Nonlinear invertibility preserving maps on matrix algebras (Q2185848)

Let \(M_{n}\) be the algebra of all \(n\times n\) matrices over the complex field \(\mathbb{C}\) and let \(A^{t}\) denote the transpose of \(A\in M_{n}\). The first example of a solution to a preserver problem dates back to the year 1897 when Frobenius described the form of all linear maps \(\Phi:M_{n}\rightarrow M_{n}\) that preserve the determinant, i.e., \[ \det \Phi (A)=\det A \] for every \(A\in M_{n}\). Since then many authors studied various preservers problems. In [\textit{G. Dolinar} and \textit{P. Šemrl}, Linear Algebra Appl. 348, No. 1--3, 189--192 (2002; Zbl 0998.15011)] the surjective (not necessarily linear) maps \(\Phi :M_{n}\rightarrow M_{n}\) satisfying \[ \det (\lambda \Phi (A)+\Phi (B))=\det (\lambda A+B),\quad A,B\in M_{n},\text{}\lambda \in \mathbb{C}\text{,} \tag{EN} \] were characterized. In the present paper the author studies maps on \(M_{n}\) for which the condition that \(\Phi \) satisfies (EN) is replaced by a more general preserving property concerning the fact that one determinant from (EN) is zero if and only if the other determinant is zero too. Moreover, instead of working only with the map \(\Phi \) the author claims and proves a result where the preserving property is stated for two maps on \(M_{n}\), one of them being either continuous or surjective. The main result of the paper follows. Theorem. Let \(\Phi ,\Psi :M_{n}\rightarrow M_{n}\) be two maps, one of them being continuous or surjective, such that \[ \det (\lambda A+B)=0\quad \text{if and only if}\quad \det (\lambda \Phi(A)+\Psi (B))=0, \] \(A,B\in M_{n},\) \(\lambda \in \mathbb{C}\). Then there exist invertible matrices \(U,V\in M_{n}\) such that either \[ \Phi (A)=\Psi (A)=UAV,\quad A\in M_{n}, \] or \[ \Phi (A)=\Psi (A)=UA^{t}V,\quad A\in M_{n}. \]