Some commutativity results for rings (Q5903760)

The purpose of this paper is to study commutativity in rings satisfying certain extended-commutator conditions. Define the extended commutator \([a,b]_k\) by taking \([a,b]_1=[a,b]\) and \([a,b]_j=[[a,b]_{j-1},b]\); and let \(\mathbb{Z}\{X\}\) denote the free \(\mathbb{Z}\)-algebra in countably many indeterminates. For a fixed positive integer \(k\), call the ring \(R\) a \(k\)-ring if for each \(a,b\in R\), there exist positive integers \(m=m(a,b)\) and \(n=n(a,b)\) such that \([a^m,b^n]_k=0\); and if \(n\) is fixed, call \(R\) \(n\)-bounded. For \(f\in\mathbb{Z}\{X\}\), let \(S_f\) be the set of elements of \(R\) obtained by substituting ring elements for the indeterminates appearing in \(f\); and let \(f(R)\) be the additive subgroup generated by \(S_f\). For fixed integers \(N\) and \(k\), define \(R\) to be an \(N\)-\(f\)-\(k\)-ring if for all \(a\in f(R)\) and \(b\in R\) there exist positive integers \(m=m(a,b)\) and \(n=n(a,b)\) such that \(m\leq N\) and \([a^m,b^n]_k=0\). It is proved that \(R\) must have nil commutator ideal if there exist \(N\), \(k\) and \(f\) as required, for which \(R\) satisfies one of the following conditions: (1) \(R\) is a 2-ring and an \(n\)-bounded \(k\)-ring; (2) \(R\) is a \(k\)-ring and an \(N\)-\(f\)-2-ring; (3) \(R\) is a 2-ring and an \(N\)-\(f\)-4-ring; (4) \(R\) is a left or right s-unital \(k\)-ring. These results extend earlier results of I. N. Herstein, A. A. Klein, I. Nada, and the reviewer.