Rota-Baxter operators on the polynomial algebra, integration, and averaging operators (Q2346537)

Let \(k\) be a commutative ring with \(1\) and \(\lambda\in k\). A Rota-Baxter \(k\)-algebra of weight \(\lambda\) is a pair \((R, P)\) where \(R\) is a \(k\)-algebra and \(P:R\rightarrow R\) is a linear operator such that \(P(u)P(v) = P(uP(v)) + P(P(u)v) + \lambda P(uv)\) for all \(u, v\in R\). \(P\) is called a Rota-Baxter operator of weight \(\lambda\); if \(\lambda = 0\), one refers to \(P\) simply as a Rota-Baxter operator. This operator can be viewed as an abstraction of integration (taking into account that the above identity is an algebraic abstraction of the formula of integration by parts). Note that the Riemann integral with variable upper limit and with any polynomial factor before the integral operator is an injective Rota-Baxter operator on \(\mathbb{R}[x]\); any Rota-Baxter operator on \(\mathbb{R}[x]\) that can be realized in this form is said to be \textit{analytically modeled}. The paper under review conjectures that all injective Rota-Baxter operators on \(\mathbb{R}[x]\) are analytically modeled and provides evidence for this conjecture by exploring two classes of such operators: \textit{monomial Rota-Baxter operators} over an integral domain \(k\) (a Rota-Baxter operator \(P:k[x]\rightarrow k[x]\) is called monomial if for every \(n\in \mathbb{N}\), \(P(x^{n}) = \beta(n)x^{\theta(n)}\) with \(\beta:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow k\) and \(\theta:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow\mathbb{N}\)) and Rota-Baxter operators on \(\mathbb{R}[x]\) satisfying a \textit{differential law} \(\partial\circ P = r\), where the right-hand side denotes the multiplication operator induced by a nonzero polynomial \(r\in\mathbb{R}[x]\) (\(\partial\) is the canonical derivation). The authors present a classifications of monomial Rota-Baxter operators on \(k[x]\) and show that all injective monomial Rota-Baxter operators are analytically modeled. They also prove that if an injective Rota-Baxter operator \(P\) on \(\mathbb{R}[x]\) is injective, then \(P\) satisfies a differential law \(\partial\circ P = r\) for some nonzero polynomial \(r\), and if \(r\) is a monomial, then \(P\) is analytically modeled.