Commutativity via spectra of exponentials

Abstract Let A be a semisimple, unital, and complex Banach algebra. It is well known and easy to prove that A is commutative if and only $e^xe^y=e^{x+y}$ for all $x,y\in A$ . Elaborating on the spectral theory of commutativity developed by Aupetit, Zemánek, and Zemánek and Pták, we derive, in this paper, commutativity results via a spectral comparison of $e^xe^y$ and $e^{x+y}$ .