On a functional equation characterizing two-sided centralizers in prime rings (Q6097396)

Let \(R\) be an associative ring with centre \(Z(R)\), and suppose that \(T\colon R\to R\) is an additive map such that \(3T(x^4) =T(x)x^3 + xT(x^2)x+x^3T(x)\) for every \(x\in R\). The authors prove that if \(R\) is a prime ring and its characteristic is different from 2, 3, 5, then there exists a fixed \(\lambda\in C\), the extended centroid of \(R\), such that \(T(x)=\lambda x\) for every \(x\). If \(R\) is semiprime and without 2-torsions, \textit{M. Brešar} [J. Algebra 127, No. 1, 218--228 (1989; Zbl 0691.16040)] proved that in case \(T\) satisfies \(T(xyx) = T(x)yx + xT(y)x + xyT(x)\) for every \(x\) and \(y\) then \(T\) is a derivation. (Such are called Jordan triple derivations.) Later on, \textit{J. Vukman} and \textit{I. Kosi-Ulbl} [Aequationes Math. 66, No. 3, 277--283 (2003; Zbl 1073.16018)] proved that if \(T\) satisfies \(3T (xyx) = T (x)yx + xT(y)x + xyT(x)\) for every \(x\) and \(y\) then there is \(\lambda\in C\) such that \(T(x)=\lambda x\) for every \(x\). Observe that putting in the former equality \(x=y\) one obtains the cubic analogue of the derivation version of the present paper's main result, while the latter yields the cubic version of it. The substitution \(y=x^2\) gives exactly the equation from the main theorem. But this is still far from the conclusion. The authors rely on the theory of functional identities, and perform some rather extensive and heavy computations.