In mathematics, especially in the area of algebra known as ring theory, an Ore extension, named after Øystein Ore, is a special type of a ring extension whose properties are relatively well understood. Elements of a Ore extension are called Ore polynomials.
Ore extensions appear in several natural contexts, including skew and differential polynomial rings, group algebras of polycyclic groups, universal enveloping algebras of solvable Lie algebras, and coordinate rings of quantum groups.
Suppose that R is a (not necessarily commutative) ring,
\sigma\colonR\toR
\delta\colonR\toR
\delta
\delta(r1r2)=\sigma(r1)\delta(r2)+\delta(r1)r2
Then the Ore extension
R[x;\sigma,\delta]
R[x]
xr=\sigma(r)x+\delta(r)
If δ = 0 (i.e., is the zero map) then the Ore extension is denoted R[''x''; ''σ'']. If σ = 1 (i.e., the identity map) then the Ore extension is denoted R[ ''x'', ''δ'' ] and is called a differential polynomial ring.
The Weyl algebras are Ore extensions, with R any commutative polynomial ring, σ the identity ring endomorphism, and δ the polynomial derivative. Ore algebras are a class of iterated Ore extensions under suitable constraints that permit to develop a noncommutative extension of the theory of Gröbner bases.
An element f of an Ore ring R is called