Rigorous effective bounds on the Hausdorff dimension of continued fraction Cantor sets: A hundred decimal digits for the dimension of \(E_{2}\) (Q1688629)

Let \(A \subset\mathbb N\) be a finite set. Let \(E_A\) denote the set of all \(x \in (0,1)\) such that the digits \(a_1(x),a_2(x),\dots\) in the continued fraction expansion \[ x=[a_1(x),a_2(x),a_3(x),\dots ]=\dfrac{1}{a_1(x)+\dfrac{1}{a_2+\dfrac{1}{a_3(x)+\cdots}}} \] all belong to \(A\). Sets of the form \(E_A\) are said to be of bounded type and the study of their Hausdorff dimension has attracted significant attention. In their previous article [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 21, No. 5, 1429--1445 (2001; Zbl 0991.28009)], the authors proposed an approach to approximate the Hausdorff dimension of bounded type sets, again using a transfer operator, but exploiting the real analyticity of the maps defining continued fractions to consider the determinant \(\Delta\) of the operator, and its approximation in terms of periodic points of an underlying dynamical system. The possibility of sharpening the approach of the paper [loc .cit.] so as to obtain rigorous computer-assisted estimates on \(\dim E_A\), with particular focus on \(E_2\), are investigate in this paper. The method for establishing rigorous dimension bounds involves the holomorphic extension of mappings associated to the allowed continued fraction digits, an appropriate disc which is contracted by these mappings, and an associated transfer operator acting on the Hilbert Hardy space of analytic functions on this disc.