A new approach to the 2-regularity of the \(\ell\)-abelian complexity of 2-automatic sequences (Q2256124)

Summary: We prove that a sequence satisfying a certain symmetry property is \(2\)-regular in the sense of Allouche and Shallit, i.e., the \(\mathbb{Z}\)-module generated by its \(2\)-kernel is finitely generated. We apply this theorem to develop a general approach for studying the \(\ell\)-abelian complexity of \(2\)-automatic sequences. In particular, we prove that the period-doubling word and the Thue-Morse word have \(2\)-abelian complexity sequences that are \(2\)-regular. Along the way, we also prove that the \(2\)-block codings of these two words have \(1\)-abelian complexity sequences that are \(2\)-regular.