On the geometry of idempotents in von Neumann algebras

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We consider the general linear group as an invariant of von Neumann factors. We prove that up to complement, a set consisting of all idempotents generating the same right ideal admits a characterisation in terms of properties of the general linear group of a von Neumann factor. We prove that for two Neumann factors, any bijection of their general linear groups induces a bijection of their idempotents with the following additional property: If two idempotents or their two complements generate the same right ideal, then so does their image. This generalises work on regular rings, such include von Neumann factors of type Iₙ, n < ∞.