# Shifted Quasi-Symmetric Functions and the Hopf algebra of peak functions

## 1. Introduction

Schur $`Q`$ functions first arose in the study of projective representations of $`S_n`$ . Since then they have appeared in variety of contexts including the representations of Lie superalgebras  and cohomology classes dual to Schubert cycles in isotropic Grassmanians . While studying the duality between skew Schur $`P`$ and $`Q`$ functions and their connection to the Schubert calculus of isotropic flag manifolds, we were led to their quasi-symmetric analogues: the *peak functions* of Stembridge . We show that *the linear span of peak functions is a Hopf algebra* (Theorem 2.2). We also show that these peak functions are contained in the strictly larger set of *shifted quasi-symmetric functions* (Theorem 3.6) introduced by Billey and Haiman . We remark that the quasi-symmetric functions here are not any apparent specialization of the quasi-symmetric $`q`$-analogues of Hivert .

From extensive calculations, we believe that the set of all shifted quasi-symmetric functions form a Hopf algebra, but at present we can only show that:

*The set of all shifted quasi-symmetric functions forms a graded coalgebra whose $`n`$th graded component has rank $`\pi _n`$, where $`\pi _n`$ is given by the recurrence*

$$\pi _n=\pi _{n1}+\pi _{n2}+\pi _{n4},$$

*with initial conditions $`\pi _1=1`$, $`\pi _2=1`$, $`\pi _3=2`$, $`\pi _4=4`$.*

We shall prove this result (Theorems 3.2 and 4.3) and in addition shall establish some other properties of these functions.

A composition $`\alpha =[\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _k]`$ of a positive integer $`n`$ is an ordered list of positive integers whose sum is $`n`$. We denote this by $`\alpha n`$. We call the integers $`\alpha _i`$ the components of $`\alpha `$, and denote the number of components in $`\alpha `$ by $`k(\alpha )`$. There exists a natural one-to-one correspondence between compositions of $`n`$ and subsets of $`[n1]`$. If $`A=\{a_1,a_2,\mathrm{},a_{k1}\}[n1]`$, where $`a_1<a_2<\mathrm{}<a_{k1}`$, then $`A`$ corresponds to the composition, $`\alpha =[a_1a_0,a_2a_1,\mathrm{},a_ka_{k1}]`$, where $`a_0=0`$ and $`a_k=n`$. For ease of notation, we shall denote the set corresponding to a given composition $`\alpha `$ by $`I(\alpha )`$. For compositions $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ we say that $`\alpha `$ is a *refinement* of $`\beta `$ if $`I(\beta )I(\alpha )`$, and denote this by $`\alpha \beta `$.

For any composition $`\alpha =[\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _k]`$ we denote by $`M_\alpha `$ the *monomial quasi-symmetric function* 

$$M_\alpha =\underset{i_1<i_2<\mathrm{}<i_k}{}x_{i_1}^{\alpha _1}\mathrm{}x_{i_k}^{\alpha _k}.$$

We define $`M_0=1`$, where $`0`$ denotes the unique empty composition of $`0`$. We denote by $`F_\alpha `$ the *fundamental quasi-symmetric function* 

$$F_\alpha =\underset{\alpha \beta }{}M_\beta .$$

###### Definition 1.1.

For any subset $`A[n1]`$, let $`A+1`$ be the subset of $`\{2,\mathrm{},n\}`$ formed from $`A`$ by adding $`1`$ to each element of $`A`$. Let $`\alpha n`$. Then we define

$$\theta _\alpha =\underset{\stackrel{\beta n}{I(\alpha )I(\beta )I(\beta )+1}}{}2^{k(\beta )}M_\beta .$$

This is the natural extension of the definition of peak functions given in .

###### Example 1.2.

We shall often omit the brackets that surround the components of a composition.

If $`\alpha =21`$, then $`I(\alpha )=\{2\}`$, and $`I(\alpha )+1=\{3\}`$. Hence

$$\theta _{21}=4M_{21}+4M_{12}+8M_{111}.$$

Let $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^n`$ be the $``$-module of quasi-symmetric functions spanned by $`\{M_\alpha \}_{\alpha n}`$ and let $`\mathrm{\Sigma }=_{n0}\mathrm{\Sigma }^n`$ be the graded $``$-algebra of quasi-symmetric functions. This is a Hopf algebra  with coproduct given by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(M_\alpha )=\underset{\alpha =\beta \gamma }{}M_\beta M_\gamma ,$$

where $`\beta \gamma `$ is the concatenation of compositions $`\beta `$ and $`\gamma `$.

###### Example 1.3.

$`\mathrm{\Delta }(M_{32})=1M_{32}+M_3M_2+M_{32}1`$.

We compute the coproduct of the functions $`\theta _\alpha `$.

###### Lemma 1.4.

For any composition $`\alpha n`$ we have that

(1) $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\theta _\alpha )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \theta _{ϵa}\theta _{\varphi (b\zeta )}}`$   
where the sum is over all ways of writing $`\alpha `$ as $`\epsilon (a+b)\zeta `$, that is, the concatenation of compositions $`\epsilon `$ and $`\zeta `$, and a component of $`\alpha `$ written as the sum of numbers $`a,b0`$. Also $`\varphi (b\zeta )=[1+\zeta _1,\zeta _2,\mathrm{}]`$ if $`b=1`$ and $`b\zeta `$ otherwise.

We shall use this result to show that certain subsets of functions $`\theta _\alpha `$ span coalgebras (Theorems 2.2 and 3.2).

###### Proof.

Definition 1.1 is equivalent to

$$\theta _\alpha =\underset{\stackrel{\beta n}{\beta ^{}\alpha }}{}2^{k(\beta )}M_\beta ,$$

where $`\beta ^{}`$ is the refinement of $`\beta `$ obtained by replacing all components $`\beta _i>1`$, for $`i>1`$, by $`[1,\beta _i1]`$. Thus the LHS of equation (1) is equal to

(2) $`{\displaystyle \underset{\stackrel{\stackrel{\beta n}{\beta ^{}\alpha }}{\beta =\gamma \delta }}{}}2^{k(\beta )}M_\gamma M_\delta `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\stackrel{\gamma \delta n}{(\gamma \delta )^{}\alpha }}{}}2^{k(\gamma )}M_\gamma 2^{k(\delta )}M_\delta .`$   
Let $`2^{k(\gamma )}M_\gamma 2^{k(\delta )}M_\delta `$ be a term of this sum, with $`\gamma m`$. This term can only appear in one summand on the RHS of equation (1), namely $`\theta _{\epsilon a}\theta _{\varphi (b\zeta )}`$ with $`\epsilon am`$. To show that it does indeed appear, we need to prove that $`\gamma ^{}\epsilon a`$ and $`\delta ^{}\varphi (b\zeta )`$. Let $`\delta ^{}`$ be the refinement of $`\delta ^{}`$ obtained by replacing the part $`\delta _1`$ by $`[1,\delta _11]`$ if $`\delta _1>1`$. We have that

$$\gamma ^{}\delta ^{}=(\gamma \delta )^{}\epsilon (a+b)\zeta ,$$

which implies that $`\gamma ^{}\epsilon a`$, and $`\delta ^{}b\zeta \varphi (b\zeta )`$.

If $`\delta _1=1`$ then $`\delta ^{}=\delta ^{}\varphi (b\zeta )`$. However, if $`\delta _1>1`$ then there are two possible cases: either $`\delta _1b`$, or $`b=1`$ and $`\delta _11\zeta _1`$. In the former case $`\delta ^{}b\zeta =\varphi (b\zeta )`$, while in the latter, $`\delta _11+\zeta _1`$, whence $`\delta ^{}[1+\zeta _1,\zeta _2,\mathrm{}]=\varphi (b\zeta )`$.

Conversely, let $`2^{k(\gamma )}M_\gamma 2^{k(\delta )}M_\delta `$ be a term belonging to a tensor $`\theta _{\epsilon a}\theta _{\varphi (b\zeta )}`$ on the RHS of equation (1). To show that it appears in equation (2) we must prove that $`(\gamma \delta )^{}\epsilon (a+b)\zeta `$. We have that $`\gamma ^{}\epsilon a`$ and $`\delta ^{}\varphi (b\zeta )`$, which imply that

$$(\gamma \delta )^{}=\gamma ^{}\delta ^{}\gamma ^{}\delta ^{}\epsilon a\varphi (b\zeta ).$$

If $`b>1`$ then

$$(\gamma \delta )^{}\epsilon a\varphi (b\zeta )=\epsilon ab\zeta \epsilon (a+b)\zeta .$$

If $`b=1`$ then $`\delta ^{}\varphi (b\zeta )=[1+\zeta _1,\zeta _2,\mathrm{}]`$ implies that

$$\delta ^{}=[1,\mathrm{}][1,\zeta _1,\mathrm{}]=b\zeta .$$

Therefore,

$$(\gamma \delta )^{}=\gamma ^{}\delta ^{}\epsilon ab\zeta \epsilon (a+b)\zeta $$

as desired. ∎

## 2. The peak Hopf algebra

###### Definition 2.1.

For any composition $`\alpha =[\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _k]`$ we say that $`\theta _\alpha `$ is a *peak function* if $`\alpha _i=1i=k`$.

Observe that if $`\theta _\alpha `$ is a peak function and $`\alpha n`$, then $`I(\alpha )\{2,\mathrm{},n1\}`$ such that no two $`i`$ in $`I(\alpha )`$ are consecutive.

Let $`\mathrm{\Pi }^n`$ be the $``$-module spanned by all peak functions $`\theta _\alpha `$, $`\alpha n`$, and let $`\mathrm{\Pi }=_{n0}\mathrm{\Pi }^n`$. This was studied by Stembridge  who showed that the peak functions are F-positive, are closed under product, and form a basis for $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$, and so the rank of $`\mathrm{\Pi }^n`$ is the $`n`$th Fibonacci number. In addition we also know the following about the *algebra of peaks*, $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$.

###### Theorem 2.2.

$`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is closed under coproduct.

###### Proof.

If all components of a composition $`\alpha `$, except perhaps the last, are greater than $`1`$, then the same is true for all compositions $`\epsilon a`$ and $`\varphi (b\zeta )`$ appearing in the RHS of equation (1). ∎

Let $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ be the $``$-linear map from $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ to $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ defined by $`\mathrm{\Theta }(F_\alpha )=\theta _{\mathrm{\Lambda }(\alpha )}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(\alpha )`$ is the composition formed from $`\alpha =[\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _k]`$ by adding together adjacent components $`\alpha _i,\alpha _{i+1},\mathrm{},\alpha _{i+j}`$ where $`\alpha _{i+l}=1`$ for $`l=0,\mathrm{},j1`$, and either $`\alpha _{i+j}1`$, or $`i+j=k`$.

###### Example 2.3.

If $`\alpha =31125111`$ then $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(\alpha )=3453`$.

Stembridge  showed that $`\mathrm{\Theta }:\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is a graded surjective ring homomorphism, and was an analogue of the retraction from the algebra of symmetric functions to Schur $`Q`$ functions. It is clear from our proof above that this morphism is in fact a Hopf homomorphism. We can describe the kernel of $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ as follows.

###### Lemma 2.4.

The non-zero differences $`F_\alpha F_{\mathrm{\Lambda }(\alpha )}`$ form a basis of the kernel of $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$.

###### Proof.

Each difference $`F_\alpha F_{\mathrm{\Lambda }(\alpha )}`$ is in the kernel of $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ as $`\mathrm{\Theta }(F_\alpha F_{\mathrm{\Lambda }(\alpha )})=0`$ since $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(\mathrm{\Lambda }(\alpha ))=\mathrm{\Lambda }(\alpha )`$. In addition, the non-zero differences are linearly independent as they have different leading terms. Letting $`f_n`$ denote the $`n`$th Fibonacci number, there are $`2^{n1}f_n`$ such differences, and since

$`dim\mathrm{ker}\mathrm{\Theta }`$ $`=`$ $`dim\mathrm{\Sigma }^ndim\mathrm{\Pi }^n`$   
$`=`$ $`2^{n1}f_n,`$   
our result follows. ∎

## 3. The coalgebra of shifted quasi-symmetric functions

###### Definition 3.1.

For any composition $`\alpha =[\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _k]n`$ we say that $`\theta _\alpha `$ is a *shifted quasi-symmetric function* (sqs-function) if $`n1`$ or $`\alpha _1>1`$.

Observe that if $`\theta _\alpha `$ is an sqs-function and $`\alpha n`$, then $`I(\alpha )\{2,\mathrm{},n1\}`$.

For integers $`n0`$, let $`\mathrm{\Xi }^n`$ be the $``$-module spanned by all sqs-functions $`\theta _\alpha `$, $`\alpha n`$, and let $`\mathrm{\Xi }=_{n0}\mathrm{\Xi }^n`$.

###### Theorem 3.2.

$`\mathrm{\Xi }`$ is closed under coproduct.

###### Proof.

If the first component of a composition $`\alpha `$ is greater than $`1`$, then the same is true for all compositions $`\epsilon a`$ and $`\varphi (b\zeta )`$ appearing in the RHS of equation (1). ∎

Unlike peak functions , sqs-functions are not $`F`$-positive since

$$\theta _{211}=F_{22}+F_{112}+2F_{121}+F_{211}F_{1111}.$$

###### Definition 3.3.

For any composition, $`\alpha n`$, we define the complement $`\alpha ^c`$ of $`\alpha `$ to be the composition for which $`I(\alpha ^c)=(I(\alpha ))^c`$, the set complement of $`I(\alpha )`$ in $`[n1]`$. We define the graph $`G(\alpha )`$ of $`\alpha `$ to be the graph obtained from

by removing the edge $`(i,i+1)`$ if and only if $`iI(\alpha )`$.

Observe that $`G(\alpha ^c)`$ contains the edge $`(i,i+1)`$ if and only if this edge is not contained in $`G(\alpha )`$. These graphs will be used later to simplify the proof of Theorem 3.6.

Let a *word* of length $`n`$ be any $`n`$-tuple, $`w_1w_2\mathrm{}w_n`$, and let a *binary word* of length $`n`$ be a word $`w_1w_2\mathrm{}w_n`$ wuch that $`w_i\{0,1\}`$ for all $`i`$. For $`2in1`$, let us denote by $`3^{(i)}`$ the composition $`[1^{i2},3,1^{ni1}]`$ of $`n`$. For some subset $`S\{2,\mathrm{},n1\}`$, let us denote by $`_{iS}3^{(i)}`$ the composition of $`n`$ for which $`G(_{iS}3^{(i)})`$ has an edge between vertices $`i`$ and $`i+1`$ if and only if an edge exists between vertices $`i`$ and $`i+1`$ in $`G(3^{(i)})`$ for some $`iS`$.

###### Example 3.4.

Let $`S=\{2,3\}[3]`$. Then $`G(3^{(2)})`$ is

and $`G(3^{(3)})`$ is

hence $`G(_{iS}3^{(i)})`$ is

so $`_{iS}3^{(i)}`$ is the composition $`4`$.

###### Definition 3.5.

 Let $`\alpha `$ be a composition of $`n`$. Let $`𝒜(I(\alpha ))`$ denote the set of all sequences $`j_1j_2\mathrm{}j_n`$ in $``$ such that we do not have $`j_{i1}=j_i=j_{i+1}`$ for any $`iI(\alpha )`$. The *shifted quasi-symmetric function* $`\theta _\alpha ^{BH}`$ is given by

$$\theta _\alpha ^{BH}=\underset{\stackrel{J=(j_1,\mathrm{},j_n)}{\stackrel{j_1\mathrm{}j_n}{J𝒜(I(\alpha ))}}}{}2^{|j|}x_{j_1}\mathrm{}x_{j_n},$$

where $`|j|`$ denotes the number of distinct values $`j_i`$ in $`J`$.

###### Theorem 3.6.

For any sqs-function $`\theta _\alpha `$ we have that $`\theta _\alpha =\theta _\alpha ^{BH}`$.

###### Proof.

For each $`iI(\alpha )[n1]`$, $`j_{i1}=j_i=j_{i+1}`$ is forbidden in any monomial

$$x_{j_1}x_{j_2}\mathrm{}x_{j_i}\mathrm{}x_{j_n}$$

appearing as a summand of the function $`\theta _\alpha ^{BH}`$. This is equivalent to saying that $`M_\beta `$ is a summand of $`\theta _\alpha ^{BH}`$ if and only if $`G(3^{(i)})G(\beta )`$ for all $`iI(\alpha )`$. Therefore at least one of $`i1`$ or $`i`$ must be the largest label of a vertex in a connected component in $`G(\beta )`$.

Now when going from compositions of $`n`$ to subsets of $`[n1]`$ we can do so using our graphs, $`G`$. All we have to do is list the label of the vertex that is the largest in each connect component, not listing $`n`$. We call these vertices the *end-points*. We are now in a position to prove the equivalence of Definitions 1.1 and 3.5 for sqs-functions.

The powers of 2 agree so we need only show that the indices of summation do too. To see this, take any sqs-function $`\theta _\alpha `$ and let $`iI(\alpha )`$. Then $`M_\beta `$ is a summand in $`\theta _\alpha ^{BH}`$ if at least one of $`i1`$ or $`i`$ is an end-point in $`G(\beta )`$. Therefore $`i`$ or $`i1`$ belongs to $`I(\beta )`$, and $`M_\beta `$ is a summand of $`\theta _\alpha `$. Conversely, if $`M_\beta `$ is a summand of $`\theta _\alpha `$, then this implies that for each $`iI(\alpha )`$, we have that $`i1`$ or $`i`$ belongs to $`I(\beta )`$, so one of $`i1`$ or $`i`$ is an end-point in $`G(\beta )`$, so $`M_\beta `$ is a summand of $`\theta _\alpha ^{BH}`$. ∎

## 4. A basis for $`\mathrm{\Xi }`$

###### Definition 4.1.

Let $`\theta _\alpha `$ be an sqs-function and $`\alpha n`$. We define an internal peak $`iI(\alpha )`$ such that $`i1,i+1I(\alpha )`$, and $`i\{3,\mathrm{}n2\}`$.

Remark Observe that the occurrence of an internal peak in the $`i`$th position in $`I(\alpha )=\{w_1,w_2,\mathrm{}\}`$, where $`w_1<w_2<\mathrm{}`$, is equivalent to having two components of $`\alpha `$, say $`\alpha _i,\alpha _{i+1}`$ such that $`\alpha _{i+1}2`$, and $`\alpha _i2`$ if $`i1`$, or $`\alpha _i3`$ if $`i=1`$.

We can now describe the basis of $`\mathrm{\Xi }`$ as follows.

###### Theorem 4.2.

The coalgebra $`\mathrm{\Xi }`$ has a basis consisting of all sqs-functions $`\theta _\alpha `$ where $`I(\alpha )`$ contains no internal peak.

We sketch the proof of Theorem 4.2 later.

###### Theorem 4.3.

The rank of $`\mathrm{\Xi }^n`$ is given by the recurrence

$$\pi _n=\pi _{n1}+\pi _{n2}+\pi _{n4},$$

with initial conditions $`\pi _1=1`$, $`\pi _2=1`$, $`\pi _3=2`$, $`\pi _4=4`$.

This recurrence was suggested by a superseeker query .

###### Proof.

By direct calculation we obtain that $`\pi _1=1`$, $`\pi _2=1`$, $`\pi _3=2`$, and $`\pi _4=4`$.

To obtain our recurrence, we observe that for each sqs-function, $`\theta _\alpha `$ where $`\alpha n`$, we can encode $`I(\alpha )`$ as a binary word of length $`n2`$, by placing a $`1`$ in position $`i1`$ if $`i`$ is contained in $`I(\alpha )`$, and $`0`$ otherwise. By this one-to-one correspondence we see that $`I(\alpha )`$ contains no internal peak if its corresponding binary word does not contain $`010`$ as a subword.

We therefore count binary words of length $`n`$ that avoid the subword $`010`$. Appending either $`1`$ or $`0`$ to such a binary word of length $`n1`$ gives one of length $`n`$, provided that we have not created the subword $`010`$ in the last three positions. Let $`a_n`$, $`b_n`$, $`c_n`$, and $`d_n`$ enumerate those binary words of length $`n2`$ that avoid the subword $`010`$ and end in, respectively $`00`$, $`01`$, $`10`$, and $`11`$. We then obtain the following 4 simultaneous recursions.

$$a_n=a_{n1}+c_{n1},b_n=a_{n1}+c_{n1},c_n=d_{n1},d_n=b_{n1}+d_{n1}.$$

Clearly the number of $`I(\alpha )`$s in $`[n1]`$ with no internal peaks is given by

$$\pi _n=a_n+b_n+c_n+d_n,$$

However by substituting in our recurrences we obtain

$`\pi _n`$ $`=`$ $`a_n+b_n+c_n+d_n`$   
$`=`$ $`2a_{n1}+b_{n1}+2c_{n1}+2d_{n1}`$   
$`=`$ $`\pi _{n1}+a_{n1}+c_{n1}+d_{n1}`$   
$`=`$ $`\pi _{n1}+a_{n2}+b_{n2}+c_{n2}+2d_{n2}`$   
$`=`$ $`\pi _{n1}+\pi _{n2}+d_{n2}`$   
$`=`$ $`\pi _{n1}+\pi _{n2}+b_{n3}+d_{n3}`$   
$`=`$ $`\pi _{n1}+\pi _{n2}+a_{n4}+b_{n4}+c_{n4}+d_{n4}`$   
$`=`$ $`\pi _{n1}+\pi _{n2}+\pi _{n4}.`$   
We say that $`M_\beta `$ is a maximal term of $`\theta _\alpha `$ if for any $`\gamma `$ higher in the partial order of compositions $`M_\gamma `$ is not a summand of $`\theta _\alpha `$. The following lemma is stated without proof.

###### Lemma 4.4.

Let $`\theta _\alpha `$ be an sqs-function. Consider the collection $`S`$ of all possible sets derived from $`I(\alpha )`$ by adding either $`i1`$ or $`i+1`$ to $`I(\alpha )`$ for all internal peaks $`iI(\alpha )`$. If $`M_\beta `$ is a maximal term of $`\theta _\alpha `$, then $`\beta `$ is derived from

$$\underset{\stackrel{i\left(I\left(\stackrel{~}{\alpha }\right)\right)^c}{I(\stackrel{~}{\alpha })S}}{}3^{(i)}$$

by adding adjacent components equal to 1 together to give a component equal to 2 as often as possible.

###### Lemma 4.5.

Let $`\theta _\alpha `$ be an sqs-function, and let $`I(\alpha )`$ have an internal peak in the $`j`$th position, then we have the following linear relation

$`\theta _\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`\theta _{[\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _j1,1,\alpha _{j+1},\mathrm{},\alpha _k]}+\theta _{[\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _j,1,\alpha _{j+1}1,\mathrm{},\alpha _k]}`$   
$`\theta _{[\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _j1,1,1,\alpha _{j+1}1,\mathrm{},\alpha _k]}.`$   
###### Proof.

By Definition 3.5 we have that the leading terms of $`\theta _\alpha `$ determine the other summands that belong to $`\theta _\alpha `$. Hence by Lemma 4.4 it follows that the summands of $`\theta _\alpha `$ will be the union of the summands of $`\theta _{[\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _j1,1,\alpha _{j+1},\mathrm{},\alpha _k]}`$ and $`\theta _{[\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _j,1,\alpha _{j+1}1,\mathrm{},\alpha _k]}`$. However, those summands that appear in both will be duplicated. By definition these will be the summands of $`\theta _{[\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _j1,1,1,\alpha _{j+1}1,\mathrm{},\alpha _k]}`$, and the result follows. ∎

Sketch of proof of Theorem 4.2. From our relation in Lemma 4.5, it follows that any $`\theta _\alpha `$ can be rewritten as a linear combination of functions $`\theta _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}`$, where $`I(\stackrel{~}{\alpha })`$ contains no internal peaks. In addition, by Lemma 4.4 and definition 3.5 we have that the set of all sqs-functions $`\theta _\alpha `$ where $`I(\alpha )`$ contains no internal peaks is linearly independent and thus form a basis for $`\mathrm{\Xi }`$.∎