\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{amsart} \usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,amsthm} \usepackage[margin=2.5cm]{geometry} \usepackage{booktabs} \usepackage[hidelinks]{hyperref} \hypersetup{pdftitle={The Hankel determinants of the Baum-Sweet sequence are 2-automatic}, pdfauthor={David Niedbala Giraudin}} \newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}[section] \newtheorem{lemma}[theorem]{Lemma} \newtheorem{proposition}[theorem]{Proposition} \newtheorem{corollary}[theorem]{Corollary} \theoremstyle{remark} \newtheorem{remark}[theorem]{Remark} \newcommand{\F}{\mathbb F_2} \newcommand{\G}{\Gamma} \title{The Hankel determinants of the Baum--Sweet sequence are $2$-automatic} \author{David Niedbala Giraudin} \address{ORCID 0009-0009-1526-1178} \date{4 November 2026} \begin{document} \begin{abstract} Let $b$ be the Baum--Sweet sequence and $H_n=\det(b_{i+j})_{0\le i,j\deg\det M$ for every letter $a$ that can follow, the polynomial part $\kappa$ of $p/r$ is the polynomial part of $z$, and if $\deg\kappa\ge1$ it is a correct partial quotient of $z$: we \emph{emit} it. We emit greedily as long as this holds for every letter allowed by $F$ after the last two letters read. \begin{theorem}\label{thm:transducer} Run the transducer on $1,X,\G_\infty$. The triples (matrix, last two letters read, $E-D$), where $D$ is the degree read in $\G_\infty$ and $E$ the degree emitted, form a set of $12$ configurations closed under reading every letter allowed by $F$. In each of them every emission is certain, and: reading a letter of degree $1$ emits exactly one partial quotient, equal to $X$, $X^3$ or $X^3+X$ according as the previous letter has degree $1$, is $X^2$, or is $X^2+1$, after which $E=D+1$; reading a letter of degree $2$ emits nothing, after which $E=D-1$. The first emissions are $X+1$ (after reading $X$) and $X$ (after reading the first letter $X+1$ of $\G_\infty$). \end{theorem} \begin{proof} A finite computation over the $12$ configurations and the letters allowed by $F$ (Lemma~\ref{lem:fac}), performed by the script. \end{proof} \begin{proof}[Proof of Theorem~\ref{thm:theta}] By Theorem~\ref{thm:transducer}, $t/f=[X+1;a_1,a_2,\dots]$ with $a_i=\psi(\text{$i$-th block})$, and $\Theta=t/f+1=[X;a_1,a_2,\dots]$. \end{proof} \begin{proposition}\label{prop:transfer} $\chi_1=11\,\varphi_1(\G_\infty)$ and $\chi_0=11\,\varphi_0(\G_\infty)$. Consequently $\chi_0(n)=\chi_1(n)\chi_1(n-1)$ for $n\ge1$. \end{proposition} \begin{proof} $\alpha_1=f+1=[0;X,\G_\infty]$, so $\Sigma_1$ consists of $0$, $1$ and the numbers $1+D_i$, where $D_i$ is the total degree of the first $i$ letters of $\G_\infty$; this is $\chi_1=11\varphi_1(\G_\infty)$. Next $\alpha_0=f/t=[0;t/f]$, so $\Sigma_0$ consists of $0$ and the cumulative degrees of the partial quotients of $t/f$. By Theorem~\ref{thm:transducer} these are $1$ and the numbers $D_i+1$ for which the $i$-th letter of $\G_\infty$ has degree $1$; this is $\chi_0=11\varphi_0(\G_\infty)$. For the last statement: $\chi_0(n)=1$ means that position $n$ ends a letter of degree $1$, $\chi_1(n)=1$ that it ends a letter; a letter of degree $2$ is coded $01$ by $\varphi_1$, so $n$ ends a letter of degree $1$ if and only if both $n$ and $n-1$ end letters. \end{proof} \begin{remark} Equivalently, $\Sigma_1=\Sigma_0\cup(\Sigma_0-1)$ (restricted to $n\ge0$). One inclusion holds for every sequence: by the Desnanot--Jacobi identity $H^{(0)}_{n+1}H^{(2)}_{n-1}=H^{(0)}_nH^{(2)}_n-(H^{(1)}_n)^2$, if $H^{(0)}_n=H^{(0)}_{n+1}=0$ then $H^{(1)}_n=0$, that is $\Sigma_1\subseteq\Sigma_0\cup(\Sigma_0-1)$. The reverse inclusion is specific: it fails for most random binary sequences. \end{remark} \section{Proof of Theorem~\ref{thm:main}}\label{sec:auto} By Proposition~\ref{prop:transfer}, $\chi_c(n+1)=\omega(n)$ with $\omega=1\varphi_c(\G_\infty)$ for $n\ge0$. The word $\omega$ is determined by its first $256$ letters and the rules (R1)--(R4) of Proposition~\ref{prop:dyadic}, since each rule expresses $\omega(n)$, $n\ge256$, through a smaller index or an explicit word. It therefore suffices to show that the output $\widehat\omega(n)$ of $\mathcal A$ on the binary expansion of $n$ satisfies the same rules and agrees with $\omega$ on $[0,256)$. Since $\delta(0,0)=0$, leading zeros do not matter. Each rule is a statement about all words of a regular shape, and is checked in a finite product automaton: \begin{itemize} \item (R1): for all $y$ with $|y|\ge6$, $y\ne0$, the states reached from $\delta(0,111)$ and from $0$ by reading $y$ have the same output (reachability in $\mathcal A\times\mathcal A\times\{$length $\le6\}\times\{y=0?\}$); \item (R2): the same for the states reached from $\delta(0,1001^a0)$, $a\ge0$ (a finite set of states), and from $\delta(0,1)$, by words of length at least $5$; \item (R3): $\widehat\omega(1001^cw)=B_4[w]$ for $c\ge1$ and the $31$ words $w$; \item (R4): $L_m[i]$ depends only on the parity of $m$, on $i\bmod3$, and on whether $i$ is one of the first four or last four positions; in the regions $101u$ and $110u$ the index $i$ is $\mathrm{val}(u)+1$ and $2^{|u|}+\mathrm{val}(u)+1$, so the expected value is computed by a small automaton tracking $\mathrm{val}(u)\bmod3$, the parity of $|u|$ and whether $u\in0^*$, $0^*1$, $0^*10$ (resp.\ $1^*$, $1^*0$, $1^*01$); the two remaining words $1001^{m-2}$, $1110^{m-2}$ have value $1$. \end{itemize} All these checks succeed for $c=0$ and $c=1$ (script, Part 5). Hence $\widehat\omega=\omega$, and $\chi_c(n+1)=\widehat\omega(n)$ for all $n$. From $\mathcal A$ one builds an automaton $\mathcal B_c$ for $n\mapsto\chi_c(n)=\widehat\omega(n-1)$ whose states are the pairs (state of $\mathcal A$ on $n$, state of $\mathcal A$ on $n-1$), plus an initial state for $n=0$: reading a digit updates both, since $2n+1-1=2n$ and $2n-1=2(n-1)+1$. All automata here read the most significant digit first and accept leading zeros. Minimising $\mathcal B_c$ gives $15$ and $8$ states. For the other reading direction, the minimal automaton reading least significant digits first has one state per element of the $2$-kernel $\{n\mapsto\chi_c(2^kn+r):k\ge0,\,0\le r<2^k\}$ (by the Myhill--Nerode theorem; see \cite[Section 6.6]{AS03}). The kernel element of $(k,r)$ is the sequence $n\mapsto o(\delta(\sigma_n,w))$, where $\sigma_n$ is the state of $\mathcal B_c$ on $n$ and $w$ the $k$ digits of $r$. Every state of $\mathcal B_c$ is some $\sigma_n$, so two kernel elements are equal if and only if the maps $\sigma\mapsto o(\delta(\sigma,w))$ coincide on the states of $\mathcal B_c$. Enumerating these maps over all words $w$ gives $74$ and $68$. \qed \section{Proof of Corollary~\ref{cor:lc}} By Proposition~\ref{prop:transfer} and Theorem~\ref{thm:transducer}, the consecutive elements of $\Sigma_0=\{d_0