Various Properties of Sturmian Words

This overview paper is devoted to Sturmian words. The first part summarizes different characterizations of Sturmian words. Besides the well known theorem of Hedlund and Morse it also includes recent results on the characterization of Sturmian words using return words or palindromes. The second part deals with substitution invariant Sturmian words, where we present our recent results. We generalize one-sided Sturmian words using the cut-and-project scheme and give a full characterization of substitution invariant Sturmian words.

Powers in a class of A-strict standard episturmian words

This paper concerns a specific class of strict standard episturmian words whose directive words resemble those of characteristic Sturmian words. In particular, we explicitly determine all integer powers occurring in such infinite words, extending recent results of Damanik and Lenz (2003), who studied powers in Sturmian words. The key tools in our analysis are canonical decompositions and a generalization of singular words, which were originally defined for the ubiquitous Fibonacci word. Our main results are demonstrated via some examples, including the $k$-bonacci word: a generalization of the Fibonacci word to a $k$-letter alphabet ($k\geq2$).Comment: 26 pages; extended version of a paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Words, Montreal, Canada, September 13-17, 200

Extremal properties of (epi)Sturmian sequences and distribution modulo 1

Starting from a study of Y. Bugeaud and A. Dubickas (2005) on a question in distribution of real numbers modulo 1 via combinatorics on words, we survey some combinatorial properties of (epi)Sturmian sequences and distribution modulo 1 in connection to their work. In particular we focus on extremal properties of (epi)Sturmian sequences, some of which have been rediscovered several times

The sequence of open and closed prefixes of a Sturmian word

A finite word is closed if it contains a factor that occurs both as a prefix and as a suffix but does not have internal occurrences, otherwise it is open. We are interested in the {\it oc-sequence} of a word, which is the binary sequence whose $n$-th element is $0$ if the prefix of length $n$ of the word is open, or $1$ if it is closed. We exhibit results showing that this sequence is deeply related to the combinatorial and periodic structure of a word. In the case of Sturmian words, we show that these are uniquely determined (up to renaming letters) by their oc-sequence. Moreover, we prove that the class of finite Sturmian words is a maximal element with this property in the class of binary factorial languages. We then discuss several aspects of Sturmian words that can be expressed through this sequence. Finally, we provide a linear-time algorithm that computes the oc-sequence of a finite word, and a linear-time algorithm that reconstructs a finite Sturmian word from its oc-sequence.Comment: Published in Advances in Applied Mathematics. Journal version of arXiv:1306.225

Directive words of episturmian words: equivalences and normalization

Episturmian morphisms constitute a powerful tool to study episturmian words. Indeed, any episturmian word can be infinitely decomposed over the set of pure episturmian morphisms. Thus, an episturmian word can be defined by one of its morphic decompositions or, equivalently, by a certain directive word. Here we characterize pairs of words directing a common episturmian word. We also propose a way to uniquely define any episturmian word through a normalization of its directive words. As a consequence of these results, we characterize episturmian words having a unique directive word.Comment: 15 page

Characterizations of finite and infinite episturmian words via lexicographic orderings

In this paper, we characterize by lexicographic order all finite Sturmian and episturmian words, i.e., all (finite) factors of such infinite words. Consequently, we obtain a characterization of infinite episturmian words in a "wide sense" (episturmian and episkew infinite words). That is, we characterize the set of all infinite words whose factors are (finite) episturmian. Similarly, we characterize by lexicographic order all balanced infinite words over a 2-letter alphabet; in other words, all Sturmian and skew infinite words, the factors of which are (finite) Sturmian.Comment: 18 pages; to appear in the European Journal of Combinatoric

Enumeration and Structure of Trapezoidal Words

Trapezoidal words are words having at most $n+1$ distinct factors of length $n$ for every $n\ge 0$. They therefore encompass finite Sturmian words. We give combinatorial characterizations of trapezoidal words and exhibit a formula for their enumeration. We then separate trapezoidal words into two disjoint classes: open and closed. A trapezoidal word is closed if it has a factor that occurs only as a prefix and as a suffix; otherwise it is open. We investigate open and closed trapezoidal words, in relation with their special factors. We prove that Sturmian palindromes are closed trapezoidal words and that a closed trapezoidal word is a Sturmian palindrome if and only if its longest repeated prefix is a palindrome. We also define a new class of words, \emph{semicentral words}, and show that they are characterized by the property that they can be written as $uxyu$, for a central word $u$ and two different letters $x,y$. Finally, we investigate the prefixes of the Fibonacci word with respect to the property of being open or closed trapezoidal words, and show that the sequence of open and closed prefixes of the Fibonacci word follows the Fibonacci sequence.Comment: Accepted for publication in Theoretical Computer Scienc

Open and Closed Prefixes of Sturmian Words

A word is closed if it contains a proper factor that occurs both as a prefix and as a suffix but does not have internal occurrences, otherwise it is open. We deal with the sequence of open and closed prefixes of Sturmian words and prove that this sequence characterizes every finite or infinite Sturmian word up to isomorphisms of the alphabet. We then characterize the combinatorial structure of the sequence of open and closed prefixes of standard Sturmian words. We prove that every standard Sturmian word, after swapping its first letter, can be written as an infinite product of squares of reversed standard words.Comment: To appear in WORDS 2013 proceeding