Simplicity of C*-algebras associated to row-finite locally convex higher-rank graphs

Abstract

In a previous work, the authors showed that the C*-algebra C*(Λ) of a row-finite higher-rank graph Λ with no sources is simple if and only if Λ is both cofinal and aperiodic. In this paper, we generalise this result to row-finite higher-rank graphs which are locally convex (but may contain sources). Our main tool is Farthing’s "removing sources" construction which embeds a row-finite locally convex higher-rank graph in a row-finite higher-rank graph with no sources in such a way that the associated C*-algebras are Morita equivalent.