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Destabilization

This partly expository paper first supplies the details of a method of factoring a stable C*-algebra A as B \otimes K in a canonical way. Then it is shown that this method can be put into a categorical framework, much like the crossed-product dualities, and that stabilization gives rise to an equivalence between the nondegenerate category of C*-algebras and a category of "K-algebras". We consider this equivalence as "inverting" the stabilization process, that is, a "destabilization". Furthermore, the method of factoring stable C*-algebras generalizes to Hilbert bimodules, and an analogous category equivalence between the associated enchilada categories is produced, giving a destabilization for C*-correspondences. Finally, we make a connection with (double) crossed-product duality.