EP elements in rings with involution

Abstract

Let $R$ be a unital ring with involution. We first show that the EP elements in $R$ can be characterized by three equations. Namely, let $a\in R$, then $a$ is EP if and only if there exists $x\in R$ such that $(xa{)}^{\ast }=xa$, $x{a}^2=a$ and $a{x}^2=x.$ It is well known that all EP elements in $R$ are core invertible and Moore-Penrose invertible. We give more equivalent conditions for a core (Moore-Penrose) invertible element to be an EP element. Finally, the EP elements are characterized in terms of $n$-EP property, which is a generalization of bi-EP property.