Related papers: Fife's Theorem for (7/3)-Powers
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…
We construct a probabilistic finite automaton (PFA) with 7 states and an input alphabet of 5 symbols for which the PFA Emptiness Problem is undecidable. The only input for the decision problem is the starting distribution. For the proof, we…
We consider the previously defined notion of finite-state independence and we focus specifically on normal words. We characterize finite-state independence of normal words in three different ways, using three different kinds of asynchronous…
We show that a special case of the Feferman-Vaught composition theorem gives rise to a natural notion of automata for finite words over an infinite alphabet, with good closure and decidability properties, as well as several logical…
This note contains a report of a proof by computer that the Fibonacci group F(2,9) is automatic. The automatic structure can be used to solve the word problem in the group. Furthermore, it can be seen directly from the word-acceptor that…
We study the lexicographically least infinite $a/b$-power-free word on the alphabet of non-negative integers. Frequently this word is a fixed point of a uniform morphism, or closely related to one. For example, the lexicographically least…
It is undecidable whether the language recognized by a probabilistic finite automaton is empty. Several other undecidability results, in particular regarding problems about matrix products, are based on this important theorem. We present…
We explore a natural class of semigroups that have word problem decidable by finite state automata. Among the main results are invariance of this property under change of generators, invariance under basic algebraic constructions and…
A process algebra is proposed, whose semantics maps a term to a nondeterministic finite automaton (NFA, for short). We prove a representability theorem: for each NFA $N$, there exists a process algebraic term $p$ such that its semantics is…
In this work we introduce a notion of independence based on finite-state automata: two infinite words are independent if no one helps to compress the other using one-to-one finite-state transducers with auxiliary input. We prove that, as…
We characterize complete deterministic finite automata with two input letters in which every non-empty set of states occurs as the image of the whole state set under the action of a suitable input word. The characterization leads to a…
A $4^-$-power is a non-empty word of the form $XXXX^-$, where $X^-$ is obtained from $X$ by erasing the last letter. A binary word is called {\em faux-bonacci} if it contains no $4^-$-powers, and no factor 11. We show that faux-bonacci…
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…
Determining the minimum number of states required by a finite automaton to separate a given pair of different words is an important problem. In this paper, we consider this problem for quantum automata (QFAs). We show that 2-state QFAs can…
It is known that 2-state binary and 3-state unary probabilistic finite automata and 2-state unary quantum finite automata recognize uncountably many languages with cutpoints. These results have been obtained by associating each recognized…
This paper establishes a lower bound on the number of states necessary in the worst case to simulate an $n$-state two-way nondeterministic finite automaton (2NFA) by a one-way unambiguous finite automaton (UFA). It is proved that for every…
We exhibit the construction of a deterministic automaton that, given k > 0, recognizes the (regular) language of k-differentiable words. Our approach follows a scheme of Crochemore et al. based on minimal forbidden words. We extend this…
The critical exponent of an infinite word $\bf x$ is the supremum, over all finite nonempty factors $f$, of the exponent of $f$. In this note we show that for all integers $k\geq 2,$ there is a binary infinite $k$-automatic sequence with…
We say that a finite factor $f$ of a word $w$ is \emph{imaged} if there exists a non-erasing morphism $m$, distinct from the identity, such that $w$ contains $m(f)$. We show that every infinite word contains an imaged factor of length at…
A deterministic finite automaton in which every non-empty set of states occurs as the image of the whole state set under the action of a suitable input word is called completely reachable. It was conjectured that in each completely…