Standard words and solutions of the word equation X₁^2 X_n^2=(X₁ X_n)^2

DOI10.1016/J.JCTA.2020.105340zbMATH Open1484.68174OpenAlexW3022809957MaRDI QIDQ2221815FDOQ2221815

Authors Ville Salo, Aleksi Saarela 

Publication date 2 February 2021

Published in Journal of Combinatorial Theory. Series A (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.14657

zbMATH Keywords

Sturmian wordoptimal squareful wordword equationstandard wordsymbolic square root map

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Permutations, words, matrices (05A05) Combinatorics on words (68R15)

Abstract: We consider solutions of the word equation $X_1^{2}dotsm{X}_n^2=(X_{1}dotsm{X}_n{)}^2$ such that the squares $X_i^2$ are minimal squares found in optimal squareful infinite words. We apply a method developed by the second author for studying word equations and prove 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. We apply our results to the symbolic square root map $sqrtcdot$ studied by the first author and M. A. Whiteland. We prove that if the language of a minimal subshift $Omega$ contains infinitely many solutions to the word equation, then either $Omega$ is Sturmian and $sqrtcdot$-invariant or $Omega$ is a so-called SL-subshift and not $sqrtcdot$-invariant. This result is progress towards proving the conjecture that a minimal and $sqrtcdot$-invariant subshift is necessarily Sturmian.

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• A square root map on Sturmian words
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• More on the dynamics of the symbolic square root map
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