On the continuous solutions of the Golab-Schinzel equation (Q915030)

The so-called Golab-Schinzel equation, \(f(x+f(x)y)=f(x)f(y)\) has attracted the attention of many authors, since long ago. The geometrical interest in this functional equation was renewed in papers by \textit{P. Plaumann} and \textit{K. Strambach} [ibid. 15, 249-264 (1977; Zbl 0375.17012)]. Even under strong regularity conditions, very little is known when f(x) is an operator, the product in the second member of the functional equation being understood as a composition of operators, and in the first member as the action of f(x) over y [\textit{N. Brillouet} and the reviewer, ibid. 31, 253-293 (1986; Zbl 0611.39004)]. At least, the general continuous solution was known for \(f:X\to {\mathbb{R}}\) where X is a linear topological Hausdorff space on the real field. The present paper shows that, formally, the general continuous solution is the same when \({\mathbb{R}}\) is replaced by the complex field. The nice proof which is given here is not a simple generalization of earlier proofs, even if it starts with the description of all solutions \(f:{\mathbb{C}}\to {\mathbb{C}}\).