Formal Derivatives, Weyl Algebra

Aura Polynomials

Let R be a ring that may or may not be commutative, and let y be an indeterminant.  The aura polynomials R[y] call upon a function δ from R into R, such that y*a = a*y+δ(a).  Thus the coefficients can always be moved to the left.  A "normalized" term in an aura polynomial is something in R times a power of y.

If δ(R) = 0 we have the traditional polynomial ring R[y].

By the distributive law, y*(a+b) = ya+yb.  Therefore δ(a+b) = δ(a)+δ(b).  In other words, δ is a group homomorphism that respects addition in R.

By associativity, (y*a)*b = y*(a*b).  Therefore δ(ab) = δ(a)*b+a*δ(b).

Conversely, assume δ is a function from R into R with these two properties.  Build the aura polynomials as described above, and prove the result is a ring.  The properties of δ make multiplication associative and distributive, thus producing a ring.  I'll leave the details to you.

Noetherian

If R is noetherian, is the aura ring R[y]/δ also noetherian?  I believe so, but I don't have a solid proof.  Perhaps some variation of hilbert's basis theorem will do the trick.

Weyl Algebra

Let R[x,y] be the ring of polynomials in x and y, with coefficients in R, where x and y do not commute.  However, R commutes past x and y.  Mod out by the relation yx = xy+1 to get the weyl (<biography>) algebra over R.

A polynomial is in normal form if each term is a coefficient in R, times a power of x, times a power of y.  When two such terms are multiplied, normalize the result by pulling powers of y past powers of x.  Thus xy2 times 3xy = 3x2y3 + 6x2y2.

Imagine multiplying y by p(x), where p is a polynomial in R[x].  By the distributive law, we can approach this term by term.  Start with yxn and replace yx with xy+1 n times.  The result is xny + nxn-1.  Therefore yp = py + p′, where p′ is the formal derivative of p with respect to x.

View this as an aura polynomial in R[x][y], where δ implements differentiation.  If p and q are two polynomials in R[x], δ(p+q) = δ(p) + δ(q), and δ(pq) = δ(p)q + pδ(q).  These are the standard rules for differentiating a sum and product.  Since δ has the required properties, the result is a valid ring.  The weyl algebra is indeed a ring.

Note that R is a subring that commutes with x and y.  If R is commutative, the weyl algebra meets the technical definition of an R algebra.

Ideals and Partial Differentiation

There is a symmetry here.  Normalize ynx and get xyn + nyn-1.  Thus a polynomial in y is differentiated, when multiplied by x on the right, just as a polynomial in x is differentiated, when multiplied by y on the left.

Let H be an ideal in the weyl algebra.  Let t be a term of a polynomial in H.  Note that yt-ty = t∂x, and xt-tx = t∂y.  The ideal H is closed under partial differentiation.

Simple Rings

Let R be a simple ring of characteristic 0.  Consider a nonzero ideal H in the weyl algebra.  Let p be a nonzero polynomial in H of least degree.  Both p∂x and p∂y produce polynomials of lesser degree.  By minimality, these are 0, hence p is a constant.  The contraction of H to R yields a nonzero ideal in R, which is all of R.  Thus H contains 1, and is the entire algebra.  Therefore the weyl algebra, like R, is a simple ring.

Notice the chain of descending left ideals generated by the powers of y.  If the simple ring were left artinian it would be the n by n matrices over a division ring.  Obviously this is not the case.  This is an example of a noetherian simple ring that is not artinian.

If R has characteristic p, multiply by xp on the right.  This differentiates, with respect to y, p times.  At some point a multiple of p is introduced as a coefficient, and the result is 0.  Therefore xp commutes with everything, and generates a proper ideal.  The same holds for yp.  This is valid even if R is simple, e.g. Zp.

Domain

Let R be a domain, and multiply two polynomials together.  Concentrate on the terms of highest degree.  After normalization, the result is what you would expect if x and y commute, plus some other terms, i.e. derivatives, of lower degree.  The result is nonzero, and the weyl algebra is a domain.

Note that x is not invertible, hence the result is not a division ring.

Higher Order Weyl Algebras

Adjoin a set of indeterminants x1 x2 x3 etc, and a corresponding set of indeterminants y1 y2 y3 etc, to R.  Let indeterminants commute past each other, except for yixi, which equals xiyi+1.  Multiply by yi on the left, and introduce a term that is the partial derivative with respect to xi.  Multiply by xi on the right, and introduce a term that is the partial derivative with respect to yi.  The previous theorems generalize to this higher order weyl algebra.