Positive and real-positive solutions to the equation axa*=c in C*-algebras

Abstract

We obtain new representations for the general positive and real-positive solutions of the equation axa*=c in a C*-algebra using the characterization of positivity based on a matrix representation of an element and the generalized Schur complement. Applications to the equation AXA*=C for operators between Hilbert spaces and for finite matrices are given.