Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 June 2017
Let ${\mathcal{A}}$ be a unital torsion-free algebra over a unital commutative ring
${\mathcal{R}}$ . To characterise Lie
$n$ -higher derivations on
${\mathcal{A}}$ , we give an identity which enables us to transfer problems related to Lie
$n$ -higher derivations into the same problems concerning Lie
$n$ -derivations. We prove that: (1) if every Lie
$n$ -derivation on
${\mathcal{A}}$ is standard, then so is every Lie
$n$ -higher derivation on
${\mathcal{A}}$ ; (2) if every linear mapping Lie
$n$ -derivable at several points is a Lie
$n$ -derivation, then so is every sequence
$\{d_{m}\}$ of linear mappings Lie
$n$ -higher derivable at these points; (3) if every linear mapping Lie
$n$ -derivable at several points is a sum of a derivation and a linear mapping vanishing on all
$(n-1)$ th commutators of these points, then every sequence
$\{d_{m}\}$ of linear mappings Lie
$n$ -higher derivable at these points is a sum of a higher derivation and a sequence of linear mappings vanishing on all
$(n-1)$ th commutators of these points. We also give several applications of these results.
This work is partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant No. 11371136.