On universal computably enumerable prefix codes

Abstract

We study computably enumerable (c.e.) prefix codes that are capable of coding all positive integers in an optimal way up to a fixed constant: these codes will be called universal. We prove various characterisations of these codes, including the following one: a c.e. prefix code is universal if and only if it contains the domain of a universal self-delimiting Turing machine. Finally, we study various properties of these codes from the points of view of computability, maximality and density.