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 about this class through tedious case-based proofs can now be proved “automatically,” using a decision procedure, and new claims can be proved or disproved simply by restating them as logical formulas.

This article studies the properties of word-hyperbolic semigroups and monoids, that is, those having context-free multiplication tables with respect to a regular combing, as defined by Duncan and Gilman [‘Word hyperbolic semigroups’, Math. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 136(3) (2004), 513–524]. In particular, the preservation of word-hyperbolicity under taking free products is considered. Under mild conditions on the semigroups involved, satisfied, for example, by monoids or regular semigroups, we prove that the semigroup free product of two word-hyperbolic semigroups is again word-hyperbolic. Analogously, with a mild condition on the uniqueness of representation for the identity element, satisfied, for example, by groups, we prove that the monoid free product of two word-hyperbolic monoids is word-hyperbolic. The methods are language-theoretically general, and apply equally well to semigroups, monoids or groups with a $\mathbf {C}$-multiplication table, where $\mathbf {C}$ is any reversal-closed super-$\operatorname {\mathrm {AFL}}$. In particular, we deduce that the free product of two groups with $\mathbf {ET0L}$ with respect to indexed multiplication tables again has an $\mathbf {ET0L}$ with respect to an indexed multiplication table.

The Thue–Morse sequence is a prototypical automatic sequence found in diverse areas of mathematics, and in computer science. We study occurrences of factors w within this sequence, or more precisely, the sequence of gaps between consecutive occurrences. This gap sequence is morphic; we prove that it is not automatic as soon as the length of w is at least $2$ , thereby answering a question by J. Shallit in the affirmative. We give an explicit method to compute the discrepancy of the number of occurrences of the block $\mathtt {01}$ in the Thue–Morse sequence. We prove that the sequence of discrepancies is the sequence of output sums of a certain base- $2$ transducer.

Shallit and Wang showed that the automatic complexity $A(x)$ satisfies $A(x)\ge n/13$ for almost all $x\in {\{\mathtt {0},\mathtt {1}\}}^n$ . They also stated that Holger Petersen had informed them that the constant $13$ can be reduced to $7$ . Here we show that it can be reduced to $2+\epsilon $ for any $\epsilon>0$ . The result also applies to nondeterministic automatic complexity $A_N(x)$ . In that setting the result is tight inasmuch as $A_N(x)\le n/2+1$ for all x.

Fix an abelian group $\Gamma $ and an injective endomorphism $F\colon \Gamma \to \Gamma $ . Improving on the results of [2], new characterizations are here obtained for the existence of spanning sets, F-automaticity, and F-sparsity. The model theoretic status of these sets is also investigated, culminating with a combinatorial description of the F-sparse sets that are stable in $(\Gamma ,+)$ , and a proof that the expansion of $(\Gamma ,+)$ by any F-sparse set is NIP. These methods are also used to show for prime $p\ge 7$ that the expansion of $(\mathbb {F}_p[t],+)$ by multiplication restricted to $t^{\mathbb {N}}$ is NIP.

We extend work of Berdinsky and Khoussainov [‘Cayley automatic representations of wreath products’, International Journal of Foundations of Computer Science27(2) (2016), 147–159] to show that being Cayley automatic is closed under taking the restricted wreath product with a virtually infinite cyclic group. This adds to the list of known examples of Cayley automatic groups.

The aim of this paper is to shed light on our understanding of large scale properties of infinite strings. We say that one string $\alpha $ has weaker large scale geometry than that of $\beta $ if there is color preserving bi-Lipschitz map from $\alpha $ into $\beta $ with small distortion. This definition allows us to define a partially ordered set of large scale geometries on the classes of all infinite strings. This partial order compares large scale geometries of infinite strings. As such, it presents an algebraic tool for classification of global patterns. We study properties of this partial order. We prove, for instance, that this partial order has a greatest element and also possess infinite chains and antichains. We also investigate the sets of large scale geometries of strings accepted by finite state machines such as Büchi automata. We provide an algorithm that describes large scale geometries of strings accepted by Büchi automata. This connects the work with the complexity theory. We also prove that the quasi-isometry problem is a $\Sigma _2^0$ -complete set, thus providing a bridge with computability theory. Finally, we build algebraic structures that are invariants of large scale geometries. We invoke asymptotic cones, a key concept in geometric group theory, defined via model-theoretic notion of ultra-product. Partly, we study asymptotic cones of algorithmically random strings, thus connecting the topic with algorithmic randomness.

We define a new class of shift spaces which contains a number of classes of interest, like Sturmian shifts used in discrete geometry. We show that this class is closed under two natural transformations. The first one is called conjugacy and is obtained by sliding block coding. The second one is called the complete bifix decoding, and typically includes codings by non-overlapping blocks of fixed length.

A structure is automatic if its domain, functions, and relations are all regular languages. Using the fact that every automatic structure is decidable, in the literature many decision problems have been solved by giving an automatic presentation of a particular structure. Khoussainov and Nerode asked whether there is some way to tell whether a structure has, or does not have, an automatic presentation. We answer this question by showing that the set of Turing machines that represent automata-presentable structures is ${\rm{\Sigma }}_1^1 $-complete. We also use similar methods to show that there is no reasonable characterisation of the structures with a polynomial-time presentation in the sense of Nerode and Remmel.

Monadic second order logic and linear temporal logic are two logical formalisms that can be used to describe classes of infinite words, i.e., first-order models based on the natural numbers with order, successor, and finitely many unary predicate symbols.

Monadic second order logic over infinite words (S1S) can alternatively be described as a first-order logic interpreted in ${\cal P}\left( \omega \right)$, the power set Boolean algebra of the natural numbers, equipped with modal operators for ‘initial’, ‘next’, and ‘future’ states. We prove that the first-order theory of this structure is the model companion of a class of algebras corresponding to a version of linear temporal logic (LTL) without until.

The proof makes crucial use of two classical, nontrivial results from the literature, namely the completeness of LTL with respect to the natural numbers, and the correspondence between S1S-formulas and Büchi automata.