A 2-Hilbert space is a category with structures and properties analogous to those of a Hilbert space. More precisely, we define a 2-Hilbert space to be an abelian category enriched over Hilb with a ∗-structure, conjugate-linear on the hom-sets, satisfying 〈fg,h 〉 = 〈g,f ∗ h 〉 = 〈f,hg ∗ 〉. We also define monoidal, braided monoidal, and symmetric monoidal versions of 2-Hilbert spaces, which we call 2-H*-algebras, braided 2-H*-algebras, and symmetric 2-H*-algebras, and we describe the relation between these and tangles in 2, 3, and 4 dimensions, respectively. We prove a generalized Doplicher-Roberts theorem stating that every symmetric 2-H*-algebra is equivalent to the category Rep(G) of continuous unitary finite-dimensional representations of some compact supergroupoid G. The equivalence is given by a categorified version of the Gelfand transform; we also construct a categorified version of the Fourier transform when G is a compact abelian group. Finally, we characterize Rep(G) by its universal properties when G is a compact classical group. For example, Rep(U(n)) is the free connected symmetric 2-H*-algebra on one even object of dimension n. 1

first steps in infinite-dimensional

Abstract. In the present note we describe a family of H ∗-algebra structures on the set L 2 (X) of square integrable functions on a rank-one para-Hermitian symmetric space X.

We present an operator algebraic approach to Wigner’s unitary-antiunitary theorem using some classical results from ring theory. To show how effective this approach is, we prove a generalization of this celebrated theorem for Hilbert modules over matrix algebras. We also present a Wignertype result for maps on prime C ∗-algebras.