Maps leaving functional values of operator products invariant (Q2477542)

Let \(H\) be a complex Hilbert space with dimension greater than~\(2\). Denote with \(B(H)\) the algebra of all bounded linear operators on \(H\). A subalgebra \(\mathcal A\) of \(B(H)\) is called a standard operator algebra if it contains the ideal of all finite rank elements of \(B(H)\). In this paper, the authors describe the structure of surjective, in general nonlinear maps on \(\mathcal A\) which leave certain functional values of operator products invariant. Firstly, they present a structural result for the surjective maps \(\varphi:{\mathcal A } \to {\mathcal A}\) which preserve zero products in both directions. Next, they consider a nonnegative functional \(F\) on \(B(H)\) which is finite on rank-one operators, it is unitary similarity invariant, absolute homogeneous and satisfies \(F(A)=0\) if and only if \(A=0\). They describe all surjective maps \(\varphi:\mathcal A\to \mathcal A\) with the property that \(F(\varphi(A)\varphi(B))=F(AB)\) \((A\in \mathcal A)\). After this, they solve the analogous problem under the additional condition that \(F\) is also antiunitary similarity invariant. The obtained result is then applied to determine the structure of all surjective maps \(\varphi:\mathcal A\to \mathcal A\) which preserve higher-dimensional numerical radius or higher-dimensional numerical range of the products of elements of \(\mathcal A\). In the last part, similar considerations are made and results obtained for surjective maps preserving the \((c,p)\)-norm or the Schatten \(p\)-norm of the products of elements of \(\mathcal A\).