How close are \(p\)th powers in the Nottingham group? (Q556963)

The Nottingham group over a commutative ring \(R\) of characteristic \(p>0\) is the group \(N=N(R)\) of formal power series \(\{x(1+a_1x+a_2x^2+\cdots )\mid a_i\in R\}\) under substitution. For each \(k\geq 1\) a normal subgroup \(N_k\) of \(N\) is defined by setting \(N_k=\{f \in N\mid f(x)\equiv x\bmod x^{k+1}\}\). The depth of \(f\in N\) is defined to be \(D(f)=\sup\{k\mid f\in N_k\}\). The author gives a lower bound for \(D(g^pf^{-p})\) (and more in general for \(D(g^{p^m}f^{-p^m}\))) in terms of \(D(f)\), \(D(gf^{-1})\) and \(p\); for \(m=1\) this bound turns out to be the best possible.