Linear maps preserving products equal to primitive idempotents of an incidence algebra

Abstract: Let

A

,

B

be algebras and

a i n A

,

b i n B

a fixed pair of elements. We say that a map

v a r p h i : A o B

preserves products equal to

a

and

b

if for all

a_{1}, a_{2} i n A

the equality

a_{1} a_{2} = a

implies

v a r p h i (a_{1}) v a r p h i (a_{2}) = b

. In this paper we study bijective linear maps

v a r p h i : I (X, F) o I (X, F)

preserving products equal to primitive idempotents of

I (X, F)

, where

I (X, F)

is the incidence algebra of a finite connected poset

X

over a field

F

. We fully characterize the situation, when such a map

v a r p h i

exists, and whenever it does,

v a r p h i

is either an automorphism of

I (X, F)

or the negative of an automorphism of

I (X, F)

.

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