Derivations in rings with involution (Q803252)

The author considers the structure of a ring R with involution \({}^*\), symmetric elements S, and nonzero derivation D satisfying \(D(s^ n)=0\) for each \(s\in S\), where \(n=n(s)\geq 1\). The first theorem shows that if R is a domain with char(R)\(\neq 2,3\), then R is an order in a division algebra at most four dimensional over its center, \(char(R)=p>0\), and for each \(s\in S\) either \(D(s)=0\) or \(p| n(s)\). The second result assumes that whenever \(rr^*=0\) in R, then \(r=0\), and proves that \(D(x)=0\) when \(x^ 2=0\), and that the extension of D to the Martindale quotient ring of R is the inner derivation ad(q), with \(q^ 2=0\).