Generalized Lie derivations in prime rings. (Q2479774)

Let \(R\) be a ring. The author calls an additive map \(f\colon R\to R\) a generalized Lie derivation if there exists an additive map \(d\colon R\to R\) such that \(f([x,y])=f(x)y-f(y)x+xd(y)-yd(x)\) for all \(x,y\in R\). The main result states that if \(R\) is a prime ring with \(\text{char}(R)\neq 2\) and \(\deg(R)>3\), then every generalized Lie derivation \(f\) of \(R\) can be written as a sum \(f=\delta+\zeta\), where \(\delta\colon R\to RC+C\) is a generalized derivation and \(\zeta\colon R\to C\) is an additive map vanishing on commutators. Here, \(C\) is the extended centroid of \(R\). The proof is based on functional identities.