Unitary similarity preserving linear maps on \(B(H)\) (Q2341265)

Let \(\mathcal{B(H)}\) be the algebra of all bounded linear operators on a Hilbert space \(\mathcal{H}\). For \(A,B\in \mathcal{B(H)}\) we say that \(A\) and \(B\) are unitarily similar whenever there exists a unitary operator \(U\in \mathcal{B(H)}\) such that \(A=U^{\ast }BU\). In the paper under review, the authors prove the following result. Let \(\mathcal{H}\) be an infinite dimensional, separable, complex Hilbert space and assume that \(\Phi:\mathcal{B(H)}\rightarrow \mathcal{B(H)}\) is a bijective linear map preserving unitary similarity, i.e., if \(A,B\in \mathcal{B(H)}\) are unitarily similar, then \(\Phi (A)\) and \(\Phi (B)\) are also unitarily similar. Then there exist a nonzero \(c\in \mathbb{C}\) and a unitary operator \(U\in \mathcal{B(H)}\) such that either \(\Phi(A)=cU^{\ast}AU\), \(A\in \mathcal{B(H)}\), or \(\Phi (A)=cU^{\ast }A^{t}U\), \(A\in \mathcal{B(H)}\). Here, \(A^{t}\) denotes the transpose of \(A\) relative to a fixed but arbitrary orthonormal basis of \(\mathcal{H}\). The authors divide the proof of the above result into several steps. First, they show that for the identity operator \(I\in \mathcal{B(H)}\), \(\Phi (I)\) is a scalar operator. Next, they prove that if \(\Phi (A)\) is a self-adjoint rank-one idempotent operator, then \(A\in \mathcal{B(H)}\) is a normal operator which is the sum of a scalar operator and a finite-rank operator. They complete the proof by studying the form of the map \(\Phi\) on the set of rank-one nilpotent operators. The authors need the separability assumption because the proof depends on the result of \textit{K. R. Davidson} and \textit{L. W. Marcoux} [J. Oper. Theory 52, No. 1, 113--132 (2004; Zbl 1104.47016)] which states that if a bounded linear operator \(A\) acting on an infinite-dimensional, separable, complex Hilbert space \(\mathcal{H}\) is not of the form scalar plus compact, then every bounded linear operator on \(\mathcal{H}\) can be written as a linear combination of 14 or fewer operators unitarily similar to \(A\).