Generalized number systems in the complex plane (Q1107552)

Let \(\theta\) be a complex number, \(| \theta | <1\), and \(A=\{a_ 0=0,a_ 1,a_ 2,...,a_{K-1}\}\) an arbitrary finite set of complex numbers. Define \(H_ k=\{z\mid z=\sum^{\infty}_{j=k}\varepsilon_ j\theta^j,\, \varepsilon_ j\in A\}\), \(k=0,\pm 1,\pm 2,\pm 3,..\). and \(E=E(\theta):=\cup^{\infty}_{k=-\infty}H_ k\). The authors are interested in determining those numbers \(\theta\) for which \(E=\mathbb C\). For the case \(A=\{0,1\}\) they prove that a necessary condition is that \(| \theta | \geq 2^{-1/2}\). For the same \(A\) they show that when \(\theta\) is not a real number, there exists a positive number \(\varepsilon\), which depends on \(\arg\theta\), such that \(1<| \theta |^{- 1}<1+\varepsilon\) is a sufficient condition for \(E=\mathbb C\). For general \(A\), a sufficient condition is \(1<| \theta |^{-2}<d+\tfrac 12+\sqrt{d(d+1)},\) where \(d\) is given by \[ d:=\min_{| z| =1}\max_{j=0,...,K-1}\cos (\arg a_ j-\arg z), \] but where the proof makes it necessary to assume that \(d>\tfrac 12\). This last inequality does not hold e.g. when \(K=4\) and \(a_ 1\), \(a_ 2\), \(a_ 3\) are the three third roots of unity but as is shown by a separate argument, in this case too, there exists a positive constant \(c\) such that \(E=\mathbb C\) for every \(\theta\) with \(c<| \theta | <1\). Finally, suppose that \(0<| \theta | <1\) and that \(\theta\) is not a real number. Then there exists a positive integer \(k\) such that \(E(\theta)=\mathbb C\), if \(A=\{0,1,...,k\}\). The proofs are elementary but by no means obvious, they certainly demand a special skill.