In this paper we study the adjoint functors between the category of Rota-Baxter algebras and the categories of dendriform dialgebras and trialgebras. In analogy to the well-known theory of the adjoint functor between the category of associative algebras and Lie algebras, we first give an explicit construction of free Rota-Baxter algebras and then apply it to obtain universal enveloping Rota-Baxter algebras of dendriform dialgebras and trialgebras. We further show that free dendriform dialgebras and trialgebras, as represented by binary planar trees and planar trees, are canonical subalgebras of free Rota-Baxter algebras.

Free cumulants were introduced as the proper analogue of classical cumulants in the theory of free probability. There is a mix of similarities and differences, when one considers the two families of cumulants. Whereas the combinatorics of classical cumulants is well expressed in terms of set partitions, that of free cumulants is described and often introduced in terms of non-crossing set partitions. The formal series approach to classical and free cumulants also largely differs. The purpose of this study is to put forward a different approach to these phenomena. Namely, we show that cumulants, whether classical or free, can be understood in terms of the algebra and combinatorics underlying commutative as well as non-commutative (half-)shuffles and (half-) unshuffles. As a corollary, cumulants and free cumulants can be characterized through linear fixed point equations. We study the exponential solutions of these linear fixed point equations, which display well the commutative, respectively non-commutative, character of classical and free cumulants.

In this article we continue to explore the notion of Rota-Baxter algebras in the context of the Hopf algebraic approach to renormalization theory in perturbative quantum field theory. We show in very simple algebraic terms that the solutions of the recursively defined formulae for the Birkhoff factorization of regularized Hopf algebra characters, i.e. Feynman rules, naturally give a non-commutative generalization of the well-known Spitzer's identity. The underlying abstract algebraic structure is analyzed in terms of complete filtered Rota-Baxter algebras.

Abstract. Motivated by recent work of Connes and Marcolli, based on the Connes-Kreimer approach to renormalization, we augment the latter by a combinatorial, Lie algebraic point of view. Our results rely both on the properties of the Dynkin idempotent, one of the fundamental Lie idempotents in the theory of free Lie algebras, and on properties of Hopf algebras encapsulated in the notion of associated descent algebras. Besides leading very directly to proofs of the main combinatorial aspects of the renormalization procedures, the new techniques give rise to an algebraic approach to the Galois theory of renormalization. In particular, they do not depend on the geometry underlying the case of dimensional regularization and the Riemann-Hilbert correspondence. This is illustrated with a discussion of the BPHZ renormalization scheme.