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[#P2820] Eventual existence of four-letter circular abelian-square-free words

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Problem. Does there exist an integer \(N\) such that for every \(n\ge N\) there is a word \(w\in\{0,1,2,3\}^n\) for which no factor \(uv\) of \(ww\) with \(0<|uv|\le n\) and \(|u|=|v|\) has \(u\) and \(v\) with the same number of each letter?

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Definitions and notation

1Context

The problem turns a known infinite avoidance phenomenon into a length-complete circular construction. Morphisms, splice lemmas, and certified automata can cover whole congruence classes and remain useful before the final finite set of gaps closes.

2Problem setup

Definition 1. Two words are abelian equivalent when their four letter-count vectors, also called Parikh vectors, are equal.

Definition 2. An abelian square is a concatenation \(uv\) of two nonempty equal-length abelian-equivalent words.

Remark 1. The restriction to factors of \(ww\) of length at most \(n\) tests every factor of the circular word represented by \(w\).

3What counts as a solution

  • Give a proof and an explicit threshold \(N\) covering every \(n\ge N\), or prove that infinitely many lengths admit no such circular word.
  • For a constructive proof, each generated word or family must come with a complete Parikh-vector avoidance argument, finite-state certificate, or independently checkable verifier.

1Status

What counts as a solution

Current status (The source reports no cyclic counterexample below length 150). Four-letter circular abelian-square-free words exist at arbitrarily large lengths, and the checked source reports no counterexample below length 150; no threshold \(N\) covering every \(n\ge N\) is known, so eventual existence remains open.[1]

1Packet records

10 records

Notes and companion material

Original intake status. UNKNOWN as of 2026-07-28. Arbitrarily long four-letter circular abelian-square-free words are known, yet the checked sources leave existence at every sufficiently large length open.

  • The 2026-07-28 search found no proof or counterexample to eventual existence at every length.
  • The strongest neighboring result supplies arbitrarily large lengths; the packet adds a certified no-counterexample census below 150.
  • No duplicate eventual-length target was found in the controlled corpus.

Recorded example 1. The word \(012\) is circular abelian-square-free under the stated length-at-most-three convention, since it has no even-length factor longer than two and no repeated adjacent letter.

How the 10 records connect
The overview places each record once. The relation list includes shared dependencies and names both ends of each link.

ProblemEventual existence of four-letter circular abelian-square-free words

2 records outside this overview
All 10 recorded relations between these records and the problem

2See also

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Cite this problem statement

Cite the original sources separately.

Plain text
“Eventual existence of four-letter circular abelian-square-free words.” TheoremDB. P2820. Problem statement; statement text SHA-256 abc74a2ac797f21a3fef4d262db664fe652c5f1624b1a85a8e070227b1ce3835. https://theoremdb.org/statement/?ref=P2820
BibTeX
@misc{theoremdb-problem-abc74a2ac797f21a3fef4d262db664fe652c5f1624b1a85a8e070227b1ce3835,
  title = {{Eventual existence of four-letter circular abelian-square-free words}},
  howpublished = {TheoremDB},
  note = {Problem statement; statement text SHA-256 abc74a2ac797f21a3fef4d262db664fe652c5f1624b1a85a8e070227b1ce3835},
  url = {https://theoremdb.org/statement/?ref=P2820}
}

This problem includes 10 records joined by 12 typed links, current as of July 28, 2026.

1References

  1. Peltomäki and Whiteland, Avoiding abelian powers cyclically, Advances in Applied Mathematics 121 (2020), Theorem 1.2, proof in Section 3, and Section 6; arXiv:2006.06307v2. Theorem 1.2, Section 3, and Section 6; arXiv:2006.06307v2. open copy ↗scholarly publication · reference source · arXiv:2006.06307v2 · checked 2026-07-28Source use: citation only.Proves arbitrarily large circular abelian-square-free constructions and leaves coverage of every sufficiently large length open.Also cited at Peltomäki and Whiteland, Avoiding abelian powers cyclically, Advances in Applied Mathematics 121 (2020), Theorem 1.2, proof in Section 3, and Section 6; arXiv:2006.06307v2.Also cited at Peltomäki and Whiteland, Introduction, Theorem 1.2, and Section 6; open-copy locator: journal version of Avoiding abelian powers cyclically.Also cited at Peltomäki and Whiteland, Section 3, displayed definition of Keränen's morphism phi; original window scans executed 2026-07-28.Source used to assess the problem's recorded status.For Eventual existence of four-letter circular abelian-square-free words: Scanning every factor of the 7,225-letter word phi^2(0) found circular witnesses at 24 lengths in 36 through 100 and exhausted all windows without a witness at the other 41 lengths.Proves neighboring cyclic avoidance results, gives the Keränen-morphism construction, and states the remaining eventual-length question.
  2. Tim E. Wilson and David R. Wood, “Anagram-Free Graph Colouring”. The Electronic Journal of Combinatorics 25(2) (2018), P2.20. DOI 10.37236/6267. Page 17 and the circular-word discussion cited by the packet. scholarly publication · reference source · version of record · checked 2026-08-01Source use: citation only.Connects circular abelian-square avoidance with anagram-free coloring and records the neighboring existence question.Also cited at Wilson and Wood, Anagram-Free Graph Colouring, Electronic Journal of Combinatorics 25(2) (2018), page 17; later-state audit completed 2026-07-28.Also cited at Wilson and Wood 2018, page 17.For Eventual existence of four-letter circular abelian-square-free words: The exact cycle-coloring conjecture, both avoidance conventions, arXiv revisions, the journal article, and the indexed citing literature were checked; no proof or counterexample to eventual circular existence was located.Connects circular abelian-square avoidance with anagram-free colorings and records the neighboring existence problem.
  3. Fici and Puzynina, cyclic abelian avoidance survey passage. preprint · reference source · arXiv:2207.09937v2 · checked 2026-07-28Source use: citation only.Surveys abelian and additive powers and records the structural results used to place the four-letter additive-cube target.
  4. Svetlana Puzynina and Markus A. Whiteland, Abelian Closures of Infinite Binary Words, arXiv:2008.08125v2 (2021). Introduction, p. 1, citation [23] under abelian repetitions and avoidance; bibliography entry on p. 32. preprint · discovery source · arXiv:2008.08125v2 · checked 2026-07-28Source use: citation only.Cites cyclic abelian-power avoidance as background without settling the eventual cycle question.Cites the 2020 cyclic-avoidance article as general background and does not discuss the cycle conjecture.
  5. Xiao-Tao Lü, Jin Chen, Zhi-Xiong Wen, and Wen Wu, On the 2-binomial complexity of the generalized Thue-Morse words, arXiv:2112.05347v1 (2021). Introduction, p. 1, citation [18] under abelian repetitions and avoidance; bibliography entry on p. 17. preprint · discovery source · arXiv:2112.05347v1 · checked 2026-07-28Source use: citation only.Cites the cyclic-avoidance article as background and gives no result on eventual circular avoidance.Cites the 2020 cyclic-avoidance article as background and gives no result about eventual circular avoidance.
  6. Anuran Maity and K. V. Krishna, Mutually Abelian-Bordered Binary Words, arXiv:2509.20773v1 (2025). Introduction, p. 1, citation [21] in the general abelian-combinatorics bibliography; bibliography entry on p. 31. preprint · discovery source · arXiv:2509.20773v1 · checked 2026-07-28Source use: citation only.Lists the cyclic-avoidance article in later abelian-combinatorics work without treating the cycle conjecture.Lists the 2020 cyclic-avoidance article as general background without treating the cycle conjecture.

Original CC0 record prose for a sourced open existence problem in cyclic abelian avoidance.

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