Segments of bounded linear idempotents on a Hilbert space (Q2583797)

For a real Banach algebra \(A\), denote by \({\mathcal I}(A)\) the set of all idempotents in \(A\), i.e., those \(p \in A\) for which \(p^2 = p\). Two idempotents \(p, q \in {\mathcal I}(A)\) are said to be homotopic in \(A\) (write \(p \sim q\)) if they may be connected by a continuous path lying in \({\mathcal I}(A)\). It is known that if \(p \sim q\), then there is a piecewise affine idempotent-valued path connecting \(p\) and \(q\), and the minimal number of segments required to connect \(p\) and \(q\) in \({\mathcal I}(A)\) is denoted by \(s(p,q)\). The main purpose of the paper under the review is to estimate the number \(s(p,q)\). As follows from an earlier result of the author, \(s(p,q) \leq 3\) in the finite-dimensional case. In passing, it is shown that this estimate is not true in general, and that if \(H\) is a separable Hilbert space, then \(s(p,q) \leq 4\) for any homotopic idempotents \(p,q \in {\mathcal I} ({\mathcal L} (H))\).