Let K be a field of arbitrary characteristic, $${\cal A}$$ be a commutative K-algebra which is a domain of essentially finite type (e.g., the algebra of functions on an irreducible affine algebraic variety), $${a_r}$$ be its Jacobian ideal, and $${\cal D}\left( {\cal A} \right)$$ be the algebra of differential operators on the algebra $${\cal A}$$ . The aim of the paper is to give a simplicity criterion for the algebra $${\cal D}\left( {\cal A} \right)$$ : the algebra $${\cal D}\left( {\cal A} \right)$$ is simple iff $${\cal D}\left( {\cal A} \right)a_r^i{\cal D}\left( {\cal A} \right) = {\cal D}\left( {\cal A} \right)$$ for all i ≥ 1 provided the field K is a perfect field. Furthermore, a simplicity criterion is given for the algebra $${\cal D}\left( R \right)$$ of differential operators on an arbitrary commutative algebra R over an arbitrary field. This gives an answer to an old question to find a simplicity criterion for algebras of differential operators.

Let R = K[x, σ] be the skew polynomial ring over a field K, where σ is an automorphism of K of finite order. We show that prime elements in R correspond to completely prime one-sided ideals – a notion introduced by Reyes in 2010. This extends the natural correspondence between prime elements and prime ideals in commutative polynomial rings.

Let $\mathfrak{o}$ be a complete discrete valuation ring of mixed characteristic $(0,p)$ and $\mathfrak{X}_{0}$ a smooth formal $\mathfrak{o}$-scheme. Let $\mathfrak{X}\rightarrow \mathfrak{X}_{0}$ be an admissible blow-up. In the first part, we introduce sheaves of differential operators $\mathscr{D}_{\mathfrak{X},k}^{\dagger }$ on $\mathfrak{X}$, for every sufficiently large positive integer $k$, generalizing Berthelot’s arithmetic differential operators on the smooth formal scheme $\mathfrak{X}_{0}$. The coherence of these sheaves and several other basic properties are proven. In the second part, we study the projective limit sheaf $\mathscr{D}_{\mathfrak{X},\infty }=\mathop{\varprojlim }\nolimits_{k}\mathscr{D}_{\mathfrak{X},k}^{\dagger }$ and introduce its abelian category of coadmissible modules. The inductive limit of the sheaves $\mathscr{D}_{\mathfrak{X},\infty }$, over all admissible blow-ups $\mathfrak{X}$, is a sheaf $\mathscr{D}_{\langle \mathfrak{X}_{0}\rangle }$ on the Zariski–Riemann space of $\mathfrak{X}_{0}$, which gives rise to an abelian category of coadmissible modules. Analogues of Theorems A and B are shown to hold in each of these settings, that is, for $\mathscr{D}_{\mathfrak{X},k}^{\dagger }$, $\mathscr{D}_{\mathfrak{X},\infty }$, and $\mathscr{D}_{\langle \mathfrak{X}_{0}\rangle }$.

The Dixmier Conjecture says that every endomorphism of the (first) Weyl algebra $A_{1}$ (over a field of characteristic zero) is an automorphism, i.e., if $PQ-QP=1$ for some $P,Q\in A_{1}$, then $A_{1}=K\langle P,Q\rangle$. The Weyl algebra $A_{1}$ is a $\mathbb{Z}$-graded algebra. We prove that the Dixmier Conjecture holds if the elements $P$ and $Q$ are sums of no more than two homogeneous elements of $A_{1}$ (there is no restriction on the total degrees of $P$ and $Q$).

We study the interplay between the minimal representations of the orthogonal Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}=\mathfrak{so}(n+2,\mathbb{C})$ and the algebra of symmetries$\mathscr{S}(\Box ^{r})$ of powers of the Laplacian $\Box$ on $\mathbb{C}^{n}$. The connection is made through the construction of a highest-weight representation of $\mathfrak{g}$ via the ring of differential operators ${\mathcal{D}}(X)$ on the singular scheme $X=(\mathtt{F}^{r}=0)\subset \mathbb{C}^{n}$, for $\mathtt{F}=\sum _{j=1}^{n}X_{i}^{2}\in \mathbb{C}[X_{1},\ldots ,X_{n}]$. In particular, we prove that $U(\mathfrak{g})/K_{r}\cong \mathscr{S}(\Box ^{r})\cong {\mathcal{D}}(X)$ for a certain primitive ideal $K_{r}$. Interestingly, if (and only if) $n$ is even with $r\geqslant n/2$, then both $\mathscr{S}(\Box ^{r})$ and its natural module ${\mathcal{A}}=\mathbb{C}[\unicode[STIX]{x2202}/\unicode[STIX]{x2202}X_{n},\ldots ,\unicode[STIX]{x2202}/\unicode[STIX]{x2202}X_{n}]/(\Box ^{r})$ have a finite-dimensional factor. The same holds for the ${\mathcal{D}}(X)$-module ${\mathcal{O}}(X)$. We also study higher-dimensional analogues $M_{r}=\{x\in A:\Box ^{r}(x)=0\}$ of the module of harmonic elements in $A=\mathbb{C}[X_{1},\ldots ,X_{n}]$ and of the space of ‘harmonic densities’. In both cases we obtain a minimal $\mathfrak{g}$-representation that is closely related to the $\mathfrak{g}$-modules ${\mathcal{O}}(X)$ and ${\mathcal{A}}$. Essentially all these results have real analogues, with the Laplacian replaced by the d’Alembertian $\Box _{p}$ on the pseudo-Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^{p,q}$ and with $\mathfrak{g}$ replaced by the real Lie algebra $\mathfrak{so}(p+1,q+1)$.

Let k be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. I. M. Musson and M. Van den Bergh (Mem. Amer. Math. Soc., vol. 136, 1998, p. 650) classify primitive ideals for rings of torus invariant differential operators. This classification applies in particular to subquotients of localized extended Weyl algebras $\mathcal{A}_{r,n-r}=k[x_1,\ldots,x_r,x_{r+1}^{\pm1}, \ldots, x_{n}^{\pm1},\partial_1,\ldots,\partial_n],$ where it can be made explicit in terms of convex geometry. We recall these results and then turn to the corresponding primitive quotients and study their Goldie ranks. We prove that the primitive quotients fall into finitely many families whose Goldie ranks are given by a common quasi-polynomial and then realize these quasi-polynomials as Ehrhart quasi-polynomials arising from convex geometry.

Gel’fand, Kapranov and Zelevinsky proved, using the theory of perverse sheaves, that in the Cohen–Macaulay case an A-hypergeometric system is irreducible if its parameter vector is non-resonant. In this paper we prove, using the theory of the ring of differential operators on an affine toric variety, that in general an A-hypergeometric system is irreducible if and only if its parameter vector is non-resonant. In the course of the proof, we determine the irreducible quotients of an A-hypergeometric system.

We present a simple description of moduli spaces of torsion-free 𝒟-modules (𝒟-bundles) on general smooth complex curves, generalizing the identification of the space of ideals in the Weyl algebra with Calogero–Moser quiver varieties. Namely, we show that the moduli of 𝒟-bundles form twisted cotangent bundles to moduli of torsion sheaves on X, answering a question of Ginzburg. The corresponding (untwisted) cotangent bundles are identified with moduli of perverse vector bundles on T*X, which contain as open subsets the moduli of framed torsion-free sheaves (the Hilbert schemes T*X[n] in the rank-one case). The proof is based on the description of the derived category of 𝒟-modules on X by a noncommutative version of the Beilinson transform on P1.

We show that the spherical subalgebra $U_{k,c}$ of the rational Cherednik algebra associated to $S_n C_{\ell}$, the wreath product of the symmetric group and the cyclic group of order $\ell$, is isomorphic to a quotient of the ring of invariant differential operators on a space of representations of the cyclic quiver of size $\ell$. This confirms a version of [5Conjecture 11.22] in the case of cyclic groups. The proof is a straightforward application of work of Oblomkov [12] on the deformed Harish–Chandra homomorphism, and of Crawley–Boevey, [3] and [4], and Gan and Ginzburg [7] on preprojective algebras.

A differential algebra of finite type over a field $\mathbb{k}$ is a filtered algebra A, such that the associated graded algebra is finite over its center, and the center is a finitely generated $\mathbb{k}$-algebra. The prototypical example is the algebra of differential operators on a smooth affine variety, when $\text{char}\mathbb{k} = 0$. We study homological and geometric properties of differential algebras of finite type. The main results concern the rigid dualizing complex over such an algebra A: its existence, structure and variance properties. We also define and study perverse A-modules, and show how they are related to the Auslander property of the rigid dualizing complex of A.

In 1987, Sabbah proved the existence of Bernstein–Sato polynomials associated with several analytic functions. The purpose of this paper is to give a more elementary and constructive proof of Sabbah's result based on the notion of the analytic Gröbner fan of a $\mathcal D$-module.

We prove Pursell–Shanks type results for the Lie algebra $\mathcal{D}(M)$ of all linear differential operators of a smooth manifold M, for its Lie subalgebra $\mathcal{D}^1(M)$ of all linear first-order differential operators of M and for the Poisson algebra S(M) = Pol(T*M) of all polynomial functions on T*M, the symbols of the operators in $\mathcal{D}(M)$. Chiefly, however, we provide explicit formulas completely describing the automorphisms of the Lie algebras $\mathcal{D}^1(M)$, S(M) and $\mathcal{D}(M)$.

Les études récentes sur les idéaux á droite de $A_{1}\left(k\right),$ la premiére algébre de Weyl sur un corps algébriquement clos et de caractéristique nulle $k$, nous montrent que : pour tout idéal $I\neq 0$ á droite de $A_{1}(k)$, il existe $x\in Q\,{=}\,\ffrac( A_{1}( k)),$ et $V\in \mathcal{V}$ tels que : $I\,{=}\,x\mathcal{D}(R,V)$ o\`{u} $\mathcal{V}$ est l'ensemble des sous-espaces primairement décomposables de $k[t]\,{=}\,R$, et $\mathcal{D}( R,V)$ l'idéal á droite $\{ d\in A_{1}( k) /d( R) \subset V\}$. Dans cet article nous montrerons principalement que: pour tout $0\neq I$ idéal á droite de $A_{1} (k), \exists !n\in N,\exists ( x,\sigma ) \in Q^{\ast }\,{\times}\,\Aut_{k} ( A_{1} (k)) :I\,{=}\,x\sigma (\mathcal{D} (R,O (X_{n})))$, oú $X_{n}$ est la courbe d'algébre des fonctions réguliéres : $O (X_{n})\,{=}\,k+t^{n+1}k [t]$. La forme des idéaux décrite ci-dessus permet de voir dans une hypothése de Letzter et Makar-Limanov, pour deux courbes algébriques affines $X$ et $X^{\prime}$ on a : $\mathcal{D} (X) \simeq \mathcal{D} ( X^{\prime}) \Leftrightarrow \co \dim \mathcal{D} (X)\,{=}\,\co \dim \mathcal{D}( X^{\prime})$.