Lie derivations of the skew elements of prime rings with involution (Q1922903)

Let \(R\) be an associative ring with involution, \(K\) be a Lie ring of skew elements of \(R\), and \(\langle K\rangle\) be an associative ring generated by \(K\). A Lie derivation of \(K\) is an additive map \(\delta\) of \(K\) into itself satisfying \(\delta[x,y]=[\delta(x),y]+[x,\delta(y)]\) for all \(x,y\in K\). The result of the paper is that \(\delta\) can be extended to an ordinary derivation of \(\langle K\rangle\) under the following assumptions: \(R\) is prime and of characteristic different from 2 and 3, the involution is of the first kind, and \((RC:C)\neq 1,4,16\), where \(C\) is the extended centroid of \(R\) and \(RC\) is the central closure of \(R\). Counterexamples are given for the low dimension cases. The proof is similar to the one given in the recent paper of \textit{K. I. Bejdar, W. S. Martindale} and \textit{A. V. Mikhalev} [J. Algebra 169, No. 1, 304-327 (1994; Zbl 0813.16020)], where the problem of extending Lie isomorphisms of \(K\) to associative isomorphisms of \(\langle K\rangle\) is treated. In the case when the ring satisfies a generalized polynomial identity (GPI), the proof depends on the existence of symmetric orthogonal idempotents. In the non GPI case, the proof is based on the characterization of commuting traces of trilinear mappings, given in the paper of Bejdar et al. mentioned above.