Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
For a division ring $D$, denote by ${{\mathcal{M}}_{D}}$ the $D$-ring obtained as the completion of the direct limit $\underset{\to n}{\mathop \lim }\,{{M}_{{{2}^{n}}}}(D)$ with respect to themetric induced by its unique rank function. We prove that, for any ultramatricial $D$-ring $B$ and any non-discrete extremal pseudo-rank function $N$ on $B$, there is an isomorphism of $D$-rings $\overline{B}\,\cong \,{{\mathcal{M}}_{D}}$, where $\overline{B}$ stands for the completion of $B$ with respect to the pseudo-metric induced by $N$. This generalizes a result of von Neumann. We also show a corresponding uniqueness result for $*$-algebras over fields $\text{F}$ with positive definite involution, where the algebra ${{\mathcal{M}}_{\text{F}}}$ is endowed with its natural involution coming from the $*$-transpose involution on each of the factors ${{M}_{{{2}^{n}}}}\,(F)$.