From iterated integrals and chronological calculus to Hopf and Rota-Baxter algebras

Abstract: Gian-Carlo Rota mentioned in one of his last articles the problem of developing a theory around the notion of integration algebras, which should be dual to the one of differential algebras. This idea has been developed historically along three lines: using properties of iterated integrals and generalisations thereof, as in the theory of rough paths; using the algebraic structures underlying chronological calculus such as shuffle and pre-Lie products, as they appear in theoretical physics and control theory; and, more generally, using a particular operator identity which came to be known as Rota-Baxter relation. The recent developments along each of these lines of research and their various application domains are not always known to other communities in mathematics and related fields. The general aim of this survey is therefore to present a modern and unified perspective on these approaches, featuring among others non-commutative Rota-Baxter algebras and related Hopf and Lie algebraic structures such as descent algebras, algebras of simplices as well as shuffle, pre- and post-Lie algebras and their enveloping algebras. Accordingly, two viewpoints are proposed. A geometric one, that can be derived using combinatorial properties of Euclidean simplices and the duality between integrands and integration domains in iterated integrals. An algebraic one, provided by the axiomatisation of integral calculus in terms of Rota-Baxter algebra.