Linear rank and corank preserving maps on (H) and an application to *-semigroup isomorphisms of operator ideals

We characterize linear rank-k nonincreasing, rank-k preserving, and corank-k preserving maps on B(H), the algebra of all bounded linear operators on the Hilbert space H. This unifies and extends finite-dimensional results and results on linear rank-1 non-increasing and rank-1 preserving maps in the infinite-dimensional case. We conclude with an application to *-semigroup isomorphisms of operator ideals.