EN
Let ℳ be a semi-finite factor and let 𝓙(ℳ ) be the set of operators T in ℳ such that T = ETE for some finite projection E. We obtain a representation theorem for unitarily invariant norms on 𝓙(ℳ ) in terms of Ky Fan norms. As an application, we prove that the class of unitarily invariant norms on 𝓙(ℳ ) coincides with the class of symmetric gauge norms on a classical abelian algebra, which generalizes von Neumann's classical 1940 result on unitarily invariant norms on Mₙ(ℂ). As another application, Ky Fan's dominance theorem of 1951 is obtained for semi-finite factors.