Zimmermann type cancellation in the free Faà di Bruno algebra

Haiman and Schmitt showed that one can use the antipode SF of the colored Faà di Bruno Hopf algebra F to compute the (compositional) inverse of a multivariable formal power series. It is shown that the antipode SH of an algebraically free analogue H of F may be used to invert non-commutative power series. Whereas F is the incidence Hopf algebra of the colored partitions of finite colored sets, H is the incidence Hopf algebra of the colored interval partitions of finite totally ordered colored sets. Haiman and Schmitt showed that the monomials in the geometric series for SF are labeled by trees. By contrast, the noncommuting monomials of SH are labeled by colored planar trees. The order of the factors in each summand is determined by the breadth first ordering on the vertices of the planar tree. Finally there is a parallel to Haiman and Schmitt’s reduced tree formula for the antipode, in which one uses reduced planar trees and the depth first ordering on the vertices. The reduced planar tree formula is proved by recursion, and again by an unusual cancellation technique. The one variable case of H has also been considered by Brouder, Frabetti, and Krattenthaler, who point out its relation to Foissy’s free analogue of the Connes–Kreimer Hopf algebra. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.