The Hopf algebra of diagonal rectangulations

Abstract

We define and study a combinatorial Hopf algebra dRec with basis elements indexed by diagonal rectangulations of a square. This Hopf algebra provides an intrinsic combinatorial realization of the Hopf algebra tBax of twisted Baxter permutations, which previously had only been described extrinsically as a Hopf subalgebra of the Malvenuto–Reutenauer Hopf algebra of permutations. We describe the natural lattice structure on diagonal rectangulations, analogous to the Tamari lattice on triangulations, and observe that diagonal rectangulations index the vertices of a polytope analogous to the associahedron. We give an explicit bijection between twisted Baxter permutations and the better-known Baxter permutations, and describe the resulting Hopf algebra structure on Baxter permutations.