The Moore-Penrose inverses of products and differences of projections in a \(C^*\)-algebra (Q2469542)

Let \(A\) be a \(C^*\)-algebra. An element \(a\in A\) is called Moore-Penrose invertible if there exists \(x\in A\) such that \[ axa=a,\quad xax=x, \quad (ax)^*=ax, \quad (xa)^*=xa. \] \textit{J. J. Koliha} [Math. Proc. R. Ir. Acad. 99A, No. 1, 17--27 (1999; Zbl 0943.46031)] proved that \(a\in A\) is Moore-Penrose invertible if and only if \(aa^*\) is Moore-Penrose invertible. In the present paper, the author establishes some formulae for the Moore-Penrose inverses of products and differences of projections in a \(C^*\)-algebra. He shows that \(pq-qp\) is Moore-Penrose invertible if and only if so are \(pq\) and \(p-q\).