The Thue-Morse sequence in base 3/2

Abstract

We discuss the base 3/2 representation of the natural numbers. We prove that the sum of digits function of the representation is a fixed point of a 2-block substitution on an infinite alphabet, and that this implies that sum of digits function modulo 2 of the representation is a fixed point $x_{3/2}$ of a 2-block substitution on $\{0,1\}$. We prove that $x_{3/2}$ is mirror invariant, and present a list of conjectured properties of $x_{3/2}$, which we think will be hard to prove. Finally, we make a comparison with a variant of the base 3/2 representation, and give a general result on $p$-$q$-block substitutions.