Periodicity forcing words

Abstract

The Dual Post Correspondence Problem asks, for a given word α, if there exists a non-periodic morphism g and an arbitrary morphism h such that g(α)=h(α). Thus α satisfies the Dual PCP if and only if it belongs to a non-trivial equality set. Words which do not satisfy the Dual PCP are called periodicity forcing, and are important to the study of word equations, equality sets and ambiguity of morphisms. In this paper, a ‘prime’ subset of periodicity forcing words is presented. It is shown that when combined with a particular type of morphism it generates exactly the full set of periodicity forcing words. Furthermore, it is shown that there exist examples of periodicity forcing words which contain any given factor/prefix/suffix. Finally, an alternative class of mechanisms for generating periodicity forcing words is developed, resulting in a class of examples which contrast those known already.