MiS Preprint Repository

Given a finite hypergraph $H$, the associated hypergraph C*-algebra $C^*(H)$ is finitely presented by one projection for each vertex of $H$, such that each hyperedge forms a partition of unity. General hypergraph C*-algebras were first studied in the context of quantum contextuality, and there is no direct relation to graph C*-algebras. As special cases, the class of hypergraph C*-algebras comprises quantum permutation groups, maximal group C*-algebras of graph products of finite cyclic groups, and the C*-algebras associated to quantum graph homomorphism, isomorphism, and colouring.

Here, we conduct the first systematic study of aspects of hypergraph C*-algebras. We show that they coincide with the class of finite colimits of finite-dimensional commutative C*-algebras, and also with the class of C*-algebras associated to synchronous nonlocal games. We had previously shown that it is undecidable to determine whether $C^*(H)$ is nonzero for given $H$. We now show that it is also undecidable to determine whether a given $C^*(H)$ is residually finite-dimensional, and similarly whether it only has infinite-dimensional representations, and whether it has a tracial state. It follows that for each one of these properties, there is $H$ such that the question whether $C^*(H)$ has this property is independent of the ZFC axioms, assuming that these are consistent. We clarify some of the subtleties associated with such independence results in an appendix.