Group and Moore-Penrose inverses of regular morphisms with kernel and cokernel (Q1109876)

A morphism f: \(X\to Y\) is said to be regular if there is a morphism g: \(Y\to X\) such that \(fgf=f\). A morphism f: \(X\to X\) is said to have a group inverse if there is a morphism \(f^{\#}: X\to X\) such that \(ff^{\#}f=f\), \(f^{\#}ff^{\#}=f^{\#}\), \(ff^{\#}=f^{\#}f\). A morphism f: \(X\to Y\) is said to have a Moore-Penrose inverse with respect to an involution * provided that there is a morphism \(f^{\dag}: Y\to X\) such that \(ff^{\dag}f=f\), \(f^{\dag}ff^{\dag}=f^{\dag}\), \((ff^{\dag})^*=ff^{\dag}\), \((f^{\dag}f)^*=f^{\dag}f.\) The author proves the following result: Theorem. Let f: \(X\to Y\) be a morphism with kernel k: \(K\to X\) and cokernel p: \(Y\to L\) in an additive category C. (1) If \(X=Y\), then f has a group inverse \(f^{\#}: X\to X\) iff (1.1) kp: \(K\to L\) is invertible, and (1.2) f is regular. (2) If C has an involution *, then f has a Moore-Penrose inverse \(f^{\dag}: Y\to X\) with respect to * iff (2.1) \(kk^*: K\to K\) and \(p^*p: L\to L\) are invertible and (2.2) f is regular. In both cases a formula for the suitable inverse is given. Using this result the authors recover known results concerning matrices obtained by P. Robert, B. Noble and D. R. Batigne.