Fixed points and orbits in skew polynomial rings

Abstract

We study orbits and fixed points of polynomials in a general skew polynomial ring $D[x,\sigma, \delta]$. We extend results of the first author and Vishkautsan on polynomial dynamics in $D[x]$. In particular, we show that if $a \in D$ and $f \in D[x,\sigma,\delta]$ satisfy $f(a) = a$, then $f^{\circ n}(a) = a$ for every formal power of $f$. More generally, we give a sufficient condition for a point $a$ to be $r$-periodic with respect to a polynomial $f$. Our proofs build upon foundational results on skew polynomial rings due to Lam and Leroy.