A characterization of perfect semigroup rings A[G] is given by means of the properties of the ring A and the semigroup G. It was proved in [10] that for a ring with unity A and a group G the group ring A[G] is perfect if and only if A is perfect and G is finite. Some results on perfectness of semigroup rings were obtained by Domanov [3]. He reduced the problem of describing perfect semigroup ri...

We investigate graded retracts of polytopal algebras (essentially the homogeneous rings of affine cones over projective toric varieties) as polytopal analogues of vector spaces. In many cases we show that these retracts are again polytopal algebras and that codimension 1 retractions factor through retractions preserving the semigroup structure. We expect that these results hold in general. This...

It is known that every semigroup of normal completely positive maps of a von Neumann can be “dilated” in a particular way to an E0-semigroup acting on a larger von Neumann algebra. The E0-semigroup is not uniquely determined by the completely positive semigroup; however, it is unique (up to conjugacy) provided that certain conditions of minimality are met. Minimality is a subtle property, and i...

In this paper we study the operator inequality φ(X) ≤ X and the operator equation φ(X) = X, where φ is a w∗-continuous positive (resp. completely positive) linear map on B(H). We show that their solutions are in one-to-one correspondence with a class of Poisson transforms on Cuntz-Toeplitz C∗-algebras, if φ is completely positive. Canonical decompositions, ergodic type theorems, and lifting the...