Deformations of associative Rota-Baxter operators (Q2193197)

The notion \(\mathcal{O}\)-operators on associative algebras, also known as relative Rota-Baxter operators on associative algebras is a generalization of Rota-Baxter operators in the presence of bimodules.This paper considers the deformation theory of Rota-Baxter operators and \(\mathcal{O}\)-operators. In particular, the authors aims to develop cohomology and deformation of \(\mathcal{O}\)-operators on associative algebras. To achieve this goal, they use a method of \textit{K. Uchino} [J. Noncommut. Geom. 4, No. 3, 349--379 (2010; Zbl 1248.16027)] to construct an explicit graded Lie algebra whose Maurer-Cartan elements are given by \(\mathcal{O}\)-operators, which allows them to construct cohomology for an \(\mathcal{O}\)-operator. Equivalently, this cohomology can also be seen as the Hochschild cohomology of a certain algebra with coefficients in a suitable bimodule. Moreover, the authors study linear and formal deformations of an \(\mathcal{O}\)-operator which are governed by the cohomology theory they defined. They introduce Nijenhuis elements associated with an \(\mathcal{O}\)-operator, which give rise to trivial deformations. As applications, they conclude deformations of weight zero Rota-Baxter operators, associative \(r\)-matrices and averaging operators.