Search

A morphism $\sigma$ is \emph{(strongly) unambiguous} with respect to a word $\alpha$ if there is no other morphism $\tau$ that maps $\alpha$ to the same image as $\sigma$. Moreover, $\sigma$ is said to be \emph{weakly unambiguous} with respect to a word $\alpha$ if $\sigma$ is the only \emph{nonerasing} morphism that can map $\alpha$ to $\sigma(\alpha)$, i.\,e., there does not exist any other nonerasing morphism $\tau$ satisfying $\tau(\alpha) = \sigma(\alpha)$. In the first main part of the present thesis, we wish to characterise those words with respect to which there exists a weakly unambiguous \emph{length-increasing} morphism that maps a word to an image that is strictly longer than the word. Our main result is a compact characterisation that holds for all morphisms with ternary or larger target alphabets. We also comprehensively describe those words that have a weakly unambiguous length-increasing morphism with a unary target alphabet, but we have to leave the problem open for binary alphabets, where we can merely give some non-characteristic conditions. \par The second main part of the present thesis studies the question of whether, for any given word, there exists a strongly unambiguous \emph{1-uniform} morphism, i.\,e., a morphism that maps every letter in the word to an image of length $1$. This problem shows some connections to previous research on \emph{fixed points} of nontrivial morphisms, i.\,e., those words $\alpha$ for which there is a morphism $\phi$ satisfying $\phi(\alpha) = \alpha$ and, for a symbol $x$ in $\alpha$, $\phi(x) \neq x$. Therefore, we can expand our examination of the existence of unambiguous morphisms to a discussion of the question of whether we can reduce the number of different symbols in a word that is not a fixed point such that the resulting word is again not a fixed point. This problem is quite similar to the setting of Billaud's Conjecture, the correctness of which we prove for a special case.