Suppose ƒ : X* → X* is a morphism and u,v ∈ X*. For every nonnegative integer n, let zn be the longest common prefix of ƒn(u) and ƒn(v), and let un,vn ∈ X* be words such that ƒn(u) = znun and ƒn(v) = znvn. We prove that there is a positive integer q such that for any positive integer p, the prefixes of un (resp. vn) of length p form an ultimately periodic sequence having period q. Further, there is a value of q which works for all words u,v ∈ X*.
Alignment of sequences is widely used for biological sequence comparisons, and only biological events like mutations, insertions and deletions are considered. Other biological events like inversions are not automatically detected by the usual alignment algorithms, thus some alternative approaches have been tried in order to include inversions or other kinds of rearrangements. Despite many important results in the last decade, the complexity of the problem of alignment with inversions is still unknown....
Alignment of sequences is widely used for biological sequence comparisons, and only biological events like mutations, insertions and deletions are considered. Other biological events like inversions are not automatically detected by the usual alignment algorithms, thus some alternative approaches have been tried in order to include inversions or other kinds of rearrangements. Despite many important results in the last decade, the complexity of the problem of alignment with inversions is...
A morphism is -power-free if and only if is -power-free whenever is a -power-free word. A morphism is -power-free up to if and only if is -power-free whenever is a -power-free word of length at most . Given an integer , we prove that a binary morphism is -power-free if and only if it is -power-free up to . This bound becomes linear for primitive morphisms: a binary primitive morphism is -power-free if and only if it is -power-free up to
A morphism f is k-power-free if and only if f(w) is k-power-free whenever w is a k-power-free word. A morphism f is k-power-free up to m if and only if f(w) is k-power-free whenever w is a k-power-free word of length at most m. Given an integer k ≥ 2, we prove that a binary morphism is k-power-free if and only if it is k-power-free up to k2. This bound becomes linear for primitive morphisms: a binary primitive morphism is k-power-free if and only if it is k-power-free up to 2k+1
Pattern avoidance is an important topic in combinatorics on words which dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century when Thue constructed an infinite word over a ternary alphabet that avoids squares, i.e., a word with no two adjacent identical factors. This result finds applications in various algebraic contexts where more general patterns than squares are considered. On the other hand, Erdős raised the question as to whether there exists an infinite word that avoids abelian squares, i.e.,...