An exact power series representation of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula

Jordan C. Moodie, Martin W. Long

Published 2018-07-20Version 1

An exact representation of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula as a power series in just one of the two variables is constructed. Closed form coefficients of this series are found in terms of hyperbolic functions, which contain all of the dependence of the second variable. It is argued that this exact series may then be truncated and expected to give a good approximation to the full expansion if only the perturbative variable is small. This improves upon existing formulae, which require both to be small. As such this may allow access to larger phase spaces in physical problems which employ the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula, along with enabling new problems to be tackled.