On minimal Sturmian partial words

Partial words, which are sequences that may have some undefined positions called holes, can be viewed as sequences over an extended alphabet A_?=A∪{?}, where ? stands for a hole and matches (or is compatible with) every letter in A. The subword complexity of a partial word w, denoted by p_w(n), is the number of distinct full words (those without holes) over the alphabet that are compatible with factors of length n of w. A function f:N→N is (k,h)-feasible if for each integer N≥1, there exists a k-ary partial word w with h holes such that p_w(n)=f(n) for all n such that 1≤n≤N. We show that when dealing with feasibility in the context of finite binary partial words, the only affine functions that need investigation are f(n)=n+1 and f(n)=2n. It turns out that both are (2,h)-feasible for all non-negative integers h. We classify all minimal partial words with h holes of order N with respect to f(n)=n+1, called Sturmian, computing their lengths as well as their numbers, except when h=0 in which case we describe an algorithm that generates all minimal Sturmian full words. We show that up to reversal and complement, any minimal Sturmian partial word with one hole is of the form aⁱ?a^jba^l, where i,j,l are integers satisfying some restrictions, that all minimal Sturmian partial words with two holes are one-periodic, and that up to complement, ?(a^N−1?)^h−1 is the only minimal Sturmian partial word with h≥3 holes. Finally, we give upper bounds on the lengths of minimal partial words with respect to f(n)=2n, showing them tight for h=0,1 or 2.     

Testing primitivity on partial words

Primitive words, or strings over a finite alphabet that cannot be written as a power of another string, play an important role in numerous research areas including formal language theory, coding theory, and combinatorics on words. Testing whether or not a word is primitive can be done in linear time in the length of the word. Indeed, a word is primitive if and only if it is not an inside factor of its square. In this paper, we describe a linear time algorithm to test primitivity on partial words which are strings that may contain a number of “do not know” symbols. Our algorithm is based on the combinatorial result that under some condition, a partial word is primitive if and only if it is not compatible with an inside factor of its square. The concept of special, related to commutativity on partial words, is foundational in the design of our algorithm. A World Wide Web server interface at http://www.uncg.edu/mat/primitive/ has been established for automated use of the program.     

Computing the partial word avoidability indices of ternary patterns

We study pattern avoidance in the context of partial words. The problem of classifying the avoidable binary patterns has been solved, so we move on to ternary and more general patterns. Our results, which are based on morphisms (iterated or not), determine all the ternary patternsʼ avoidability indices or at least give bounds for them.     

Marcus contextual languages consisting of primitive words

In this paper we prove that the language of all primitive (strongly primitive) words over a nontrivial alphabet can be generated by certain types of Marcus contextual grammars.     

Avoiding abelian squares in partial words

Erd?s raised the question whether there exist infinite abelian square-free words over a given alphabet, that is, words in which no two adjacent subwords are permutations of each other. It can easily be checked that no such word exists over a three-letter alphabet. However, infinite abelian square-free words have been constructed over alphabets of sizes as small as four. In this paper, we investigate the problem of avoiding abelian squares in partial words, or sequences that may contain some holes. In particular, we give lower and upper bounds for the number of letters needed to construct infinite abelian square-free partial words with finitely or infinitely many holes. Several of our constructions are based on iterating morphisms. In the case of one hole, we prove that the minimal alphabet size is four, while in the case of more than one hole, we prove that it is five. We also investigate the number of partial words of length n with a fixed number of holes over a five-letter alphabet that avoid abelian squares and show that this number grows exponentially with n.