Wedderburn polynomials over division rings. I. (Q1421250)

Let \(K\) be a division ring and \(R=K[t,S,D]\) the Ore skew polynomial ring over \(K\), where \(S\) is a ring endomorphism of \(K\) and \(D\) is an \(S\)-derivation. The ring \(R\) admits a Euclidean algorithm for right division, so it is a principal left ideal domain. For \(f\in R\) and \(a\in K\), the evaluation \(f(a)\in K\) is defined as the remainder of the right division of \(f\) by \(t-a\). Using this definition, a correspondence between skew polynomials and subsets in \(K\) is set up as follows: for \(f\in R\), let \(V(f)=\{a\in K\mid f(a)=0\}\), and for \(\Delta\subset K\), let \(I(\Delta)=\{g\in R\mid g(\Delta)=0\}\). If this left ideal is nonzero, the set \(\Delta\) is called algebraic and the monic generator of \(I(\Delta)\) is denoted by \(f_\Delta\). An algebraic set is said to be full if \(\Delta=V(f_\Delta)\), and a monic polynomial \(f\in R\) is said to be a Wedderburn polynomial (or simply a W-polynomial) if \(f=f_{V(f)}\). Such a polynomial is always a product of linear factors, although not every product of linear polynomials is a W-polynomial. The authors establish various properties and characterizations of W-polynomials, and show that they form a complete modular lattice that is dual to the lattice of full algebraic subsets of \(K\). Defining the rank of an algebraic set \(\Delta\) by \(\text{rk}(\Delta)=\deg f_\Delta\), and its closure by \(\overline\Delta=V(f_\Delta)\), they also prove that for any two algebraic sets \(\Delta,\Gamma\subset K\), the following equality holds: \(\text{rk}(\Delta)+\text{rk}(\Gamma)=\text{rk}(\Delta\cup\Gamma)+ \text{rk}(\overline\Delta\cap\overline\Gamma)\).