Operator equalities and Characterizations of Orthogonality in Pre-Hilbert $C^*$-Modules

Abstract

In the first part of the paper, we use states on $C^*$-algebras in order to establish some equivalent statements to equality in the triangle inequality, as well as to the parallelogram identity for elements of a pre-Hilbert $C^*$-module. We also characterize the equality case in the triangle inequality for adjointable operators on a Hilbert $C^*$-module. Then we give certain necessary and sufficient conditions to the Pythagoras identity for two vectors in a pre-Hilbert $C^*$-module under the assumption that their inner product has negative real part. We introduce the concept of Pythagoras orthogonality and discuss its properties. We describe this notion for Hilbert space operators in terms of the parallelogram law and some limit conditions. We present several examples in order to illustrate the relationship between the Birkhoff--James, Roberts, and Pythagoras orthogonalities, and the usual orthogonality in the framework of Hilbert $C^*$-modules.