College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA.
Abstract
Suppose $\pi:\mathcal{A}\rightarrow \mathcal{B}$ is a surjective unital $\ast$-homomorphism between C*-algebras $\mathcal{A}$ and $\mathcal{B}$, and $0\leq a\leq1$ with $a\in \mathcal{A}$. We give a sufficient condition that ensures there is a proection $p\in \mathcal{A}$ such that $\pi \left( p\right) =\pi \left( a\right) $. An easy consequence is a result of [L. G. Brown and G. k. Pedersen, C*-algebras of real rank zero, \textit{J. Funct. Anal.} {99} (1991) 131--149] that such a $p$ exists when $\mathcal{A}$ has real rank zero.
