Maximum order complexity of the sum of digits function in Zeckendorf base and polynomial subsequences

Automatic sequences are not suitable sequences for cryptographic applications since both their subword complexity and their expansion complexity are small, and their correlation measure of order 2 is large. These sequences are highly predictable despite having a large maximum order complexity. However, recent results show that polynomial subsequences of automatic sequences, such as the Thue–Morse sequence, are better candidates for pseudorandom sequences. A natural generalization of automatic sequences are morphic sequences, given by a fixed point of a prolongeable morphism that is not necessarily uniform. In this paper we prove a lower bound for the maximum order complexity of the sum of digits function in Zeckendorf base which is an example of a morphic sequence. We also prove that the polynomial subsequences of this sequence keep large maximum order complexity, such as the Thue–Morse sequence.

On the Maximum Order Complexity of Thue–Morse and Rudin–Shapiro Sequences along Polynomial Values

Both the Thue–Morse and Rudin–Shapiro sequences are not suitable sequences for cryptography since their expansion complexity is small and their correlation measure of order 2 is large. These facts imply that these sequences are highly predictable despite the fact that they have a large maximum order complexity. Sun and Winterhof (2019) showed that the Thue–Morse sequence along squares keeps a large maximum order complexity. Since, by Christol’s theorem, the expansion complexity of this rarefied sequence is no longer bounded, this provides a potentially better candidate for cryptographic applications. Similar results are known for the Rudin–Shapiro sequence and more general pattern sequences. In this paper we generalize these results to any polynomial subsequence (instead of squares) and thereby answer an open problem of Sun and Winterhof. We conclude this paper by some open problems.

On the Maximum Order Complexity of the Thue-Morse and Rudin-Shapiro Sequence

Expansion complexity and maximum order complexity are both finer measures of pseudorandomness than the linear complexity which is the most prominent quality measure for cryptographic sequences. The expected value of the Nth maximum order complexity is of order of magnitude log N whereas it is easy to find families of sequences with Nth expansion complexity exponential in log N. This might lead to the conjecture that the maximum order complexity is a finer measure than the expansion complexity. However, in this paper we provide two examples, the Thue-Morse sequence and the Rudin-Shapiro sequence with very small expansion complexity but very large maximum order complexity. More precisely, we prove explicit formulas for their N th maximum order complexity which are both of the largest possible order of magnitude N. We present the result on the Rudin-Shapiro sequence in a more general form as a formula for the maximum order complexity of certain pattern sequences.