Asymptotic properties of free monoid morphisms

Motivated by applications in the theory of numeration systems and recognizable sets of integers, this paper deals with morphic words when erasing morphisms are taken into account. Cobham showed that if an infinite word $w =g(f^\omega(a))$ is the image of a fixed point of a morphism $f$ under another morphism $g$, then there exist a non-erasing morphism $\sigma$ and a coding $\tau$ such that $w =\tau(\sigma^\omega(b))$. Based on the Perron theorem about asymptotic properties of powers of non-negative matrices, our main contribution is an in-depth study of the growth type of iterated morphisms when one replaces erasing morphisms with non-erasing ones. We also explicitly provide an algorithm computing $\sigma$ and $\tau$ from $f$ and $g$.Comment: 25 page

Helly meets Garside and Artin

A graph is Helly if every family of pairwise intersecting combinatorial balls has a nonempty intersection. We show that weak Garside groups of finite type and FC-type Artin groups are Helly, that is, they act geometrically on Helly graphs. In particular, such groups act geometrically on spaces with convex geodesic bicombing, equipping them with a nonpositive-curvature-like structure. That structure has many properties of a CAT(0) structure and, additionally, it has a combinatorial flavor implying biautomaticity. As immediate consequences we obtain new results for FC-type Artin groups (in particular braid groups and spherical Artin groups) and weak Garside groups, including e.g.\ fundamental groups of the complements of complexified finite simplicial arrangements of hyperplanes, braid groups of well-generated complex reflection groups, and one-relator groups with non-trivial center. Among the results are: biautomaticity, existence of EZ and Tits boundaries, the Farrell-Jones conjecture, the coarse Baum-Connes conjecture, and a description of higher order homological and homotopical Dehn functions. As a mean of proving the Helly property we introduce and use the notion of a (generalized) cell Helly complex.Comment: Small modifications according to the referee report, updated references. Final accepted versio

Profinite Techniques for Probabilistic Automata and the Markov Monoid Algorithm

We consider the value 1 problem for probabilistic automata over finite words: it asks whether a given probabilistic automaton accepts words with probability arbitrarily close to 1. This problem is known to be undecidable. However, different algorithms have been proposed to partially solve it; it has been recently shown that the Markov Monoid algorithm, based on algebra, is the most correct algorithm so far. The first contribution of this paper is to give a characterisation of the Markov Monoid algorithm. The second contribution is to develop a profinite theory for probabilistic automata, called the prostochastic theory. This new framework gives a topological account of the value 1 problem, which in this context is cast as an emptiness problem. The above characterisation is reformulated using the prostochastic theory, allowing us to give a simple and modular proof.Comment: Conference version: STACS'2016, Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science Journal version: TCS'2017, Theoretical Computer Scienc

On a conjecture by Pierre Cartier about a group of associators

In \cite{cartier2}, Pierre Cartier conjectured that for any non commutative formal power series $\Phi$ on $X=\{x_0,x_1\}$ with coefficients in a \Q-extension, $A$, subjected to some suitable conditions, there exists an unique algebra homomorphism $\varphi$ from the \Q-algebra generated by the convergent polyz\^etas to $A$ such that $\Phi$ is computed from $\Phi_{KZ}$ Drinfel'd associator by applying $\varphi$ to each coefficient. We prove $\varphi$ exists and it is a free Lie exponential over $X$. Moreover, we give a complete description of the kernel of polyz\^eta and draw some consequences about a structure of the algebra of convergent polyz\^etas and about the arithmetical nature of the Euler constant

Tropical Limits of Probability Spaces, Part I: The Intrinsic Kolmogorov-Sinai Distance and the Asymptotic Equipartition Property for Configurations

The entropy of a finite probability space $X$ measures the observable cardinality of large independent products $X^{\otimes n}$ of the probability space. If two probability spaces $X$ and $Y$ have the same entropy, there is an almost measure-preserving bijection between large parts of $X^{\otimes n}$ and $Y^{\otimes n}$. In this way, $X$ and $Y$ are asymptotically equivalent. It turns out to be challenging to generalize this notion of asymptotic equivalence to configurations of probability spaces, which are collections of probability spaces with measure-preserving maps between some of them. In this article we introduce the intrinsic Kolmogorov-Sinai distance on the space of configurations of probability spaces. Concentrating on the large-scale geometry we pass to the asymptotic Kolmogorov-Sinai distance. It induces an asymptotic equivalence relation on sequences of configurations of probability spaces. We will call the equivalence classes \emph{tropical probability spaces}. In this context we prove an Asymptotic Equipartition Property for configurations. It states that tropical configurations can always be approximated by homogeneous configurations. In addition, we show that the solutions to certain Information-Optimization problems are Lipschitz-con\-tinuous with respect to the asymptotic Kolmogorov-Sinai distance. It follows from these two statements that in order to solve an Information-Optimization problem, it suffices to consider homogeneous configurations. Finally, we show that spaces of trajectories of length $n$ of certain stochastic processes, in particular stationary Markov chains, have a tropical limit.Comment: Comment to version 2: Fixed typos, a calculation mistake in Lemma 5.1 and its consequences in Proposition 5.2 and Theorem 6.