Polynomial identities for the ternary cyclic sum

We simplify the results of Bremner and Hentzel [J. Algebra 231 (2000) 387–405] on polynomial identities of degree 9 in two variables satisfied by the ternary cyclic sum [a, b, c] = abc + bca + cab in every totally associative ternary algebra. We also obtain new identities of degree 9 in three variables which do not follow from the identities in two variables. Our results depend on (i) the LLL algorithm for lattice basis reduction, and (ii) linearization operators in the group algebra of the symmetric group which permit efficient computation of the representation matrices for a non-linear identity. Our computational methods can be applied to polynomial identities for other algebraic structures.