On Automorphisms and Commutativity in Semiprime Rings

http://dx.doi.org/10.4153/CMB-2011-185-5
10 pages

  Published:2012-01-27
 

Let $R$ be a semiprime ring with center $Z(R)$. For $x,y\in R$, we denote by $[x,y]=xy-yx$ the commutator of $x$ and $y$. If $\sigma$ is a non-identity automorphism of $R$ such that $$ \Big[\big[\dots\big[[\sigma(x^{n_0}),x^{n_1}],x^{n_2}\big],\dots\big],x^{n_k}\Big]=0 $$ for all $x \in R$, where $n_{0},n_{1},n_{2},\dots,n_{k}$ are fixed positive integers, then there exists a map $\mu\colon R\rightarrow Z(R)$ such that $\sigma(x)=x+\mu(x)$ for all $x\in R$. In particular, when $R$ is a prime ring, $R$ is commutative.