Bidendriform bialgebras, trees, and free quasi-symmetric functions

We introduce bidendriform bialgebras, which are bialgebras such that both product and coproduct can be split into two parts satisfying good compatibilities. For example, the Malvenuto-Reutenauer Hopf algebra and the non-commutative Connes-Kreimer Hopf algebras of planar decorated rooted trees are bidendriform bialgebras. We prove that all connected bidendfiform bialgebras are generated by their primitive elements as a dendriform algebra (bidendriform Milnor-Moore theorem) and then is isomorphic to a Connes-Kreimer Hopf algebra. As a corollary, the Hopf algebra of Malvenuto-Reutenauer is isomorphic to the Connes-Kreimer Hopf algebra of planar rooted trees decorated by a certain set. We deduce that the Lie algebra of its primitive elements is free in characteristic zero (G. Duchamp, F. Hivert and J.-Y. Thibon conjecture). (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.