Prime ideals in restricted differential operator rings (Q1098916)

A restricted differential operator ring is an extension of a k-algebra R by the restricted enveloping algebra of a restricted Lie algebra \({\mathfrak g}\) which acts on R. This is an example of a smash product R{\#}U(\({\mathfrak g})\). In fact the author considers a more general twisted construction R*\({\mathfrak g}\), where \({\mathfrak g}\) is not necessarily embedded isomorphically in R*\({\mathfrak g}\). The paper begins with the construction of R*\({\mathfrak g}\), where R is a k-algebra of characteristic \(p>0\), k is contained in R, \({\mathfrak g}\) is a restricted Lie k-algebra which acts on R via a k-linear map \(\delta\) : \({\mathfrak g}\to Der_ k{\mathfrak g}\). The map \(\delta\) need not be a restricted Lie algebra homomorphism but is such that R*\({\mathfrak g}\) is an associative algebra; this is reminiscent of the author's earlier paper [J. Algebra 106, 78-104 (1987; Zbl 0611.16023)]. The prime ideals of R*\({\mathfrak g}\) are studied and this leads naturally to the study of the \({\mathfrak g}\)-prime ideals of R. The basic approach is similar to that adopted in the author's earlier paper, via the symmetric quotient ring S of R and S*\({\mathfrak g}\). First, basic properties of \({\mathfrak g}\)-prime ideals, of S and of S*\({\mathfrak g}\) are given. The aim is to prove that \(P_ 1\cap R\neq P_ 2\cap R\) for any prime ideals \(P_ 1\subset P_ 2\) of R*\({\mathfrak g}\), in case \({\mathfrak g}\) is finite dimensional Abelian. The proof breaks down into two cases: when \({\mathfrak g}\) is outer or inner on S. When \({\mathfrak g}\) is outer on S it is proved that every nonzero ideal of R*\({\mathfrak g}\) has nonzero intersection with R. When \({\mathfrak g}\) is inner the proof reduces to considering prime ideals of a finite dimensional algebra over a field. The author goes on to show that there is a bijective correspondence between the primes ideals of R*\({\mathfrak g}\) having zero intersection with R and the similarly defined set of prime ideals in S*\({\mathfrak g}\). This correspondence is used to characterize minimal primes of R*\({\mathfrak g}\) and to prove a ``Going down'' result for R*\({\mathfrak g}\), again with \({\mathfrak g}\) finite dimensional Abelian. Finally it is shown that, for \({\mathfrak g}\) as above, R*\({\mathfrak g}\) and R have the same prime (respectively, primitive) ranks.