Distributing Labels on Infinite Trees

Sturmian words are infinite binary words with many equivalent definitions: They have a minimal factor complexity among all aperiodic sequences; they are balanced sequences (the labels 0 and 1 are as evenly distributed as possible) and they can be constructed using a mechanical definition. All this properties make them good candidates for being extremal points in scheduling problems over two processors. In this paper, we consider the problem of generalizing Sturmian words to trees. The problem is to evenly distribute labels 0 and 1 over infinite trees. We show that (strongly) balanced trees exist and can also be constructed using a mechanical process as long as the tree is irrational. Such trees also have a minimal factor complexity. Therefore they bring the hope that extremal scheduling properties of Sturmian words can be extended to such trees, as least partially. Such possible extensions are illustrated by one such example.Comment: 30 pages, use pgf/tik

Hopcroft's automaton minimization algorithm and Sturmian words

This paper is concerned with the analysis of the worst case behavior of Hopcroft's algorithm for minimizing deterministic finite state automata. We extend a result of Castiglione, Restivo and Sciortino. They show that Hopcroft's algorithm has a worst case behavior for the automata recognizing Fibonacci words. We prove that the same holds for all standard Sturmian words having an ultimately periodic directive sequence (the directive sequence for Fibonacci words is $(1,1,\ldots)$)

A first investigation of sturmian trees

International audienceWe consider Sturmian trees as a natural generalization of Sturmian words. A Sturmian tree is a tree having n+1 distinct subtrees of height n for each n. As for the case of words, Sturmian trees are irrational trees of minimal complexity. We give various examples of Sturmian trees, and we characterize one family of Sturmian trees by means of a structural property of their automata