Lower-bounds on the growth of power-free languages over large alphabets

We study the growth rate of some power-free languages. For any integer $k$ and real $\beta>1$, we let $\alpha(k,\beta)$ be the growth rate of the number of $\beta$-free words of a given length over the alphabet $\{1,2,\ldots, k\}$. Shur studied the asymptotic behavior of $\alpha(k,\beta)$ for $\beta\ge2$ as $k$ goes to infinity. He suggested a conjecture regarding the asymptotic behavior of $\alpha(k,\beta)$ as $k$ goes to infinity when $1<\beta<2$. He showed that for $\frac{9}{8}\le\beta<2$ the asymptotic upper-bound holds of his conjecture holds. We show that the asymptotic lower-bound of his conjecture holds. This implies that the conjecture is true for $\frac{9}{8}\le\beta<2$

Ten Conferences WORDS: Open Problems and Conjectures

In connection to the development of the field of Combinatorics on Words, we present a list of open problems and conjectures that were stated during the ten last meetings WORDS. We wish to continually update the present document by adding informations concerning advances in problems solving

Syndeticity and independent substitutions

We associate in a canonical way a substitution to any abstract numeration system built on a regular language. In relationship with the growth order of the letters, we define the notion of two independent substitutions. Our main result is the following. If a sequence $x$ is generated by two independent substitutions, at least one being of exponential growth, then the factors of $x$ appearing infinitely often in $x$ appear with bounded gaps. As an application, we derive an analogue of Cobham's theorem for two independent substitutions (or abstract numeration systems) one with polynomial growth, the other being exponential

Transition Property for α\alpha-Power Free Languages with α≥2\alpha\geq 2 and k≥3k\geq 3 Letters

In 1985, Restivo and Salemi presented a list of five problems concerning power free languages. Problem $4$ states: Given $\alpha$-power-free words $u$ and $v$, decide whether there is a transition from $u$ to $v$. Problem $5$ states: Given $\alpha$-power-free words $u$ and $v$, find a transition word $w$, if it exists. Let $\Sigma_k$ denote an alphabet with $k$ letters. Let $L_{k,\alpha}$ denote the $\alpha$-power free language over the alphabet $\Sigma_k$, where $\alpha$ is a rational number or a rational "number with $+$". If $\alpha$ is a "number with $+$" then suppose $k\geq 3$ and $\alpha\geq 2$. If $\alpha$ is "only" a number then suppose $k=3$ and $\alpha>2$ or $k>3$ and $\alpha\geq 2$. We show that: If $u\in L_{k,\alpha}$ is a right extendable word in $L_{k,\alpha}$ and $v\in L_{k,\alpha}$ is a left extendable word in $L_{k,\alpha}$ then there is a (transition) word $w$ such that $uwv\in L_{k,\alpha}$. We also show a construction of the word $w$