Journal of the
Korean Mathematical Society JKMS

A $*$-ring $R$ is called (strongly) $*$-clean if every element of $R$ is the sum of a projection and a unit (which commute with each other). In this note, some properties of $*$-clean rings are considered. In particular, a new class of $*$-clean rings which called strongly $\pi$-$*$-regular are introduced. It is shown that $R$ is strongly $\pi$-$*$-regular if and only if $R$ is $\pi$-regular and every idempotent of $R$ is a projection if and only if $R/J(R)$ is strongly regular with $J(R)$ nil, and every idempotent of $R/J(R)$ is lifted to a central projection of $R.$ In addition, the stable range conditions of $*$-clean rings are discussed, and equivalent conditions among $*$-rings related to $*$-cleanness are obtained.

Keywords: (strongly) $*$-clean ring, (strongly) clean ring, strongly $\pi$-$*$-regular ring, stable range condition

MSC numbers: 16W10, 16U99