Trace identities from identities for determinants (Q2575019)

An infinite family of new trace identities for \(2 \times 2\) matrices \((A_{i,j})\) in which the entries are \(a_{i,j}\) or \(a_{i}a_{j} - a_{i,j}\) is derived. When \(a_i\) is interpreted as the trace of a matrix \(m_i \in \text{SL}(2, \mathbb{C})\) and \(a_{i, j}\) as \(\operatorname{tr}m_{i}m_{j}\), then these identities produce trace identities for the traces tr \(m_{i}m_{j}\) and \(\operatorname{tr} m_{i}m^{-1}_{j}\). These trace identities generalize a certain trace identity of \textit{W. Magnus} [Math. Z. 170, 91--103 (1980; Zbl 0433.20033)] and use a combinatorial expressions as proposed by \textit{D. Zeilberger} [Discrete Math. 56, 61--72 (1985; Zbl 0609.05008)]. An interesting result is obtained in the ``skew-symmetric'' case showing that the determinant of one of the matrices in the generalization of Magnus's formula factors into the product of the ``even'' part of a Pfaffian, the ``odd'' part of a Pfaffian, and a multiplicative constant.