Left and right acting derivatives

Saw an interesting notation in this Math Stackexchange answer. I quote -

β€œ

Eq. (1) may be rewritten as 𝐷(𝑓⋅𝑔)=𝑓(Dβƒ–+Dβƒ—)𝑔, where Dβƒ– acts on the left and Dβƒ— on the right, hence

𝐷𝑛(𝑓⋅𝑔)=𝑓(Dβƒ–+Dβƒ—)𝑛𝑔=βˆ‘π‘˜=0𝑛(π‘›π‘˜)π·π‘›βˆ’π‘˜π‘“β‹…π·π‘˜π‘”

by the binomial theorem βˆ’ which can be applied straightforwardly, since Dβƒ– and Dβƒ— commute. Now, this result can be extended to non-integer 𝑛 by using [generalized binomial coefficients][1], leading to the following von Neumann series :

Dπ›Όβ‰‘βˆ‘π‘˜=0∞(π›Όπ‘˜)Dβƒ–π›Όβˆ’π‘˜Dβƒ—π‘˜

where the equivalent symbol means that the this relation has to be considered when applied to products of functions. Eq. (3) corresponds with the case 𝛼=1.

As a final note, let’s remark that the geometric expansion is recovered due to the fact that the exponential function is an eigenvector of the derivative operator, whence

π·βˆ’1(π‘’π‘Žπ‘₯π‘ž)=π‘’π‘Žπ‘₯(Dβƒ–+Dβƒ—)βˆ’1π‘ž=π‘’π‘Žπ‘₯(π‘Ž+𝐷)βˆ’1π‘ž

”

Related Posts