No label defined (Q3978752)

An associative algebra \(A\) is called von Neumann regular, \(\pi\)-regular or strongly regular if for any \(x\in A\), \(x\in xAx\), \(x^ m\in x^ mAx^ m\) for some \(m\) or \(x\in Ax^ 2\) respectively. These three conditions can be expressed in terms of the \(U\)-operator, \(U_ x(y)=xyx\), so that \(A\) is von Neumann regular, \(\pi\)-regular or strongly regular if for any \(x\in A\), \(x\in U_ x(A)\), \(x^ m\in U_{x^ m}(A)\) for some \(m\) or \(x\in U_{x^ 2}(A)\) respectively. Hence, these definitions can be extended in a natural way to Jordan algebras and noncommutative Jordan algebras. In the paper under review, noncommutative Jordan normed and Banach algebras satisfying some of the conditions above are studied. It is proved that any semisimple and \(\pi\)-regular noncommutative Jordan Banach complex algebras has a capacity, extending a previous result of \textit{M. Benslimane} and \textit{El A. M. Kaidi} [J. Algebra 113, 201-206 (1988; Zbl 0692.46044)], and if the socle of \(A\) is an essential ideal without nonzero nilpotent elements, then \(A\) is associative and commutative. In particular, if \(A\) is strongly regular then \(A\) is isomorphic to \(\mathbb{C}^ n\) for some \(n\), thus generalizing a theorem for associative algebras due to \textit{R. F. Arens} and \textit{I. Kaplansky} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 63, 457-481 (1948; Zbl 0032.00702)]. As in the associative case, every von Neumann regular noncommutative Jordan algebra without nilpotent elements is shown to be strongly regular. Finally, real and complex noncommutative Jordan Banach algebras satisfying \(U_ x(A)=U_{x^ 2}(A)\) for any \(x\in A\) are studied.