Infinite words and permutation properties (Q1823322)

A semigroup S has the property \(P^*_ n\) (n\(\geq 2)\) if for all \(x_ 1,...,x_ n\) of S there exist distinct permutations \(\sigma\) and \(\tau\) such that \(x_{\sigma (1)}...x_{\sigma (n)}=x_{\tau (1)}...x_{\tau (n)}\) holds. If in the above we can always choose \(\sigma\) to be the identity permutation, then S is said to have the property \(P_ n\). It is known that every periodic semigroup satisfying \(P_ n\) for some \(n\geq 2\) is locally finite. In this paper examples are given of infinite periodic semigroups which are generated by 2 elements and which satisfy \(P^*_ 4\) and \(P^*_ 3\), respectively. These examples are constructed in a similar way: given an infinite word w on two letters, one considers the free semigroup on these letters, modulo the ideal which consists of all the words which are not factors of w. In the first example this infinite word is the Thue-Morse infinite word.