Distribution of lattice points visible from the origin (Q1586431): Difference between revisions

Let \(D\) denote a planar region that contains the origin and is star-shaped with respect to the origin. The curve of boundary is parametrized by \(x=r(\alpha) \cos\alpha\), \(y=r(\alpha) \sin\alpha\), where \(r\) is continuous and piecewise \(C^1\) on \([0,2\pi]\). For each large integer \(n\) let the ``blown up'' region \(D_n\) be given by \[ D_n=\bigl\{ (nx,ny):(x,y)\in D\bigr\}. \] One is interested in the number of lattice points in \(D_n\) that are visible from the origin. \textit{M. N. Huxley} and \textit{W. G. Nowak} [Acta Arith. 76, 271-283 (1996; Zbl 0861.11056)] have proved an asymptotic result for this number. The authors study another aspect of the distribution of visible points. They consider the distribution of the angles of straight lines from the origin through the visible points. For the nearest neighbour distribution of these angles, the existence of a limiting distribution is proved for fixed \(D\) and \(n\to\infty\).