Uses separated unit eigenvectors to count the non-scalar characters,
then restores the one scalar character.
Statement
Let
be a nonzero complex
-algebra,
with no unit assumed. Let
be a separable complex Hilbert space, and let
be nonzero irreducible and represent the unique unitary-equivalence
class of nonzero irreducible comparisons. If
is a norm-closed unital
-subalgebra
of
,
then the entire character space
of
is countable. Here
denotes the scalar-coordinate character of
.
Assumptions
Commutativity of
is not an additional hypothesis in this theorem. Separability is imposed
on
,
not on
or
.
Conclusion
Countability includes the scalar character
,
as well as all the other characters.
Proof route
Choose a unit eigenvector for each non-scalar character, prove their
pairwise orthogonality, count disjoint small balls using separability,
and adjoin the scalar character.
Proof steps
Let
.
For each
,
apply A
joint unit eigenvector for each non-scalar character with the same
and that
.
Closedness of
and its inequality from the scalar character supply the remaining
hypotheses. Fix a unit vector
for each character so that
where
.
If
,
choose
with
.
Put
.
Since
is
-closed,
the eigenvector equation also gives
.
With the inner product linear in its second argument,
The two coefficients differ, so
.
Consequently
The open balls
are therefore nonempty and pairwise disjoint. Choose a countable dense
set in
;
each ball contains a point of it, and disjoint balls require different
points. Thus
is countable. This is the separated-ball argument in Countability
of the non-scalar character space.
Finally
Adding this one character to the countable set
proves countability of the entire character space.