Throughout this paper let S denote a semigroup and M a monoid (a semigroup with a neutral element), and let Y ∈ {M, S}. The map ψ: Y → Y denotes an anti-endomorphism of S (i.e., ψ(xy) = ψ(y)ψ(x) for all x, y ∈ Y). By ψ2, we mean ψ ◦ψ. Let f be a function on Y. We say that f is ψ-invariant if f ◦ ψ = f. The function μ: Y → ℂ is multiplicative, if μ(xy) = μ(x)μ(y) for all x, y ∈ Y. ℍ is the skew field of quaternions.
D’Alembert’s classic functional equation
The subject of functional equations with an anti-endomorphism has been introduced since 2020 by Ayoubi and Zeglami in [2] where they characterized the solutions of the functional equation
The purposes of the present is to generalize each of the two equations (1.3) and (1.2) at the level of the range set of its unknown functions for the first one and its codomain for the second. Precisely
- 1)
We determine the general solution of the functional equation
(1.4) where g : S → ℂ is the unknown function. When ψ is involutive, Stetkær [12, Exercise 9.9] showed that g = 0 is the only complex-valued solution of the functional equation (1.4). Another contribution in this direction is the paper by Ebanks and Stetkær [8] where they solved the functional equationg\left( {xy} \right) - g\left( {x\psi \left( y \right)} \right) = 2g\left( x \right)g\left( y \right),\,\,\,\,\,\,\,x,\,y \in S, in which f, g, h: G → ℂ are the unknown functions and G is a group.f\left( {xy} \right) - f\left( {y^{ - 1} x} \right) = g\left( x \right)h\left( y \right),\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\;x,\;y \in G, - 2)
We solve the functional equation
(1.5) where g : M → ℍ is the unknown function. Remark 3.3 gives an example showing that non-central solutions of (1.5) exist. This is in contrast to the earlier resul about its complex-valued solutions which are all central. Example 3.4 illustrates the structure of the solutions of d’Alembert equation (1.5) for quaternion-valued functions on the (ax + b)-group.g\left( {xy} \right) + g\left( {x\psi \left( y \right)} \right) = 2g\left( x \right)g\left( y \right),
The following theorem gives the general form of the solutions of the functional equation (1.4).
g : S → ℂ is a solution of (1.4) if and only if it has the form
The result is true for g = 0. Let g : S → ℂ be a non-zero solution of (1.4) and let x0 ∈ S be such that g(x0) ≠ 0. Let T(g) be the set of non-zero functions f : S → ℂ that satisfy the functional equation
Case 1: We start with the case where T(g) is empty. Let x, y ∈ S be arbitrary, we define the function h: S → ℂ as follows
Note that m ≠ m ◦ ψ because g ≠ 0. Substituting (2.3) into (1.4) we obtain
Case 2: T(g) is not empty. Here there is a function l which belongs to T(g). This says that l : S → ℂ satisfies
Theorem 2.1 holds true if we replace ℂ by a field 𝕂 and 2 by a constant c ∈ 𝕂∗.
The following theorem determines the solutions of the functional equation (1.5). In the rest of this section, we denote the neutral element of M by e.
The solutions g : M → ℍ of the functional equation (1.5) are the following:
- (1)
There exists a multiplicative function μ: M → ℍ with μ ◦ψ = 0 such that
g = {\mu \over 2}. - (2)
There exists a solution d: M → ℂ of (1.2) with g(e) = 1 such that
g = {\rm{Re}}\left( d \right) + {\rm{Im}}\left( d \right){\bf{i}}. - (3)
There exist a solution d: M → ℂ of (1.2) with g(e) = 1 and Im(d) ≠ 0, β ∈ ℝ∗, and θ ∈ ℝ such that
g = {\rm{Re}}\left( d \right) + {{\beta - {1 \over \beta }} \over {\beta + {1 \over \beta }}}{\rm{Im}}\left( d \right){\bf{i}} - {{2{\rm{sin}}\left( \theta \right)} \over {\beta + {1 \over \beta }}}{\rm{Im}}\left( d \right){\bf{j}} + {{2{\rm{cos}}\left( \theta \right)} \over {\beta + {1 \over \beta }}}{\rm{Im}}\left( d \right){\bf{k}}.
Let g = q1 + q2 i + q3 j + q4 k: M → ℍ, where q1, q2, q3 and q4 are real-valued functions on M, be a solution of the functional equation (1.5). We will examine two cases, g(e) ≠ 1 or g(e) = 1.
Case 1: g(e) ≠ 1. We follow the same procedure as in the proof of [2, Case 1 of Theorem 3.2] to arrive at the solution in case 1 of our statement.
Case 2: g(e) = 1. We find, like in the proof of [2, Lemma 3.1(i)], that g ◦ ψ = g. Using this we obtain, like in the proof of [5, Theorem 5.1], that
The matrix representation of quaternions reveals that the matrix function
Since g is central, ψ-invariant and satisfies (3.1) then so is each of the functions qi, i ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4} and hence we have a ◦ ψ = a, b ◦ ψ = b, a and b are central, and the two equalities
The central multiplicative functions μ: S → ℍ are described in [11, Theorem 4.1].
[4, Theorem 3.2] tells us that the solutions of the equation (1.2) are central. This property is not true in general for the solutions of the equation (1.5) as the following illustrates: Let M = (ℍ, ・), ψ = 0, and g0 : (ℍ, ・) → ℍ the function defined by
Let M be the (ax + b)-group from [12, Examples A.17(i)]. Let ψ be the anti-endomorphism defined by (a, b) ↦ (a, 0) for (a, b) ∈ M. Note that μ = 0 for any multiplicative function μ: M → ℍ satisfying μ ◦ ψ = 0. Indeed, if μ: M → ℍ is multiplicative and μ ◦ ψ = 0, then for all (a, b) ∈ M we have
- (1)
There exist λ1, λ2 ∈ ℝ such that
for all (a, b) ∈ M.\matrix{ {g\left( {a,\;b} \right)} \hfill & { = {\mathop{\rm Re}\nolimits} \left( {d\left( {a,\,\;b} \right)} \right) + {\rm{}}{\mathop{\rm Im}\nolimits} {\rm{}}\left( {d\left( {a,\;b} \right)} \right){\bf{i}}} \hfill \cr {} \hfill & { = a^{\lambda _1 } {\rm{}}\cos {\rm{}}\left( {\lambda _2 {\rm{}}\ln \;\left( a \right)} \right) + a^{\lambda _1 } {\rm{}}\sin {\rm{}}\left( {\lambda _2 {\rm{}}\ln {\rm{}}\left( a \right)} \right){\bf{i}},} \hfill \cr } - (2)
There exist λ1, θ ∈ ℝ and λ2, β ∈ ℝ∗ such that
for all (a, b) ∈ M.\eqalign{ & g\left( {a,\;b} \right) = a^{\lambda _1 } {\rm{cos}}\left( {\lambda _2 {\rm{ln}}\left( a \right)} \right) + {{\beta - {1 \over \beta }} \over {\beta + {1 \over \beta }}}a^{\lambda _1 } {\rm{sin}}\left( {\lambda _2 {\rm{ln}}\left( a \right)} \right){\bf{i}} \cr & \,\,\,\, - {{2{\rm{sin}}\left( \theta \right)} \over {\beta + {1 \over \beta }}}a^{\lambda _1 } {\rm{sin}}\left( {\lambda _2 {\rm{ln}}\left( a \right)} \right){\bf{j}} + {{2{\rm{cos}}\left( \theta \right)} \over {\beta + {1 \over \beta }}}a^{\lambda _1 } {\rm{sin}}\left( {\lambda _2 {\rm{ln}}\left( a \right)} \right){\bf{k}}, \cr}