In this paper we consider the algebraic crossed product ${\mathcal{A}}:=C_{K}(X)\rtimes _{T}\mathbb{Z}$ induced by a homeomorphism $T$ on the Cantor set $X$, where $K$ is an arbitrary field with involution and $C_{K}(X)$ denotes the $K$-algebra of locally constant $K$-valued functions on $X$. We investigate the possible Sylvester matrix rank functions that one can construct on ${\mathcal{A}}$ by means of full ergodic $T$-invariant probability measures $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$ on $X$. To do so, we present a general construction of an approximating sequence of $\ast$-subalgebras ${\mathcal{A}}_{n}$ which are embeddable into a (possibly infinite) product of matrix algebras over $K$. This enables us to obtain a specific embedding of the whole $\ast$-algebra ${\mathcal{A}}$ into ${\mathcal{M}}_{K}$, the well-known von Neumann continuous factor over $K$, thus obtaining a Sylvester matrix rank function on ${\mathcal{A}}$ by restricting the unique one defined on ${\mathcal{M}}_{K}$. This process gives a way to obtain a Sylvester matrix rank function on ${\mathcal{A}}$, unique with respect to a certain compatibility property concerning the measure $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$, namely that the rank of a characteristic function of a clopen subset $U\subseteq X$ must equal the measure of $U$.
Sylvester rank functions for amenable normal extensions
