Résumé : In this work, we extend the definition of Christoffel words to directed subgraphs of the hypercubic lattice in arbitrary dimension that we call Christoffel graphs. Christoffel graphs when d=2 correspond to well-known Christoffel words. We show that Christoffel graphs have similar properties to those of Christoffel words: symmetry of their central part and conjugation with their reversal. Our main result extends Pirillo's theorem (characterization of Christoffel words which asserts that a word amb is a Christoffel word if and only if it is conjugate to bma) in arbitrary dimension. In the generalization, the map amb\mapsto bma is seen as a flip operation on graphs embedded in Z^d and the conjugation is a translation. We show that a fully periodic subgraph of the hypercubic lattice is a translate of its flip if and only if it is a Christoffel graph. This is joint work with Christophe Reutenauer. Preprint is available at http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.4021.

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Dernière modification : Monday 27 May 2024

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