Orthogonal projection onto the free Lie algebra (Q2277559)

Let \(X\) be an alphabet and \(k\) be a field of characteristic zero. Denote by \(M(X)\), \(L(X)\) and \(A(X)\), respectively, the free monoid, the free Lie algebra and the free associative algebra over \(X\). The author answers a question of Garsia regarding the form of the projection which is orthogonal for the only bilinear form \((\cdot|\cdot)_x\) making \(M(X)\) an orthonormal basis of \(A(X)\). It is shown that the orthogonal projection \(A(X)\to L(X)\) is well-defined if \(k\) is of characteristic zero (failing for \(\operatorname{char}(k)=2\), for example) and that it can be expressed by universal formulas independent of the alphabet. It is proved that for each word length, these universal formulas can be computed from the projection of a single word that can be any word without repetition.