Prime numbers in typical continued fraction expansions (Q6104264): Difference between revisions

Let \(x\) be a real number \(x \in I:=(0, 1]\), and let \( x=[a_1(x),a_2(x),a_3(x),\ldots] \) be a continued fraction expansion. The set of prime numbers is denoted by \(\mathbb{P}\). The authors investigate when the digits of \(x\) are prime numbers. For \(x \in I \) and \(n\geq 1\) it is defined \[ a'_n(x):= \mathbf{1}_{\mathbb{P}}(a_n(x)) \cdot a_n(x)=\begin{cases} a_n(x) & \text{if} \; a_n(x) \in \mathbb{P}, \\ 0 & \text{otherwise}. \end{cases} \] Questions about the pointwise behaviour of the sequence \((a_n')_{n\geq 1}\) on \(I\) are considered in this paper. Let \(\lambda\) be a Lebesgue measure on (the Borel \(\sigma\)-field \(\mathcal{B}_I\) of) \(I\). The authors define the maximal entry \(M_n':=\max_{1\leq k \leq n} a_k', n\geq 1\). In here i.o. is short for ``infinitely often'', i.e., for ``infinitely many indices''. The following main result is proved. Theorem (Pointwise growth of prime digits and maxima) a) Assume that \((b_n)_{n\geq 1}\) is a sequence in \((1,\infty).\) Then \[ \lambda(\{a_n'>b_n \, \text{ i.o.}\})= \begin{cases} 1 & \text{if} \; \sum_{n \geq 1} \frac{1}{b_n \log b_n}=\infty, \\ 0 & \text{otherwise}. \end{cases} \] b) Moreover, if \((b_n)_{n\geq 1}\) is non-decreasing, then \[ \lambda(\{a_n'>b_n \, \text{ i.o.}\})= \lambda(\{ M'_n > b_n \, \text{i.o}\}). \] c) Let \((c_n)_{n \geq 1}\) and \((d_n)_{n\geq 1}\) be sequences in \((1,\infty)\) with \(d_n \to \infty\) and \(c_n\leq d_n^{0.475} \) for large \(n\). Then \[ \lambda(\{d_n<a_n'\leq d_n(1+1/c_n) \, \text{ i.o.}\})= \begin{cases} 1 & \text{if} \; \sum_{n \geq 1} \frac{1}{c_n d_n \log (d_n)}=\infty, \\ 0 & \text{otherwise}. \end{cases} \] d) Let \(((d_n)_{n\geq 1}\) be a sequence of primes, then \[ \lambda(\{a_n'= d_n\, \text{ i.o.}\})= \begin{cases} 1 & \text{if} \; \sum_{n \geq 1} \frac{1}{d_n^2 }=\infty, \\ 0 & \text{otherwise}. \end{cases} \]