Journal of Operator Theory

Volume 88, Issue 2, Fall 2022 pp. 289-308.

Quadratic Wasserstein metrics for von Neumann algebras via transport plans

Authors: Rocco Duvenhage
Author institution:Department of Physics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa

Summary: We show how one can obtain a class of quadratic Wasserstein metrics, that is to say, Wasserstein metrics of order 2, on the set of faithful normal states of a von Neumann algebra $A$ , via transport plans, rather than through a dynamical approach. Two key points to make this work, are a suitableformulation of the cost of transport arising from Tomita-Takesaki theory and relative tensor products of bimodules (or correspondences in the sense of Connes). The triangle inequality, symmetry and $W_{2}(\mu,\mu)=0$ all work quite generally, but to show that $W_{2}(\mu,\nu)=0$ implies $\mu=\nu$ , we need to assume that $A$ is finitely generated.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7900/jot.2021feb18.2317
Keywords: Wasserstein metrics, states, von Neumann algebras, bimodules, transport plans, couplings

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