Search results for "critical factorization theorem"
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A NEW COMPLEXITY FUNCTION FOR WORDS BASED ON PERIODICITY
2013
Motivated by the extension of the critical factorization theorem to infinite words, we study the (local) periodicity function, i.e. the function that, for any position in a word, gives the size of the shortest square centered in that position. We prove that this function characterizes any binary word up to exchange of letters. We then introduce a new complexity function for words (the periodicity complexity) that, for any position in the word, gives the average value of the periodicity function up to that position. The new complexity function is independent from the other commonly used complexity measures as, for instance, the factor complexity. Indeed, whereas any infinite word with bound…
Characteristic Sturmian words are extremal for the Critical Factorization Theorem
2012
We prove that characteristic Sturmian words are extremal for the Critical Factorization Theorem (CFT) in the following sense. If p x ( n ) denotes the local period of an infinite word x at point n , we prove that x is a characteristic Sturmian word if and only if p x ( n ) is smaller than or equal to n + 1 for all n ≥ 1 and it is equal to n + 1 for infinitely many integers n . This result is extremal with respect to the \{CFT\} since a consequence of the \{CFT\} is that, for any infinite recurrent word x, either the function p x is bounded, and in such a case x is periodic, or p x ( n ) ≥ n + 1 for infinitely many integers n . As a byproduct of the techniques used in the paper we extend a r…