Equivalent norms on Banach Jordan algebras

1. Introduction. Recently Kaplansky suggested the definition of a suitable Jordan analogue of B*-algebras, which we call J B*-algebras (see (10) and (11)). In this article, we give a characterization of those complex unital Banach Jordan algebras which are J B*-algebras in an equivalent norm. This is done by generalizing results of Bonsall ((3) and (4)) to give necessary and sufficient conditions on a real unital Banach Jordan algebra under which it is the self-adjoint part of a J B*-algebra in an equivalent norm. As a corollary we also obtain a characterization of the cones in a Banach Jordan algebra which are the set of positive elements of a J B*-algebra.