A quadratic identity in the shuffle algebra and an alternative proof for de Bruijn's formula (Q2237851)

Colmenarejo, Galuppi and Michalek proved a formula for lattice paths, involving on the left side an \(n\times n\) determinant of iterated integrals of order 2, on the other side the square of an alternated sum of iterated integrals of order \(n\). The aim is to provide a purely algebraic proof of this identity. The natural frame for this is the shuffle algebra, as the considered integrals define a character on it. The left side is replaced by a \(n\times n\) determinant of words of length 2 (computed with the shuffle product). For the right side, a basis of the shuffle algebra is required: it comes from the action of the group \(\mathrm{SL}(\mathbb{R}^d)\) and is indexed by rectangular standard Young tableaux. The right side is then the square of a particular element of this basis, up to a power of 2. It is finally show that this algebraic settings implies de Bruijn's formula for the Pfaffian.