Smoothness of generalized inverses (Q5891688)

Let \(\mathbf B\) be a complex unital Banach algebra and let \(a(x)\) be a smooth function of a parameter \(x\), where smooth is understood in the sense of having a certain number of continuous derivatives, which are real-analytic, or complex holomorphic functions. An element \(b \in \mathbf B\) is said to be a generalized inverse (GI) of \(a \in \mathbf B\) if the equalities \(aba = a\) and \(bab = b\) hold. Since the GI function can be discontinuous at zero, additional hypotheses are needed to ensure smooth behavior of GIs, suitably chosen. These can often take the form of assuming Fredholm type properties of operators and invariance of dimension of certain subspaces. It is shown that if \(a(x)\) has a GI for every \(x\) which can be chosen bounded, possibly not continuous, in a neighborhood of \(x\), then there exists a GI of \(a(x)\) as smooth as \(a(x)\) is. The paper is largely expository.