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arXiv · 2609.30817

Quadratic bounds for uncompletable words and matrix mortality

Rahul Chandelkar·Samrath Singh Chadha
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Abstract

Every finite nonempty incomplete uniquely decipherable code with maximum word length $k$ has an uncompletable word of length at most $4k^2-3k$. The bound is independent of the number of codewords and their total length. Deleting a complete codeword cycle gives a finite path-counting identity; Kraft equality then supplies a short word of deficient compressed mass. Cyclic averaging and padding turn it into an uncompletable word. Conditional expectation makes the construction polynomial-time and also decides completeness. First-return words extend the bound to mortal families of nonnegative integer $n\times n$ matrices with joint spectral radius at most one, provided every strongly connected component has a vertex meeting every cycle. Such a family has a zero product of length at most $4n^2-3n$. A binary partial deterministic family with $2k-1$ states has shortest zero product of length $k^2+k-1$, establishing the optimal quadratic order. The bounds and the explicit-code algorithm, including its polynomial work bound, are proved in Lean.

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Rahul Chandelkar, Samrath Singh Chadha. 2026-09-28. Quadratic bounds for uncompletable words and matrix mortality. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.30817

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