English

Criteria for apwenian sequences

Number Theory 2021-06-29 v5 Combinatorics

Abstract

In 1998, Allouche, Peyri\`{e}re, Wen and Wen showed that the Hankel determinant HnH_n of the Thue-Morse sequence over {1,1}\{-1,1\} satisfies Hn/2n11 (mod 2)H_n/2^{n-1}\equiv 1~(\mathrm{mod}~2) for all n1n\geq 1. Inspired by this result, Fu and Han introduced \emph{apwenian} sequences over {1,1}\{-1,1\}, namely, ±1\pm 1 sequences whose Hankel determinants satisfy Hn/2n11 (mod 2)H_n/2^{n-1}\equiv 1~(\mathrm{mod}~2) for all n1n\geq 1, and proved with computer assistance that a few sequences are apwenian. In this paper, we obtain an easy to check criterion for apwenian sequences, which allows us to determine all apwenian sequences that are fixed points of substitutions of constant length. Let f(z)f(z) be the generating functions of such apwenian sequences. We show that for all integer b2b\ge 2 with f(1/b)0f(1/b)\neq 0, the real number f(1/b)f(1/b) is transcendental and its irrationality exponent is equal to 22. Besides, we also derive a criterion for zero-one apwenian sequences whose Hankel determinants satisfy Hn1 (mod 2)H_n\equiv 1~(\mathrm{mod}~2) for all n1n\geq 1. We find that the only zero-one apwenian sequence, among all fixed points of substitutions of constant length, is the period-doubling sequence. Various examples of apwenian sequences given by substitutions with projection are also given. Furthermore, we prove that all Sturmian sequences over {1,1}\{-1,1\} or {0,1}\{0,1\} are not apwenian. And we conjecture that fixed points of substitution of non-constant length over {1,1}\{-1,1\} or {0,1}\{0,1\} can not be apwenian.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2001.10246,
  title  = {Criteria for apwenian sequences},
  author = {Ying-Jun Guo and Guo-Niu Han and Wen Wu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2001.10246},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

27 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-23T13:22:42.561Z