. We establish several subordination results, which can be viewed as the analogs of a couple of interesting subordination results from scalar-valued settings. We also obtain a von Neumann-type inequality for the class of analytic self-mappings of the unit disk $\mathbb {D}$ which fix the origin. Furthermore, we extensively study Bohr inequalities for operator-valued polyanalytic functions in certain proper simply connected domains in $\mathbb {C}$. We obtain Bohr radius for the operator-valued polyanalytic functions of the form $F(z)= \sum _{l=0}^{p-1} \overline {z}^l \, f_{l}(z) $, where $f_{0}$ is subordinate to an operator-valued convex biholomorphic function, and operator-valued starlike biholomorphic function in the unit disk $\mathbb {D}$.

Let A be a semisimple, unital, and complex Banach algebra. It is well known and easy to prove that A is commutative if and only $e^xe^y=e^{x+y}$ for all $x,y\in A$. Elaborating on the spectral theory of commutativity developed by Aupetit, Zemánek, and Zemánek and Pták, we derive, in this paper, commutativity results via a spectral comparison of $e^xe^y$ and $e^{x+y}$.

Let $H^\infty ({\mathbb {D}}\times {\mathbb {N}})$ be the Banach algebra of bounded holomorphic functions defined on the disjoint union of countably many copies of the open unit disk ${\mathbb {D}}\subset {{\mathbb C}}$. We show that the dense stable rank of $H^\infty ({\mathbb {D}}\times {\mathbb {N}})$ is $1$ and, using this fact, prove some nonlinear Runge-type approximation theorems for $H^\infty ({\mathbb {D}}\times {\mathbb {N}})$ maps. Then we apply these results to obtain a priori uniform estimates of norms of approximating maps in similar approximation problems for the algebra $H^\infty ({\mathbb {D}})$.

We study ring-theoretic (in)finiteness properties—such as Dedekind-finiteness and proper infiniteness—of ultraproducts (and more generally, reduced products) of Banach algebras.

While we characterise when an ultraproduct has these ring-theoretic properties in terms of its underlying sequence of algebras, we find that, contrary to the $C^*$-algebraic setting, it is not true in general that an ultraproduct has a ring-theoretic finiteness property if and only if “ultrafilter many” of the underlying sequence of algebras have the same property. This might appear to violate the continuous model theoretic counterpart of Łoś’s Theorem; the reason it does not is that for a general Banach algebra, the ring theoretic properties we consider cannot be verified by considering a bounded subset of the algebra of fixed bound. For Banach algebras, we construct counter-examples to show, for example, that each component Banach algebra can fail to be Dedekind-finite while the ultraproduct is Dedekind-finite, and we explain why such a counter-example is not possible for $C^*$-algebras. Finally, the related notion of having stable rank one is also studied for ultraproducts.

It is shown that Jamison sequences, introduced in 2007 by Badea and Grivaux, arise naturally in the study of topological groups with no small subgroups, of Banach or normed algebra elements whose powers are close to identity along subsequences, and in characterizations of (self-adjoint) positive operators by the accretiveness of some of their powers. The common core of these results is a description of those sequences for which non-identity elements in Lie groups or normed algebras escape an arbitrary small neighborhood of the identity in a number of steps belonging to the given sequence. Several spectral characterizations of Jamison sequences are given, and other related results are proved.

We show that an essentially amenable Banach algebra need not have an approximate identity. This answers a question posed by Ghahramani and Loy [‘Generalized notions of amenability’, J. Funct. Anal.  208 (2004), 229–260]. Essentially Connes-amenable dual Banach algebras are introduced and studied.

Motivated by the definition of a semigroup compactication of a locally compact group and a large collection of examples, we introduce the notion of an (operator) homogeneous left dual Banach algebra (HLDBA) over a (completely contractive) Banach algebra $A$. We prove a Gelfand-type representation theorem showing that every HLDBA over A has a concrete realization as an (operator) homogeneous left Arens product algebra: the dual of a subspace of $A^{\ast }$ with a compatible (matrix) norm and a type of left Arens product $\Box$. Examples include all left Arens product algebras over $A$, but also, when $A$ is the group algebra of a locally compact group, the dual of its Fourier algebra. Beginning with any (completely) contractive (operator) $A$-module action $Q$ on a space $X$, we introduce the (operator) Fourier space $({\mathcal{F}}_{Q}(A^{\ast }),\Vert \cdot \Vert _{Q})$ and prove that $({\mathcal{F}}_{Q}(A^{\ast })^{\ast },\Box )$ is the unique (operator) HLDBA over $A$ for which there is a weak$^{\ast }$-continuous completely isometric representation as completely bounded operators on $X^{\ast }$ extending the dual module representation. Applying our theory to several examples of (completely contractive) Banach algebras $A$ and module operations, we provide new characterizations of familiar HLDBAs over A and we recover, and often extend, some (completely) isometric representation theorems concerning these HLDBAs.

We consider the unital Banach algebra $\ell ^{1}(\mathbb{Z}_{+})$ and prove directly, without using cyclic cohomology, that the simplicial cohomology groups ${\mathcal{H}}^{n}(\ell ^{1}(\mathbb{Z}_{+}),\ell ^{1}(\mathbb{Z}_{+})^{\ast })$ vanish for all $n\geqslant 2$. This proceeds via the introduction of an explicit bounded linear operator which produces a contracting homotopy for $n\geqslant 2$. This construction is generalised to unital Banach algebras $\ell ^{1}({\mathcal{S}})$, where ${\mathcal{S}}={\mathcal{G}}\cap \mathbb{R}_{+}$ and ${\mathcal{G}}$ is a subgroup of $\mathbb{R}_{+}$.

In this paper we define B-Fredholm elements in a Banach algebra A modulo an ideal J of A. When a trace function is given on the ideal J, it generates an index for B-Fredholm elements. In the case of a B-Fredholm operator T acting on a Banach space, we prove that its usual index ind(T) is equal to the trace of the commutator [T, T0], where T0 is a Drazin inverse of T modulo the ideal of finite rank operators, extending Fedosov's trace formula for Fredholm operators (see Böttcher and Silbermann [Analysis of Toeplitz operators, 2nd edn (Springer, 2006)]. In the case of a primitive Banach algebra, we prove a punctured neighbourhood theorem for the index.

This paper considers Banach algebras with properties 𝔸 or 𝔹, introduced recently by Alaminos et al. The class of Banach algebras satisfying either of these two properties is quite large; in particular, it includes C *-algebras and group algebras on locally compact groups. Our first main result states that a continuous orthogonally additive n-homogeneous polynomial on a commutative Banach algebra with property 𝔸 and having a bounded approximate identity is of a standard form. The other main results describe Banach algebras A with property 𝔹 and having a bounded approximate identity that admit non-zero continuous symmetric orthosymmetric n-linear maps from An into ℂ.

In this paper we prove the following result: let $m,n\geq 1$ be distinct integers, let $R$ be an $mn(m+n)|m-n|$-torsion free semiprime ring and let $D:R\rightarrow R$ be an $(m,n)$-Jordan derivation, that is an additive mapping satisfying the relation $(m+n)D(x^{2})=2mD(x)x+2nxD(x)$ for $x\in R$. Then $D$ is a derivation which maps $R$ into its centre.

We investigate the global versions of the Kleinecke–Shirokov theorem for skew derivations in Banach algebras. Centralizing skew derivations on Banach algebras are also studied.

We recently introduced a weighted Banach algebra $\mathcal{A}_{G}^{n}$ of functions that are holomorphic on the unit disc $\mathbb{D}$ , continuous up to the boundary, and of the class ${{C}^{\left( n \right)}}$ at all points where the function $G$ does not vanish. Here, $G$ refers to a function of the disc algebra without zeros on $\mathbb{D}$ . Then we proved that all closed ideals in $\mathcal{A}_{G}^{n}$ with at most countable hull are standard. In this paper, on the assumption that $G$ is an outer function in ${{C}^{\left( n \right)}}\,\left( {\bar{\mathbb{D}}} \right)$ having infinite roots in $\mathcal{A}_{G}^{n}$ and countable zero set ${{h}_{o}}\left( G \right)$ , we show that all the closed ideals $I$ with hull containing ${{h}_{o}}\left( G \right)$ are standard.

In this paper, for an arbitrary $\ell ^{1}$-Munn algebra $\mathfrak{A}$ over a Banach algebra $A$ with a sandwich matrix $P$, we characterise all homomorphisms from $\mathfrak{A}$ to a commutative Banach algebra $B$. Especially, we study the character space of this algebra. Then, as an application, its character amenability is investigated. Finally, we apply these results to certain semigroups, which are called Rees matrix semigroups.