arXiv subjects

Sonja Linghui Shan

Publications and source records attributed to Sonja Linghui Shan.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Pseudoperiodic Words and a Question of Shevelev

We generalize the familiar notion of periodicity in sequences to a new kind of pseudoperiodicity, and we prove some basic results about it. We revisit the results of a 2012 paper of Shevelev and reprove his results in a simpler and more unified manner, and provide a complete answer to one of his previously unresolved questions. We consider finding words with specific pseudoperiod and having the smallest possible critical exponent. Finally, we consider the problem of determining whether a finite word is pseudoperiodic of a given size, and show that it is NP-complete.

math.CO↗

arXiv2023

A General Approach to Proving Properties of Fibonacci Representations via Automata Theory

We provide a method, based on automata theory, to mechanically prove the correctness of many numeration systems based on Fibonacci numbers. With it, long case-based and induction-based proofs of correctness can be replaced by simply constructing a regular expression (or finite automaton) specifying the rules for valid representations, followed by a short computation. Examples of the systems that can be handled using our technique include Brown's lazy representation (1965), the far-difference representation developed by Alpert (2009), and three representations proposed by Hajnal (2023). We also provide three additional systems and prove their validity.

cs.FL↗

arXiv2022

Automatic Sequences in Negative Bases and Proofs of Some Conjectures of Shevelev

We discuss the use of negative bases in automatic sequences. Recently the theorem-prover Walnut has been extended to allow the use of base (-k) to express variables, thus permitting quantification over Z instead of N. This enables us to prove results about two-sided (bi-infinite) automatic sequences. We first explain the theory behind negative bases in Walnut. Next, we use this new version of Walnut to give a very simple proof of a strengthened version of a theorem of Shevelev. We use our ideas to resolve two open problems of Shevelev from 2017. We also reprove a 2000 result of Shur involving bi-infinite binary words.

cs.FL↗

arXiv2021

On the existence and non-existence of improper homomorphisms of oriented and $2$-edge-coloured graphs to reflexive targets

We consider non-trivial homomorphisms to reflexive oriented graphs in which some pair of adjacent vertices have the same image. Using a notion of convexity for oriented graphs, we study those oriented graphs that do not admit such homomorphisms. We fully classify those oriented graphs with tree-width $2$ that do not admit such homomorphisms and show that it is NP-complete to decide if a graph admits an orientation that does not admit such homomorphisms. We prove analogous results for $2$-edge-coloured graphs. We apply our results on oriented graphs to provide a new tool in the study of chromatic number of orientations of planar graphs -- a long-standing open problem.

cs.DM↗