Computing the k-binomial complexity of the Thue--Morse word

DOI10.1007/978-3-030-24886-4_21arXiv1812.07330MaRDI QIDQ6311301FDOQ6311301

Authors: Marie Lejeune, Julien Leroy, Michel Rigo 

Publication date: 18 December 2018

Abstract: Two words are $k$-binomially equivalent whenever they share the same subwords, i.e., subsequences, of length at most $k$ with the same multiplicities. This is a refinement of both abelian equivalence and the Simon congruence. The $k$-binomial complexity of an infinite word $mathbfx$ maps the integer $n$ to the number of classes in the quotient, by this $k$-binomial equivalence relation, of the set of factors of length $n$ occurring in $mathbfx$. This complexity measure has not been investigated very much. In this paper, we characterize the $k$-binomial complexity of the Thue--Morse word. The result is striking, compared to more familiar complexity functions. Although the Thue--Morse word is aperiodic, its $k$-binomial complexity eventually takes only two values. In this paper, we first obtain general results about the number of occurrences of subwords appearing in iterates of the form $Ps{i}^{e}ll(w)$ for an arbitrary morphism $Psi$. We also thoroughly describe the factors of the Thue--Morse word by introducing a relevant new equivalence relation.

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Combinatorics on words (68R15)

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