Geodesic cusp excursions and metric diophantine approximation (Q1012967)

The author continues the investigations begun in [\textit{A.~Haas}, Geom. Dedicata 116, 129--155 (2005; Zbl 1090.53069)] of the particular connection between metric diophantine approximation and the generic behavior of geodesic excursions into a cusp neighborhood on a finite area hyperbolic 2-orbifold. The geometric piece of the earlier paper was concerned with the distribution of the sequence of depths of maximal incursions into the cusp. The distribution exists for a generic geodesic and is independent of the geometry and topology of the surface. In the present paper, the author calculates the asymptotic rate at which a geodesic makes excursions into a cusp neighborhood. This quantity exists for almost all geodesies and, in contrast to the distribution of depths, does depend on the area of the orbifold. The geometric results are then applied to derive versions of several well known theorems in classical diophantine approximation in the context of Fuchsian groups, as well as some new theorems in the classical setting.