In this question it is discussed how the exponential of a linear combination of two matrices reduces to the product of the exponentials of the two matrices, given that they commute. $$exp(aX+bY)=exp(aX)exp(bY)$$ However, this shows only one direction. How can I show that the matrices have to commute if the exponentials reduce in that way? It is easy to show that up to second order: I just expand the exponential on both sides can bring everything to one side. But it gets really complicated for higher orders, one gets nested commutators.
Asked
Active
Viewed 122 times
0
-
2Here is a counterexample: https://math.stackexchange.com/a/349382/42969 – Martin R Nov 02 '21 at 10:47
-
What about for differential operators? I actually need to do this for differential operators in place of matrices. – eeqesri Nov 02 '21 at 10:58