The multiplicative K-theory of compact quantum spaces

Abstract: In this paper, we refine the classification of compact quantum spaces by K-theory type. We do it by introducing a multiplicative K-theory functor for unital C*-algebras taking values in the category of augmented rings, together with a natural transformation to the standard K-theory functor, taking values in the category of abelian groups. The multiplicative K-theory type refines the K-theory type, defined in the framework of cw-Waldhausen categories. In our refinement, we require compatibility of morphisms with an additional structure which we call k-topology. This is a noncommutative version of the Grothendieck topology with covering families given by compact quantum principal bundles and bases related by suitable k-continuous maps. In the classical case of compact Hausdorff spaces, k-topology and k-continuity reduce to the usual topology and continuity, respectively, and our noncommutative counterpart of the product in K-theory reduces to the standard product in topological K-theory. As an application, we show that non-isomorphic quantizations of the standard CW-complex structure of a complex projective space belong to the same multiplicative K-theory type. In addition, for these complex quantum projective spaces, we prove a noncommutative generalization of the Atiyah--Todd calculation of the K-theory ring in terms of truncated polynomials.