Derivations having divergence zero and closed polynomials over domains (Q2629886)

Let \(R\) be an integral domain with unity and \(R^{[n]}\) the polynomial ring in \(n\) variables over \(R\). An element \(f\in R^{[n]}\setminus R\) is said to be \textit{closed} in \(R^{[n]}\) if the ring \(R[f]\) is integrally closed in \(R^{[n]}\). If \(D\) is an \(R\)-derivation of \(R^{[n]}\), then the \textit{divergence} of \(D\) is defined as \(\mathrm{div}(D) = \sum_{i=1}^{n}{\frac{\partial D(x_{i})}{\partial x_{i}}}\). The paper under review studies kernels of derivations of \(R^{[2]}\) and closed polynomials in \(R^{[n]}\). In the first half of this work, considering the case when \(R\) is a \(\mathbb{Q}\)-domain, the author gives a necessary and sufficient condition for \(\operatorname{Ker} D\) to be generated by one element over \(R\) and generalizes some results of [\textit{A. Nowicki}, Polynomial derivations and their rings of constants. Toruń: Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika (1994; Zbl 1236.13023)] in the case when \(R\) is a UFD. One of the main results of this part is as follows. Let \(R\) be a \(\mathbb{Q}\)-domain and \(D\) a non-trivial \(R\)-derivation of \(R[x, y]\) such that \(\mathrm{div}(D) = 0\). Let \(P(D)\) be a polynomial in \(R[x, y]\setminus R\) such that \(D = {\frac{\partial P(D)}{\partial x}}{\frac{\partial}{\partial y}} - {\frac{\partial P(D)}{\partial y}}{\frac{\partial}{\partial x}}\) and \(P(D)(0, 0) =0\) (the existence of such a polynomial \(P(D)\) is established in the above-mentioned work of Novicki). Then the following two conditions are equivalent: (1) There exists a non-constant polynomial \(f\in R[x, y]\setminus R\) such that \(\operatorname{Ker} D = R[f]\); (2) There exists \(f\in R[x, y]\) such that \(R[P(D)]\subset R[f]\), \(f\) is closed in \(R[x, y]\) and \(K[f]\cap R[x, y] = R[f]\), where \(K\) denotes the quotient field of \(R\). The second part of the paper is devoted to the study of closed polynomials in \(R^{[n]}\). Considering a polynomial \(f\in R^{[n]}\setminus R\) such that \(K[f]\cap R^{[n]} = R[f]\), the author gives some sufficient conditions on \(f\) to be closed in \(R^{[n]}\). The paper concludes with some examples of closed and non-closed polynomials.