Totally Bounded Elements in W*-probability Spaces
We introduce the notion of a totally ($K$-) bounded element of a $W^*$-probability space $(M, φ)$ and, borrowing ideas of Kadison, give an intrinsic characterization of the $^*$-subalgebra $M_{\operatorname{tb}}$ of totally bounded elements. Namely, we show that $M_{\operatorname{tb}}$ is the unique strongly dense $^*$-subalgebra $M_0$ of totally bounded elements of $M$ for which the collection of totally $1$-bounded elements of $M_0$ is complete with respect to the $\|\cdot\|_φ^\#$-norm and for which $M_0$ is closed under all operators $h_a(\log(Δ))$ for $a \in \mathbb{N}$, where $Δ$ is the modular operator and $h_a(t):=1/\cosh(t-a)$ (see Theorem 4.3). We also prove that totally $K$-bounded elements of an Ocneanu ultraproduct admit representatives with the same total bound using a careful effective estimate of the distance of a given totally bounded element to the totally 1-bounded elements. An alternative proof in the appendix uses an isometric $H^\infty$-lifting theorem for the Ocneanu multiplier quotient, derived from a metric $H^\infty$-lifting theorem for $C^*$-quotients and a $C^*$-algebraic Schur parametrization. We combine these results with Rieffel and Van Daele's bounded operator approach to modular theory to arrive at a new language and axiomatization of $W^*$-probability spaces as metric structures. Previous work of Dabrowski had axiomatized $W^*$-probability spaces using a smeared version of multiplication, but the subalgebra $M_{\operatorname{tb}}$ allows us to give an axiomatization in terms of the original algebra operations. Finally, we prove the (non-)axiomatizability of several classes of $W^*$-probability spaces.