Cyclic shifts and an exponential formula (Q1822641)

Let x and y be two noncommuting indeterminates. Several formulas are known to express the element z (in the completed free associative algebra generated by x and y) such that \(e^ xe^ y=e^ z\). In his paper [in Duke Math. J. 23, 13-21 (1956; Zbl 0070.252)], \textit{K. Goldberg} obtained \[ z=x+y+xy-yx+...\quad, \] an infinite sum of words in the letters x, y, and provided an explicit method to compute the coefficients in this expansion, by means of inductively defined polynomials. Here, the author proves two results related to the Goldberg coefficients: 1) The sum of the coefficients of all cyclic shifts of a given word of length \(\geq 2\) is always zero (cyclic shift means, for instance, xyxxy\(\to yxxyx)\). 2) Property 1) is equivalent to the existence of (formal) invertible series s and t in the same algebra such that \(z=sxs^{-1}+tyt^{-1}\). Such an expression of z seems to be interesting in several contexts, e.g. matrix theory, and analysis on Lie groups.