Universal deformation formulas and braided module algebras

We study formal deformations of a crossed product S(V)#fG, of a polynomial algebra with a group, induced from a universal deformation formula introduced by Witherspoon. These deformations arise from braided actions of Hopf algebras generated by automorphisms and skew derivations. We show that they are non-trivial in the characteristic free context, even if G is infinite, by showing that their infinitesimals are not coboundaries. For this we construct a new complex which computes the Hochschild cohomology of S(V)#fG. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.