Morphic word
In mathematics and computer science, a morphic word or substitutive word is an infinite sequence of symbols which is constructed from a particular class of endomorphism of a free monoid.
Every automatic sequence is morphic.[1]
Definition
Let f be an endomorphism of the free monoid A∗ on an alphabet A with the property that there is a letter a such that f(a) = as for a non-empty string s: we say that f is prolongable at a. The word
is a pure morphic or pure substitutive word. Note that it is the limit of the sequence a, f(a), f(f(a)), f(f(f(a))), ... It is clearly a fixed point of the endomorphism f: the unique such sequence beginning with the letter a.[2][3] In general, a morphic word is the image of a pure morphic word under a coding.[1]
If a morphic word is constructed as the fixed point of a prolongable k-uniform morphism on A∗ then the word is k-automatic. The n-th term in such a sequence can be produced by a finite state automaton reading the digits of n in base k.[1]
Examples
- The Thue–Morse sequence is generated over {0,1} by the 2-uniform endomorphism 0 → 01, 1 → 10.[4][5]
- The Fibonacci word is generated over {a,b} by the endomorphism a → ab, b → a.[1][4]
- The tribonacci word is generated over {a,b,c} by the endomorphism a → ab, b → ac, c → a.[5]
- The Rudin–Shapiro sequence is obtained from the fixed point of the 2-uniform morphism a → ab, b → ac, c → db, d → dc followed by the coding a,b → 0, c,d → 1.[5]
- The regular paperfolding sequence is obtained from the fixed point of the 2-uniform morphism a → ab, b → cb, c → ad, d → cd followed by the coding a,b → 0, c,d → 1.[6]
D0L system
A D0L system (deterministic context-free Lindenmayer system) is given by a word w of the free monoid A∗ on an alphabet A together with a morphism σ prolongable at w. The system generates the infinite D0L word ω = limn→∞ σn(w). Purely morphic words are D0L words but not conversely. However, if ω = uν is an infinite D0L word with an initial segment u of length |u| ≥ |w|, then zν is a purely morphic word, where z is a letter not in A.[7]
See also
References
- Lothaire (2005) p.524
- Lothaire (2011) p. 10
- Honkala (2010) p.505
- Lothaire (2011) p. 11
- Lothaire (2005) p.525
- Lothaire (2005) p.526
- Honkala (2010) p.506
- Allouche, Jean-Paul; Shallit, Jeffrey (2003). Automatic Sequences: Theory, Applications, Generalizations. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-82332-6. Zbl 1086.11015.
- Honkala, Juha (2010). "The equality problem for purely substitutive words". In Berthé, Valérie; Rigo, Michel (eds.). Combinatorics, automata, and number theory. Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications. 135. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 505–529. ISBN 978-0-521-51597-9. Zbl 1216.68209.
- Lothaire, M. (2005). Applied combinatorics on words. Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Its Applications. 105. A collective work by Jean Berstel, Dominique Perrin, Maxime Crochemore, Eric Laporte, Mehryar Mohri, Nadia Pisanti, Marie-France Sagot, Gesine Reinert, Sophie Schbath, Michael Waterman, Philippe Jacquet, Wojciech Szpankowski, Dominique Poulalhon, Gilles Schaeffer, Roman Kolpakov, Gregory Koucherov, Jean-Paul Allouche and Valérie Berthé. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-84802-4. Zbl 1133.68067.
- Lothaire, M. (2011). Algebraic combinatorics on words. Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Its Applications. 90. With preface by Jean Berstel and Dominique Perrin (Reprint of the 2002 hardback ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-18071-9. Zbl 1221.68183.
Further reading
- Cassaigne, Julien; Karhumäki, Juhani (1997). "Toeplitz words, generalized periodicity and periodically iterated morphisms". European Journal of Combinatorics. 18: 497–510. doi:10.1006/eujc.1996.0110. Zbl 0881.68065.