From quantum electrodynamics to posets of planar binary trees

This paper is a brief mathematical excursion which starts from quantum electrodynamics and leads to the Möbius function of the Tamari lattice of planar binary trees, within the framework of groups of tree-expanded series. First we recall Brouder’s expansion of the photon and the electron Green’s functions on planar binary trees, before and after the renormalization. Then we recall the structure of Connes and Kreimer’s Hopf algebra of renormalization in the context of planar binary trees, and of their dual group of tree-expanded series. Finally we show that the Möbius function of the Tamari posets of planar binary trees gives rise to a particular series in this group.