Vector space isomorphisms of non-unital reduced Banach *-algebras

Abstract

Let A and B be two non-unital reduced Banach *-algebras and φ: A → B be a vector space isomorphism. The two following statement holds: If φ is a *-isomorphism, then φ is isometric (with respect to the C^*-norms), bipositive and φ maps some approximate identity of A onto an approximate identity of B. Conversely, any two of the later three properties imply that φ is a *-isomorphism. Finally, we show that a unital and self-adjoint spectral isometry between semi-simple Hermitian Banach algebras is an *-isomorphism.