Standard words and solutions of the word equation \(X_1^2\cdots X_n^2=(X_1\cdots X_n)^2\) (Q2221815)

The paper deals with the solutions of the word equation \(X_1^2\cdots X_n^2=(X_1\cdots X_n)^2 \). The standard words that are considered in the article are a generalization of Fibonacci words. It is proved ``that there are exactly two families of solutions: reversed standard words and words obtained from reversed standard words by a simple substitution scheme. A particular and remarkable consequence is that a word \(w\) is a standard word if and only if its reversal is a solution to the word equation and \(\gcd(|w|, |w|_1) = 1.\) This result can be interpreted as a yet another characterization for standard Sturmian words.'' Based on these results, the authors make a ``progress towards proving the conjecture that a minimal and \(\sqrt{\cdot}\)-invariant subshift is necessarily Sturmian.''