Approximate equivalence in von Neumann algebras

Abstract

Suppose $\mathcal{A}$ is a separable unital ASH C*-algebra, $\mathcal{R}$ is a sigma-finite II$_{\infty}$ factor von Neumann algebra, and $\pi,\rho :\mathcal{A}\rightarrow\mathcal{R}$ are unital $\ast$-homomorphisms such that, for every $a\in\mathcal{A}$, the range projections of $\pi\left( a\right) $ and $\rho\left( a\right) $ are Murray von Neuman equivalent in $\mathcal{R}% $. We prove that $\pi$ and $\rho$ are approximately unitarily equivalent modulo $\mathcal{K}_{\mathcal{R}}$, where $\mathcal{K}_{\mathcal{R}}$ is the norm closed ideal generated by the finite projections in $\mathcal{R}$. We also prove a very general result concerning approximate equivalence in arbitrary finite von Neumann algebras.