The aim of this paper is to describe necessary and sufficient conditions for simplicity of Ore extension rings, with an emphasis on differential polynomial rings. We show that a differential polynomial ring, R[x; id R, δ], is simple if and only if its center is a field and R is δ-simple. When R is commutative we note that the centralizer of R in R[x; σ, δ] is a maximal commutative subring containing R and, in the case when σ = id R, we show that it intersects every nonzero ideal of R[x; id R, δ] nontrivially. Using this we show that if R is δ-simple and maximal commutative in R[x; id R, δ], then R[x; id R, δ] is simple. We also show that under some conditions on R the converse holds.
Weak associated primes over differential polynomial rings
