Coding for Multiple Reverse-Complement and Palindromic Duplications

Abstract: Reverse-complement (RC) and palindromic (PAL) duplications copy a length-$k$ block, reverse the copy, and insert it next to the original block; an RC duplication also complements the copied symbols. We study $q$-ary codes correcting $t$ such operations performed sequentially, so a later operation may copy symbols created by an earlier one. For fixed $q,k,t$, every length-$n$ code $C$ for either channel satisfies $n-\log_q|C|\geq t\log_q n-O_{q,k,t}(1)$; for fixed $q,k$ and $t=o(n)$ the lower bound is $t\log_q(n/t)-O_{q,k}(t)$. For a single RC error over an even alphabet with a fixed-point-free complement, the previously known RC-specific lift applies at odd $k$ and does not cover even $k$. For every even $k$, we give a coordinate-wise bijection that turns each RC duplication into a PAL duplication. Applying this bijection to every codeword therefore converts any $t$-error-correcting RC code into a PAL code of the same size, and conversely; encoders and decoders transfer by adding linear-time coordinate passes. We also determine the maximum number of distinct descendants produced by exactly two errors from one source word. Words alternating between any two distinct alphabet symbols attain this maximum for PAL, and the bijection gives the RC maximizers. For both PAL and RC at even $k$, form a graph whose vertices are all $q$-ary words of length $n$, joining two distinct vertices exactly when they have a common exact-two descendant. Bounding the degree and greedily coloring this graph yields existential codes of redundancy $4\log_q n+O_{q,k}(1)$. In the binary two-error problem, the converse gives $2\log_2 n-O_k(1)$, leaving a factor-two gap in the best existence bounds.