On the BCH-formula in \(\mathfrak{so}(3)\) (Q5952351)

A product of two finite rotation \(3\times 2\) matrices taken in the exponential form \(\exp\{\widehat u\}\exp\{\widehat v\}=\exp \{\widehat w\}\) (Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula) is studied. The known Rodrigues' polynomial form for the matrix \(\exp\{\widehat x\}\in \mathrm{SO}(3)\) [cf. \textit{J. E. Marsden} and \textit{T. S. Ratiu}, Introduction to mechanics and symmetry. 2nd ed. New York: Springer (1999; Zbl 0933.70003), p. 291] is used where a \(3\times 3\) skew-symmetric matrix \(\widehat x\) is defined on the Lie algebra \(so(3)\) by the three-dimensional rotation vector \(x\) \((\|x\|=\theta\) is the rotation angle around the rotation axis \(x/\|x \|)\). In the paper, explicit polynomial expressions for the resulting \(3 \times 3\)-matrix \(\widehat w=\alpha \widehat u+\beta \widehat v+\gamma [\widehat u,\widehat v]\) and, as a consequence, for the related rotation vector \(w=\alpha u+ \beta v+\gamma [uv]\) are obtained, where the coefficients \(\alpha,\beta\) and \(\gamma\) are expressed in terms of the rotation angles \(\|u\|=\theta\), \(\|v\|= \varphi\) and \(\angle (u,v)\) [see also the monograph by \textit{F. I. Fedorov}, The Lorentz group. Moscow: nauka (1970; Zbl 0509.22012), p. 32].