Morphic words and equidistributed sequences

The problem we consider is the following: Given an infinite word $w$ on an ordered alphabet, construct the sequence $\nu_w=(\nu[n])_n$, equidistributed on $[0,1]$ and such that $\nu[m]<\nu[n]$ if and only if $\sigma^m(w)<\sigma^n(w)$, where $\sigma$ is the shift operation, erasing the first symbol of $w$. The sequence $\nu_w$ exists and is unique for every word with well-defined positive uniform frequencies of every factor, or, in dynamical terms, for every element of a uniquely ergodic subshift. In this paper we describe the construction of $\nu_w$ for the case when the subshift of $w$ is generated by a morphism of a special kind; then we overcome some technical difficulties to extend the result to all binary morphisms. The sequence $\nu_w$ in this case is also constructed with a morphism. At last, we introduce a software tool which, given a binary morphism $\varphi$, computes the morphism on extended intervals and first elements of the equidistributed sequences associated with fixed points of $\varphi$

The number of binary rotation words

We consider binary rotation words generated by partitions of the unit circle to two intervals and give a precise formula for the number of such words of length n. We also give the precise asymptotics for it, which happens to be O(n^4). The result continues the line initiated by the formula for the number of all Sturmian words obtained by Lipatov in 1982, then independently by Berenstein, Kanal, Lavine and Olson in 1987, Mignosi in 1991, and then with another technique by Berstel and Pocchiola in 1993.Comment: Submitted to RAIRO IT

The number of valid factorizations of Fibonacci prefixes

We establish several recurrence relations and an explicit formula for V(n), the number of factorizations of the length-n prefix of the Fibonacci word into a (not necessarily strictly) decreasing sequence of standard Fibonacci words. In particular, we show that the sequence V(n) is the shuffle of the ceilings of two linear functions of n.Comment: Version accepted to Theoretical Computer Scienc

Minimal complexity of equidistributed infinite permutations

An infinite permutation is a linear ordering of the set of natural numbers. An infinite permutation can be defined by a sequence of real numbers where only the order of elements is taken into account. In the paper we investigate a new class of {\it equidistributed} infinite permutations, that is, infinite permutations which can be defined by equidistributed sequences. Similarly to infinite words, a complexity $p(n)$ of an infinite permutation is defined as a function counting the number of its subpermutations of length $n$. For infinite words, a classical result of Morse and Hedlund, 1938, states that if the complexity of an infinite word satisfies $p(n) \leq n$ for some $n$, then the word is ultimately periodic. Hence minimal complexity of aperiodic words is equal to $n+1$, and words with such complexity are called Sturmian. For infinite permutations this does not hold: There exist aperiodic permutations with complexity functions growing arbitrarily slowly, and hence there are no permutations of minimal complexity. We show that, unlike for permutations in general, the minimal complexity of an equidistributed permutation $\alpha$ is $p_{\alpha}(n)=n$. The class of equidistributed permutations of minimal complexity coincides with the class of so-called Sturmian permutations, directly related to Sturmian words.Comment: An old (weaker) version of the paper was presented at DLT 2015. The current version is submitted to a journa

Cost and dimension of words of zero topological entropy

Let $A^*$ denote the free monoid generated by a finite nonempty set $A.$ In this paper we introduce a new measure of complexity of languages $L\subseteq A^*$ defined in terms of the semigroup structure on $A^*.$ For each $L\subseteq A^*,$ we define its {\it cost} $c(L)$ as the infimum of all real numbers $\alpha$ for which there exist a language $S\subseteq A^*$ with $p_S(n)=O(n^\alpha)$ and a positive integer $k$ with $L\subseteq S^k.$ We also define the {\it cost dimension} $d_c(L)$ as the infimum of the set of all positive integers $k$ such that $L\subseteq S^k$ for some language $S$ with $p_S(n)=O(n^{c(L)}).$ We are primarily interested in languages $L$ given by the set of factors of an infinite word $x=x_0x_1x_2\cdots \in A^\omega$ of zero topological entropy, in which case $c(L)<+\infty.$ We establish the following characterisation of words of linear factor complexity: Let $x\in A^\omega$ and $L=$Fac$(x)$ be the set of factors of $x.$ Then $p_x(n)=\Theta(n)$ if and only $c(L)=0$ and $d_c(L)=2.$ In other words, $p_x(n)=O(n)$ if and only if Fac$(x)\subseteq S^2$ for some language $S\subseteq A^+$ of bounded complexity (meaning $\limsup p_S(n)<+\infty).$ In general the cost of a language $L$ reflects deeply the underlying combinatorial structure induced by the semigroup structure on $A^*.$ For example, in contrast to the above characterisation of languages generated by words of sub-linear complexity, there exist non factorial languages $L$ of complexity $p_L(n)=O(\log n)$ (and hence of cost equal to $0)$ and of cost dimension $+\infty.$ In this paper we investigate the cost and cost dimension of languages defined by infinite words of zero topological entropy

On prefix palindromic length of automatic words

The prefix palindromic length $\mathrm{PPL}_{\mathbf{u}}(n)$ of an infinite word $\mathbf{u}$ is the minimal number of concatenated palindromes needed to express the prefix of length $n$ of $\mathbf{u}$. Since 2013, it is still unknown if $\mathrm{PPL}_{\mathbf{u}}(n)$ is unbounded for every aperiodic infinite word $\mathbf{u}$, even though this has been proven for almost all aperiodic words. At the same time, the only well-known nontrivial infinite word for which the function $\mathrm{PPL}_{\mathbf{u}}(n)$ has been precisely computed is the Thue-Morse word $\mathbf{t}$. This word is $2$-automatic and, predictably, its function $\mathrm{PPL}_{\mathbf{t}}(n)$ is $2$-regular, but is this the case for all automatic words? In this paper, we prove that this function is $k$-regular for every $k$-automatic word containing only a finite number of palindromes. For two such words, namely the paperfolding word and the Rudin-Shapiro word, we derive a formula for this function. Our computational experiments suggest that generally this is not true: for the period-doubling word, the prefix palindromic length does not look $2$-regular, and for the Fibonacci word, it does not look Fibonacci-regular. If proven, these results would give rare (if not first) examples of a natural function of an automatic word which is not regular.Comment: revised version, to appear in Theoret. Comput. Sc