Binomial Complexity of Multidimensional Arrays

Abstract

Binomial coefficients for multidimensional arrays count occurrences of particular configurations. For the sake of presentation, the emphasis is put on column-binomial coefficients for two-dimensional finite arrays. In this article, we first show that these coefficients can be computed through some Magnus transform. To get structural and combinatorial information on arrays, we then define \((k,\ell)\)-binomial equivalence for finite arrays and, from it, the \((k,\ell)\)-binomial complexity function of an infinite array. Roughly, two finite arrays are \((k,\ell)\)-binomially equivalent when they share the same number of subarrays of size at most $k\times \ell$. We obtain general results on the \((k,\ell)\)-binomial complexity of infinite arrays coding direct products of infinite words. Our main theorem gives an exact formula for the \((k,\ell)\)-binomial complexity of the two-dimensional Thue--Morse array. To that end, we closely examine the action of the bit-wise complement on the \(k\)-binomial equivalence classes of the factors of the Thue--Morse word.