Bidendriform bialgebras, trees, and free quasi-symmetric functions. (Q869217)

A dendriform algebra \(A\) is a (non-unitary) algebra whose associative product splits into two parts \(\prec\) and \(\succ\) such that \((A,\prec,\succ)\) is an \(A\)-bimodule [cf. \textit{J.-L. Loday}, Lect. Notes Math. 1763, 7-66 (2001; Zbl 0999.17002)]. There is a dual notion of (non-counital) dendriform coalgebra. A dendriform bialgebra is a dendriform algebra which is a coalgebra satisfying compatibility conditions [cf. \textit{J.-L. Loday} and \textit{M. O. Ronco}, Adv. Math. 139, No. 2, 293-309 (1998; Zbl 0926.16032)]. In the paper under review, the author introduces a bidendriform bialgebra as a dendriform bialgebra whose comultiplication gives it the structure of a dendriform coalgebra and satisfying compatibility conditions. The paper compares FQSym, the Hopf algebra of free quasi-symmetric functions, with \(H^D\), the Hopf algebra of planar rooted trees with decoration \(D\). FQSym is the Malvenuto-Reutenauer Hopf algebra [\textit{J.-L. Loday} and \textit{M. O. Ronco}, loc. cit.]. \(H^D\) was introduced by the author [Bull. Sci. Math. 126, No. 3, 193-239 (2002; Zbl 1013.16026) and ibid. No. 4, 249-288 (2002; Zbl 1013.16027)]. In Section 4 of the paper under review, FQSym (or more precisely, its augmentation ideal) is given the structure of a bidendriform bialgebra. Putting a bidendriform bialgebra structure on \(H^D\) (or again its augmentation ideal) is more complicated. It involves the notion of a dendriform module, and an altered version of tensor product for dendriform algebras. The ultimate result is that there is a graded (by the natural numbers \(\mathbb{N}\)) set \(D\) such that the augmentation ideals of FQSym and \(H^D\) are isomorphic as \(\mathbb{N}\)-graded Hopf algebras. The author had proved earlier [loc. cit.] that the primitive elements (at characteristic zero) of \(H^D\) form a free Lie algebra. Thus the same result holds for FQSym, proving a conjecture of \textit{G. Duchamp, F. Hivert} and \textit{J.-Y. Thibon} [in Formal power series and algebraic combinatorics. Proc. 12th int. Conf., FPSAC'00, Moscow, Russia. Berlin: Springer. 170-178 (2000; Zbl 0958.05131)].