Representations and Semisimplicity of Ordered Topological Vector Spaces

Abstract: This paper studies ways to represent an ordered topological vector space as a space of continuous functions, extending the classical representation theorems of Kadison and Schaefer. Particular emphasis is put on the class of semisimple spaces, consisting of those ordered topological vector spaces that admit an injective positive representation to a space of continuous functions. We show that this class forms a natural topological analogue of the regularly ordered spaces defined by Schaefer in the 1950s, and is characterized by a large number of equivalent geometric, algebraic, and topological properties.