Properties of Differential Operators
Differentiation is linear, i.e.,
where f and g are functions, and a is a constant.
Any polynomial in D with function coefficients is also a differential operator. We may also compose differential operators by the rule
Some care is then required: firstly any function coefficients in the operator D2 must be differentiable as many times as the application of D1 requires. To get a ring of such operators we must assume derivatives of all orders of the coefficients used. Secondly, this ring will not be commutative: an operator gD isn't the same in general as Dg. In fact we have for example the relation basic in quantum mechanics:
The subring of operators that are polynomials in D with constant coefficients is, by contrast, commutative. It can be characterised another way: it consists of the translation-invariant operators.
The differential operators also obey the shift theorem.
Read more about this topic: Differential Operator
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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