Nonlinear \(\ast\)-Lie derivations on factor von Neumann algebras (Q448339)

Let \(A\) be an associative complex algebra with an involution \(\ast\). A map \(\delta : A\to A\) is said to be an additive \(\ast\)-derivation if it is an additive derivation (i.e., \(\delta (a b) = \delta(a) b + a \delta(b)\) for every \(a,b\in A\)) and a symmetric mapping (i.e., \(\delta(a^*) = \delta(a)^*\) for all \(a\in A\)). A not necessarily additive mapping \(\phi : A\to A\) is called a nonlinear \(\ast\)-Lie derivation if \(\phi([a,b]_*)=[\phi(a),b]_* + [a,f(b)]_*\) for all \(a,b \in A\), where \([a,b]_* :=a b -b a^*\). The product \([\cdot,\cdot]_*\) has appeared, under a different notation, in [\textit{P. Šemrl}, Colloq. Math. 59, No. 2, 241--251 (1990; Zbl 0723.46044); Stud. Math. 97, No. 3, 157--165 (1991; Zbl 0761.46047); Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 119, No. 4, 1105--1113 (1993; Zbl 0803.15024)], [\textit{L. Molnár}, Linear Algebra Appl. 235, 229--234 (1996; Zbl 0852.46021)] and [\textit{M. Brešar} and \textit{M. Fošner}, Publ. Math. 57, No. 1--2, 121--134 (2000; Zbl 0969.16013)]. Continuous linear Lie derivations from a C\(^*\)-algebra \(A\) to a Banach \(A\)-bimodule have been described by \textit{B. E. Johnson} [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 120, No. 3, 455--473 (1996; Zbl 0888.46024)]. Not necessarily continuous Lie derivations on a C\(^*\)-algebra were studied by \textit{M. Mathieu} and \textit{A. R. Villena} [J. Funct. Anal. 202, No. 2, 504--525 (2003; Zbl 1032.46086)]. Not necessarily linear Lie derivations have recently been explored, for example, by \textit{L. Chen} and \textit{J.-H. Zhang} [Linear Multilinear Algebra 56, No. 6, 725--730 (2008; Zbl 1166.16016)] who studied nonlinear Lie derivations on the class of upper triangular matrix algebras. More recently, the authors of this note showed that every nonlinear Lie derivation of a triangular algebra is the sum of an additive derivation and a map into its center that sends commutators to zero [Linear Algebra Appl. 432, No. 11, 2953--2960 (2010; Zbl 1193.16030)]. In [Acta Math. Sin., Chin. Ser. 54, No. 5, 791--802 (2011; Zbl 1249.47013)], \textit{F.-J. Zhang} et al.\ proved that every nonlinear Lie derivation on a factor von Neumann algebra \(\mathcal{M}\) is of the form \(a\mapsto \varphi(a)+h(a)I\), where \(\varphi: \mathcal{M}\to \mathcal{M}\) is an additive derivation and \(h: \mathcal{M}\to \mathbb C\) is a nonlinear map with \(h(ab-ba)=0\) for all \(a, b\in \mathcal{M}\). In the paper under review, the authors study nonlinear \(^*\)-Lie derivations on factor von Neumann algebras. The main result (Theorem 2.1) says that, if \(M\) is a factor von Neumann algebra acting on a complex Hilbert space \(H\) with dimension at least two, then every nonlinear \(^*\)-Lie derivation \(\phi:M \to M\) is an additive \(^*\)-derivation. As a consequence, the authors show that, if \(H\) is an infinite-dimensional complex Hilbert space and \(\phi :B(H) \to B(H)\) is a nonlinear \(^*\)-Lie derivation, then there exists \(s\in B(H)\) such that \(\phi (a)=as - sa\) for all \(a\in B(H)\).