A three-dimensional probability distribution in the metrical theory of continued fractions (Q1772560)

Let \(a_n\) (\(n\geq 1\)) be the partial quotients of the continued fraction expansion of an irrational number \(\omega\) in the unit interval \(I\). If we use the transformation \(\tau(\omega)=1/\omega\mod 1\), then \(\omega=[0;a_1,\dots,a_n+\tau^n(\omega)]\) for any \(n\geq 1\). Let \(\gamma_a\) (\(a\in I\)) be the probability measure on the Borel sets of \(I\) defined by \(\gamma_a([0,x])=(a+1)x/(ax+1)\) (\(x\in I\)). The authors obtained in [Metrical theory of continued fractions, Mathematics and its Applications 547, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers (2002; Zbl 1069.11032)] that for any \(a\in I\) and any positive integer~\(n\), \[ \gamma_a(\tau^n<x; a_1,\dots,a_n)=(s_n^a+1)x/(s_n^a x+1)\quad (x\in I), \] where the \(s_n^a\) are defined recursively by \(s_0^a=a\) and \(s_{n+1}^a=1/(a_{n+1}+s_n^a)\) \((a\in I,\;n\): a nonnegative integer). In this paper the authors study the joint distribution of \(s_n^a\), \(\tau^n\) and \(u_{n+1}^a:=s_n^a+1/\tau^n\) (\(n\geq 0\)) under \(\gamma_a\) (\(a\in I\)). They derive the asymptotic distribution function, lower and upper bounds for the error and its optimal convergence rate to \(0\) as \(n\to\infty\). The distributions of two special cases for the pairs \((\tau^n,u_{n+1}^a)\) and \((s_n^a,u_{n+1}^a) \) are also considered.