Compact actions on C*-algebras

Abstract

In Section 33 of [2], Bonsall and Duncan define an elementtof a Banach algebratoact compactlyonif the mapa→tatis a compact operator on. In this paper, the arguments and technique of [1] are used to study this question for C*-algebras (see also [10]). We determine the elementsbof a C*-algebrafor which the mapsa→ba,a→ab,a→ab+ba,a→babare compact (respectively weakly compact), determine the C*-algebras which are compact in the sense of Definition 9, of [2, p. 177] and give a characterization of the *-automorphisms ofwhich are weakly compact perturbations of the identity.