On a conjecture of I. N. Herstein (Q1063092)

A conjecture of I. N. Herstein is that there is a domain R with Jacobson radical J(R)\(\neq 0\) and a noncentral subring A of R invariant under conjugation by the (formal) units \(1+x\), for all \(x\in J(R)\), so that A does not contain a nonzero ideal of R [\textit{I. N. Herstein}, J. Algebra 60, 567-574 (1979; Zbl 0436.16014)]. In this paper the author presents a nice example which verifies this conjecture. It is an open question as to whether the conclusion of the conjecture holds if R is a prime ring with zero divisors. The example can be obtained by considering the twisted power series ring \(R=F[[ y;T]]\), where \(F=Q\ll x\gg\) is the field of (finite) Laurent series with rational coefficients, and T is the automorphism of F induced from \(T(x)=2x\). The invariant subring A of R consists of those elements in R whose first nonzero coefficient \(f_ M=\sum q_ ix^ i\) has its first nonzero coefficient \(q_ N\) satisfy \(N\geq 0\). The verification of the example involves viewing R and A as arising from certain valuations on the quotient division ring \(D=F\ll y;T\gg\) of R.