Derivations of group rings for finite and FC groups (Q2238926)

Let \(G\) be a noncommutative group, \(A\) a commutative unital ring and \(A[G]\) the corresponding group ring. Let \(\mathrm{Der}(A[G])\) denote the Lie algebra (with respect to commutator) of all derivations \(A[G]\rightarrow A[G]\) and for any \(a\in A[G]\), let \(\mathrm{ad}_{a}\) denote the adjoint derivation: \(\mathrm{ad}(x) = [a, x] = ax-xa\) for any \(x\in A[G]\). Furthermore, let \(\mathrm{Inn}(A[G])\) denote the ideal of the Lie algebra \(\mathrm{Der}(A[G])\) consisting of all inner derivations (elements of \(\mathrm{Inn}(A[G])\) that are finite sums of the form \(\sum_{a\in G}C_{a}\mathrm{ad}_{a}\)) and let \(\mathrm{Out}(A[G]) = \mathrm{Der}(A[G])/\mathrm{Inn}(A[G])\). The paper under review provides a topological technique for studying derivations of \(A[G]\) in the case when \(G\) has finite conjugacy classes. Using the developed technique, the authors describe all derivations of \(A[G]\) in the case of a finite group \(G\) and in the case when \(G\) is an FC-group. The following three theorems can be considered as the main results of the paper: \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] If \(G\) is a finitely generated \(FC\)-group, then \(\mathrm{Der}(A[G])\cong\mathrm{Inn}(A[G])\oplus(\bigoplus_{[u]\in G^{G}}\mathrm{Hom}_{Ab}(Z(u), A))\) where \(\mathrm{Hom}_{Ab}\) is the set of additive homomorphisms from the centralizer \(Z(u)\) of a fixed element \(u\in G\) to \(A\) (\([u]\) denotes the conjugacy class of \(u\)). \item[(2)] If \(G\) is finite, then \(\mathrm{Der}(A[G])\cong \mathrm{Inn}(A[G])\oplus(\bigoplus_{|u|\in G^{G}}\mathrm{Hom}_{Ab}(Z(u), A))\) and \(\mathrm{Out}(A[G])\cong\bigoplus_{|u|\in G^{G}}\mathrm{Hom}_{Ab}(Z(u), A)\). \item[(3)] Let \(A\) be a finite ring, \(A\cong \mathbb{Z}_{p_{1}^{i_{1}}}\oplus\dots\oplus \mathbb{Z}_{p_{n}^{i_{n}}}\) (as an abelian group) and let \(G\) be a finite group where \(G/[G, G]\cong \mathbb{Z}_{q_{1}^{j_{1}}}\oplus\dots\oplus \mathbb{Z}_{q_{m}^{j_{m}}}\) (the primary decomposition of \(G/[G, G]\)). Then \(\mathrm{Der}(A[G]) = \mathrm{Inn}(A[G])\) if and only if \(\{p_{1},\dots, p_{n}\}\cap\{q_{1},\dots, q_{m}\} = \emptyset\). \end{itemize} In addition, the authors describe an algorithm to explicitly calculate all derivations of the ring \(A[G]\) in the case of a finite group \(G\). As illustrating examples, they consider derivations of \(\mathbb{Z}_{4}[S_{3}]\) and \(\mathbb{F}_{2^{m}}D_{2n}\).