2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 13N15, 13A50, 16W25.We reduce the Nowicki conjecture on Weitzenböck derivations of polynomial algebras to a well known problem of classical invariant theory.

Let $R$ be a prime ring of characteristic different from $2$, $U$ the Utumi quotient ring of $R$, $C=Z\left(U\right)$ the extended centroid of $R$, $L$ a non-central Lie ideal of $R$, $F$ a non-zero generalized derivation of $R$. Suppose that $\left[F\right(u),u]F\left(u\right)=0$ for all $u\in L$, then one of the following holds: (1) there exists $\alpha \in C$ such that $F\left(x\right)=\alpha x$ for all $x\in R$; (2) $R$ satisfies the standard identity $s_4$ and there exist $a\in U$ and $\alpha \in C$ such that $F\left(x\right)=ax+xa+\alpha x$ for all $x\in R$. We also extend the result to the one-sided case. Finally, as an application we obtain some range inclusion results of...

Let $R$ be a prime ring of characteristic different from 2 and 3, $Q_r$ its right Martindale quotient ring, $C$ its extended centroid, $L$ a non-central Lie ideal of $R$ and $n\ge 1$ a fixed positive integer. Let $\alpha$ be an automorphism of the ring $R$. An additive map $D:R\to R$ is called an $\alpha$-derivation (or a skew derivation) on $R$ if $D\left(xy\right)=D\left(x\right)y+\alpha \left(x\right)D\left(y\right)$ for all $x,y\in R$. An additive mapping $F:R\to R$ is called a generalized $\alpha$-derivation (or a generalized skew derivation) on $R$ if there exists a skew derivation $D$ on $R$ such that $F\left(xy\right)=F\left(x\right)y+\alpha \left(x\right)D\left(y\right)$ for all $x,y\in R$. We prove that, if $F$...

Let $R$ be a noncommutative prime ring of characteristic different from 2, with its two-sided Martindale quotient ring $Q$, $C$ the extended centroid of $R$ and $a\in R$. Suppose that $\delta$ is a nonzero $\sigma$-derivation of $R$ such that $a{[\delta \left(x^n\right),x^n]}_k=0$ for all $x\in R$, where $\sigma$ is an automorphism of $R$, $n$ and $k$ are fixed positive integers. Then $a=0$.

The problem of when derivations (and their powers) have the range in the Jacobson radical is considered. The proofs are based on the density theorem for derivations.

Let $R$ be a prime ring of characteristic different from 2, $Q_r$ its right Martindale quotient ring and $C$ its extended centroid. Suppose that $F$, $G$ are generalized skew derivations of $R$ with the same associated automorphism $\alpha$, and $p(x_1,...,x_n)$ is a non-central polynomial over $C$ such that $$\left[F\right(x),\alpha (y\left)\right]=G\left(\right[x,y\left]\right)$$ for all $x,y\in \{p(r_1,...,r_n):r_1,...,r_n\in R\}$. Then there exists $\lambda \in C$ such that $F\left(x\right)=G\left(x\right)=\lambda \alpha \left(x\right)$ for all $x\in R$.