On a Combinatorial Property of Sturmian Words

Recall that a semigroup has the property Pn∗ if for any sequence of n of its elements, two differently permuted products of these n elements are equal. Let s be an infinite Sturmian word (on a 2-letter alphabet A). We prove that the Rees quotient of A∗ by the set of the non-factors of s has P4∗ and that this result is the best possible. We prove also that if St is the set of all finite Sturmian words, then the Rees quotient A∗(A∗ − St) has P8∗.