On mappings preserving the sharp and star orders (Q490896)

Let \(\mathcal{A}\) be a Banach algebra and let \(\mathcal{A}^{\#}\) be the set of all group invertible elements in \(\mathcal{A}\). For \(a\in \mathcal{A}^{\#} \) and \(b\in \mathcal{A}\), we write \(a\leq _{\#}b\) when \(a^{\#}a=a^{\#}b\) and \(aa^{\#}=ba^{\#}\), and call \(\leq _{\#}\) the sharp relation. The sharp relation is on \(\mathcal{A}^{\#}\) equivalent to the following relation (even in the case when \(\mathcal{A}\) is a general ring with identity): For \(a,b\in\mathcal{A}\), we write \(a\leq _{id}b\) when there exists an idempotent \(p\in\mathcal{A}\) such that \(a= pb= bp\). In the paper, the authors first study bijective linear maps from a unital semisimple Banach algebra \(\mathcal{A}\) having essential socle into a unital Banach algebra \(\mathcal{B}\). They prove that such a map \(T:\mathcal{ A\rightarrow B}\) preserves the sharp relation if and only if \(T\) is a Jordan isomorphism multiplied by a central invertible element. A similar result is obtained for the relation \(\leq _{id}\). We say that a \(C^{\ast }\)-algebra \(\mathcal{A}\) is of \textit{real rank zero} if the set of all real linear combinations of orthogonal projections is dense in the set of all Hermitian elements of \(\mathcal{A}\). The authors prove that a bounded linear map \(T:\mathcal{A\rightarrow B}\), where \(\mathcal{A}\) and \(\mathcal{B}\) are unital Banach algebras and \(\mathcal{A}\) is a real rank zero \(C^{\ast }\)-algebra, preserves the sharp relation if and only if \(T\) is an appropriate multiple of a Jordan homomorphism. An analogous result is also proved for the relation \(\leq _{id}\). In the last part of the paper, the authors study preservers of the following relation \(\leq \) which is closely related to the well-known star partial order. Let \(\mathcal{A}\) be a \(C^{\ast }\)-algebra. We write \(a\leq b\) when \(a=pb=bq\) for some self-adjoint idempotents \(p,q\in \mathcal{A}\). For \(C^{\ast }\)-algebras \(\mathcal{A}\) and \(\mathcal{B}\), where \(\mathcal{A}\) is unital with essential socle, the authors show that, if a bijective linear map \(T:\) \(\mathcal{A}\rightarrow \mathcal{B}\) preserves orthogonality or the relation \(\leq \), then \(\mathcal{B}\) is unital and \(T\) is a Jordan *-homomorphism multiplied by an invertible element. Finally, the authors show that a bounded linear map \(T\) from a unital real rank zero \(C^{\ast }\) -algebra \(\mathcal{A}\) to a \(C^{\ast }\)-algebra \(\mathcal{B}\), which preserves the relation \(\leq \), preserves the orthogonality. Also, it turns out that the continuity assumption on \(T\) can be dropped when \(\mathcal{A}\) is linearly spanned by its projections.