Differential operators and the wheels power series (Q2431290)

The Duflo isomorphism establishes a ring isomorphism between invariants in the symmetric tensor powers of the adjoint representations of a Lie algebra and the center of its universal enveloping algebra. A combinatorial strengthening of this isomorphism is known as the wheeling isomorphism. In earlier work, the author adapted the Alekseev-Meinrenken Chern-Weil proof of the Duflo isomorphism to obtain a combinatorial proof of the wheeling isomorphism. In this paper a combinatorial identity, which expresses the wheeling operation and appeared in that proof, is studied in further detail.