Show the language
$$L = \{xy \mid |x| = |y|, x\neq y\}$$
is not linear.
I've seen and proved a pumping lemma for linear languages, mentioned here:
If $L$ is linear then there exists a constant $p$ such that for all $w \in L$ with $|w| \ge p$ there is a decomposition $w = uvxyz$ such that:
- $|uvyz| \leq p$.
- $|vy| > 0$.
- $uv^ix^iz \in L$ for all $i \geq 0$.
I'm trying to find a counterexample string.
Consider this string: $w=a^kb^ka^{2k+2k!}b^ka^k$. We will show that we can't write this string in form of $uvxyz$ in a way that the conditions of pumping lemma for linear languages statisfy.
Because $|uvyz|\leq k$ we have : $|uv|\leq k$ and $|yz|\leq k$
So we can write: $uv=a^{f_1}$ , $yz=a^{f_2}$ , $y=a^{g_1}$ , $v=a^{g_2}$ where $g_1+g_2>0$ (because $yv$ is cannot be empty string) and $g_1+g_2\leq k$.
Now we pump $v$ and $y$ $n$-times and we have: $w'=a^{k+ng_1}b^ka^{2k+2k!}b^ka^{k+ng_2}$
We want to conclude this string is not in language for some $n$. So if we rewrite $w'$ as $w'=a^{k+ng_1}b^ka^xa^{2k+2k!-x}b^ka^{k+ng_2}$,
we should have: $k+ng_1=2k+2k!-x$ and $x=k+ng_2$
so $k+ng_1=2k+2k!-k-ng_2 \to n(g_1+g_2)=2k! \to n=\frac{2k!}{g_1+g_2}$.
Notice that $g_1\leq k , g_2 \leq k \to g_1+g_2 \leq 2k$ $\to$ $g_1+g_2| 2k!$
So we only need to set $n=\frac{2k!}{g_1+g_2}$ to have $w'=w''w''$ and this is a contradiction. So $L$ is not linear.
Let $p$ be the constant promised by the pumping lemma. Without loss of generality, $p \geq 2$.
Let $w = 0^p 1 0^{2p+p!} 1 0^p$. Since the left half of $w$ is $0^p10^{p+p!/2}$ and the right half of $w$ is $0^{p+p!/2}10^p$, we see that $w \in L$.
Let $w = uvxyz$ be the decomposition promised by the pumping lemma. Since $|uvyz| \leq p$, necessarily $v = 0^j$ and $y = 0^k$ belong to the first and last zero runs, respectively, and $j+k \leq p$. Since $|vy| > 0$, we have $j+k > 0$.
Let $i = 1 + p!/(j+k)$. According to the pumping lemma, $uv^ixy^iz \in L$. But $$ uv^ixy^iz = 0^{p + jp!/(j+k)} 1 0^{2p+p!} 1 0^{p + kp!/(j+k)}. $$ The total length of this word is $2(2p+p!+1)$. Therefore its left half and its right half are both equal to $$ 0^{p + jp!/(j+k)} 1 0^{p + kp!/(j+k)}, $$ showing that $uv^ixy^iz \notin L$, in contradiction to the pumping lemma.
