Description of spectra of quadratic Pisot units (Q2253881)

The spectrum \(X^{\mathcal{A}}(\beta)\) of a real number \(\beta > 1\) is the set \(X^m(\beta)\) of \(p(\beta)\) where \(p\) ranges over all polynomials with coefficients restricted to a finite set of consecutive integers \(\mathcal{A}\). The main theorem of the paper is following. Let \(\beta\) be a quadratic Pisot unit, \(\{-1,0,1\}\subset\mathcal{A}\), and \(\sharp \mathcal{A}>\beta\). Let \(\alpha=\beta\) or \(\alpha=-\beta\). Then there exists \(\Delta_1,\Delta_2>0\) such that the distances between consecutive points in \(X^{\mathcal{A}}(\alpha)\) take values in \(\{\Delta_1,\Delta_2,\Delta_1+\Delta_2\}\). Moreover, the bidirectional sequence of gaps in \(X^{\mathcal{A}}(\alpha)\) is a coding of exchange of three intervals. The exact values of \(\Delta_1,\Delta_2\) and frequencies of gaps are also computed. If \(\beta\) is a quadratic Pisot unit, \(\mathcal{A}=\{1,2,\ldots,m\}\), \(m>\beta-1\), it is proved that there exists \(\Delta_1,\Delta_2>0\) such that the distances between consecutive points in \(X^{\mathcal{A}}(\beta)\) take values in \(\{\Delta_1,\Delta_2,\Delta_1+\Delta_2\}\) up to finitely many exceptions.