Surjective \(L^p\)-isometries on rank 1 idempotents (Q2084864)

Let \({\mathcal H}\) be a complex Hilbert space of dimension at least \(2\) and let \(B({\mathcal H})\) be the algebra of all bounded linear operators on \({\mathcal H}\). For an operator \(A\in B({\mathcal H})\), let \(\mathrm{Ran}(A)\) be the closure of its range and let \(|A|=\sqrt{A^*A}\). If, for \(1<p<\infty\), the trace \(\mathrm{Tr}(|A|^p)\) exists, then let \(\| A\|_p =\mathrm{Tr}(|A|^p)^{\frac{1}{p}}\). For every \(k\in {\mathbb N}\), let \(\mathscr{I}_k({\mathcal H})\) be the set of all idempotents of rank \(k\) in \(B({\mathcal H})\), that is, \(\mathscr{I}_k({\mathcal H})=\{ E\in B({\mathcal H});\; E^2=E,\; \dim(\mathrm{Ran}(E))=k\}\) and let \(\mathscr{P}_k({\mathcal H})\subseteq \mathscr{I}_k({\mathcal H})\) be the subset of all orthogonal projections of rank \(k\). A mapping \(\varphi\colon \mathscr{I}_k({\mathcal H})\to \mathscr{I}_k({\mathcal H})\) is an \(L^p\)-isometry if \(\| \varphi(E)-\varphi(F)\|_p=\| E-F\|_p\), for all \(E, F\in \mathscr{I}_k\). The classical Wigner's Theorem asserts that for every surjective mapping \(\varphi\colon \mathscr{P}_1({\mathcal H}) \to \mathscr{P}_1({\mathcal H})\) there exists a unitary or an anti-unitary operator \(U\) on \({\mathcal H}\) such that \(\varphi(P)=U^*PU\), for all \(P\in \mathscr{P}_1({\mathcal H})\). In the paper under review, the following Wigner-type theorem is proved. If \(\varphi\colon \mathscr{I}_1({\mathcal H}) \to \mathscr{I}_1({\mathcal H})\) is a surjective \(L^p\)-isometry \((1<p<\infty)\), then there exists a unitary or an anti-unitary operator \(U\) on \({\mathcal H}\) such that either \(\varphi(E)=U^*EU\) or \(\varphi(E)=U^*E^*U\), for all \(E\in \mathscr{I}_1({\mathcal H})\).