Sturmian numeration systems and decompositions to palindromes (Q1750221)

Given a finite word \(w\), one can always find a decomposition of \(w\) in factors that are all palindromes. Indeed, since the single letters are palindromes, a word of length \(n\) has a palindromic decomposition into at most \(n\) palindormes. If one takes an infinite word \(x\), a natural question is to determine if there exists an integer \(k\) such that every finite prefix of \(x\) can be decomposed in at most \(k\) palindromes. The author, together with \textit{S. Puzynina} and \textit{L. Zamboni}, conjectured in [Adv. Appl. Math. 50, No. 5, 737--748 (2013; Zbl 1285.68133)] that if an infinite word \(x\) is not periodic, then for every integer \(k\) there exists a prefix of \(x\) that cannot be decomposed in at most \(k\) palindromes. In the same paper, it was proved that this conjecture holds true for words that do not contain powers of arbitrary order as factors. This class includes Sturmian words whose slope has bounded partial quotients, and it is therefore natural to ask if the conjecture holds true for all Sturmian words. Using an extension of the classical Ostrowski numeration systems, the author answers this question in the affirmative.