Algorithms for anti-powers in strings

A string S[1,n] is a power (or tandem repeat) of order k and period n/k if it can be decomposed into k consecutive equal-length blocks of letters. Powers and periods are fundamental to string processing, and algorithms for their efficient computation have wide application and are heavily studied. Recently, Fici et al. (Proc. ICALP 2016) defined an anti-power of order k to be a string composed of k pairwise-distinct blocks of the same length (n/k, called anti-period). Anti-powers are a natural converse to powers, and are objects of combinatorial interest in their own right. In this paper we initiate the algorithmic study of anti-powers. Given a string S, we describe an optimal algorithm for locating all substrings of S that are anti-powers of a specified order. The optimality of the algorithm follows form a combinatorial lemma that provides a lower bound on the number of distinct anti-powers of a given order: we prove that a string of length n can contain Θ(n2/k) distinct anti-powers of order k.Peer reviewe

Anti-Power jj-fixes of the Thue-Morse Word

Recently, Fici, Restivo, Silva, and Zamboni introduced the notion of a $k$-anti-power, which is defined as a word of the form $w^{(1)} w^{(2)} \cdots w^{(k)}$, where $w^{(1)}, w^{(2)}, \ldots, w^{(k)}$ are distinct words of the same length. For an infinite word $w$ and a positive integer $k$, define $AP_j(w,k)$ to be the set of all integers $m$ such that $w_{j+1} w_{j+2} \cdots w_{j+km}$ is a $k$-anti-power, where $w_i$ denotes the $i$-th letter of $w$. Define also $\mathcal{F}_j(k) = (2 \mathbb{Z}^+ - 1) \cap AP_j(\mathbf{t},k)$, where $\mathbf{t}$ denotes the Thue-Morse word. For all $k \in \mathbb{Z}^+$, $\gamma_j(k) = \min (AP_j(\mathbf{t},k))$ is a well-defined positive integer, and for $k \in \mathbb{Z}^+$ sufficiently large, $\Gamma_j(k) = \sup ((2 \mathbb{Z}^+ -1) \setminus \mathcal{F}_j(k))$ is a well-defined odd positive integer. In his 2018 paper, Defant shows that $\gamma_0(k)$ and $\Gamma_0(k)$ grow linearly in $k$. We generalize Defant's methods to prove that $\gamma_j(k)$ and $\Gamma_j(k)$ grow linearly in $k$ for any nonnegative integer $j$. In particular, we show that $\displaystyle 1/10 \leq \liminf_{k \rightarrow \infty} (\gamma_j(k)/k) \leq 9/10$ and $\displaystyle 1/5 \leq \limsup_{k \rightarrow \infty} (\gamma_j(k)/k) \leq 3/2$. Additionally, we show that $\displaystyle \liminf_{k \rightarrow \infty} (\Gamma_j(k)/k) = 3/2$ and $\displaystyle \limsup_{k \rightarrow \infty} (\Gamma_j(k)/k) = 3$.Comment: 19 page

Powers and Anti-Powers in Binary Words

Fici et al. recently introduced the notion of anti-powers in the context of combinatorics on words. A power (also called tandem repeat) is a sequence of consecutive identical blocks. An anti-power is a sequence of consecutive distinct blocks of the same length. Fici et al. showed that the existence of powers or anti-powers is an unavoidable regularity for sufficiently long words. In this thesis we explore this notion further in the context of binary words and obtain new results