Adjacency preserving maps on the space of symmetric operators (Q2484246)

In the mid-1940s, Hua initiated the study of the geometry of matrices. In this paper, the authors extend Hua's fundamental theorem on the geometry of symmetric matrices to the infinite-dimensional case. Let \(H\) be a complex Hilbert space and \(\mathcal B(H)\) the set of all bounded linear operators on \(H\). Denote respectively by \(\mathcal S_F^y(H)\) and \(\mathcal S^y(H)\) the linear subspace of all finite rank symmetric operators and the linear subspace of all symmetric operators in \(\mathcal B(H)\). The authors show mainly the following results. Theorem 1. Let \(\Phi : \mathcal S_F^y(H)\to\mathcal S_F^y(H)\) be a surjective bounded map. Then \(\Phi\) preserves adjacency in both directions if and only if there exist a bounded bijective linear or conjugate linear operator \(A\) on \(H\) and an operator \(X_0\in \mathcal S_F^y(H)\) such that \(\Phi(X) = AXA^t + X_0\) for all \(X\in\mathcal S_F^y(H)\). Theorem 2. Let \(\Phi:\mathcal S^y(H)\to\mathcal S^y(H)\) be a surjective strongly continuous map. Then \(\Phi\) preserves adjacency in both directions if and only if there exist a bounded linear or conjugate linear operator \(A\) on \(H\) and an operator \(X_0\in\mathcal S^y(H)\) such that \(\Phi(X) = AXA^t + X_0\) for all \(X\in\mathcal S^y(H)\). As an application, they also give a characterization of Jordan ring automorphisms of \(\mathcal S^y _F\). Theorem 3. A map \(\Phi :\mathcal S^y(H)\to\mathcal S^y(H)\) is a Jordan ring automorphism if and only if there exists a bounded invertible linear or conjugate linear operator \(A\) on \(H\) with \(A^t = A^{-1}\) such that \(\Phi(X) = AXA^t\) for all \(X\in\mathcal S^y(H)\).