Simplicity and Commutative Bases of Derivations in Polynomial and Power Series Rings

Abstract: The first part of the paper will describe a recent result of K. Retert in (\cite{Ret}) for $k[x_1,\ldots,x_n]$ and $k[[x_1,\ldots,x_n]]$. This result states that if $\mathfrak{D}$ is a set of commute $k$-derivations of $k[x,y]$ such that both $\partial_x \in \mathfrak{D}$ and the ring is $\mathfrak{D}$-simple, then there is $d \in \mathfrak{D}$ such that $k[x,y]$ is ${\partial_x,d}$-simple. As applications, we obtain relationships with known results of A. Nowicki on commutative bases of derivations.