Related papers: Periodicity, repetitions, and orbits of an automat…

It is decidable if a set of numbers, whose representation in a base b is a regular language, is ultimately periodic. This was established by Honkala in 1986. We give here a structural description of minimal automata that accept an…

We make certain bounds in Krebs' proof of Cobham's theorem explicit and obtain corresponding upper bounds on the length of a common prefix of an aperiodic $a$-automatic sequence and an aperiodic $b$-automatic sequence, where $a$ and $b$ are…

We show that various aspects of k-automatic sequences -- such as having an unbordered factor of length n -- are both decidable and effectively enumerable. As a consequence it follows that many related sequences are either k-automatic or…

Currie and Saari initiated the study of least periods of infinite words, and they showed that every integer n >= 1 is a least period of the Thue-Morse sequence. We generalize this result to show that the characteristic sequence of least…

The notion of a k-automatic set of integers is well-studied. We develop a new notion - the k-automatic set of rational numbers - and prove basic properties of these sets, including closure properties and decidability.

Using a novel rewriting problem, we show that several natural decision problems about finite automata are undecidable (i.e., recursively unsolvable). In contrast, we also prove three related problems are decidable. We apply one result to…

We study the notion of an asymptotically automatic sequence, which generalises the notion of an automatic sequence. While $k$-automatic sequences are characterised by finiteness of $k$-kernels, the $k$-kernels of asymptotically…

Let $k\ge 2$. We prove that the characteristic sequence of a regular language over a $k$-letter alphabet is $k$-automatic. More generally, if $t\ge 2$ and $t,k$ are multiplicatively dependent, we show that the characteristic sequence of a…

We show that the first-order logical theory of the binary overlap-free words (and, more generally, the ${\alpha}$-free words for rational ${\alpha}$, $2 < {\alpha} \leq 7/3$), is decidable. As a consequence, many results previously obtained…

In some particular cases we give criteria for morphic sequences to be almost periodic (=uniformly recurrent). Namely, we deal with fixed points of non-erasing morphisms and with automatic sequences. In both cases a polynomial-time algorithm…

We conjecture that bounded generalised polynomial functions cannot be generated by finite automata, except for the trivial case when they are ultimately periodic. Using methods from ergodic theory, we are able to partially resolve this…

The degree sequence of the algebraic numbers in an algebraic linear recurrence sequence is shown to be virtually periodic. This is proved using the Skolem-Mahler-Lech theorem. It has applications to the degree sequence and the minimal…

A theorem of Cobham says that if $k$ and $\ell$ are two multiplicatively independent natural numbers then a subset of the natural numbers that is both $k$- and $\ell$-automatic is eventually periodic. A multidimensional extension was later…

Let $b$ be an integer strictly greater than $1$. Each set of nonnegative integers is represented in base $b$ by a language over $\{0, 1, \dots, b - 1\}$. The set is said to be $b$-recognisable if it is represented by a regular language. It…

We prove decidability results on the existence of constant subsequences of uniformly recurrent morphic sequences along arithmetic progressions. We use spectral properties of the subshifts they generate to give a first algorithm deciding…

We investigate the orbits of automaton semigroups and groups to obtain algorithmic and structural results, both for general automata but also for some special subclasses. First, we show that a more general version of the finiteness problem…

We give another proof of a theorem of Fife - understood broadly as providing a finite automaton that gives a complete description of all infinite binary overlap-free words. Our proof is significantly simpler than those in the literature. As…

Given an integer base $b>1$, a set of integers is represented in base $b$ by a language over $\{0,1,...,b-1\}$. The set is said to be $b$-recognisable if its representation is a regular language. It is known that eventually periodic sets…

Continued fraction expansions and Hankel determinants of automatic sequences are extensively studied during the last two decades. These studies found applications in number theory in evaluating irrationality exponents. The present paper is…

History-deterministic automata are those in which nondeterministic choices can be correctly resolved stepwise: there is a strategy to select a continuation of a run given the next input letter so that if the overall input word admits some…