On the Lévy constants of Sturmian continued fractions (Q2062012)

Let \(P_n(\alpha)/Q_n(\alpha)\) be the \(n\)-th convergent [here denoted as ``partial quotient''] of a real irrational number \(\alpha\). Its Lévy constant is given by the following limit, if it exists and is finite \[ \mathcal{L}(\alpha) = \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty}\frac{1}{n} \log Q_n(\alpha). \] The authors recall classical and more recent properties of the Lévy constant. Almost all real numbers have a Lévy constant equal to \(\pi^2/(12 \log 2)\); the set of irrational numbers which do not have a finite Lévy constant has a full Hausdorff dimension. Lagrange proved that an irrational \(\alpha\) is quadratic if and only if the sequence of its Farey coefficients is ultimately periodic and more recently the Lévy constant of a quadratic number has been explicitly given in terms of its coefficients. The author consider the ``simplest'' \(\alpha\) for which the sequence of its coefficients is bounded and not ultimately periodic. One analyses the ``complexity'' of a sequence \(\mathbf{a}=(a_i)_i\) of bounded integers by the number of its blocks of length \(n\), denoted by \(p_{\mathbf{a}}(n)\). If the sequence \(\mathbf{a}\) is not ultimately periodic, one has \(p_{\mathbf{a}}(n) \ge n+1\) and a sequence \(\mathbf{a}\) satisfying \(p_{\mathbf{a}}(n) = n+1\) is called Sturmian. Those sequences have been much studied and a property due to \textit{V. Berthé} [Theor. Comput. Sci. 165, No. 2, 295--309 (1996; Zbl 0872.11018)], obtained by dynamical system considerations, implies that a number \(\alpha\) having a Sturmian sequence of Farey coefficients has a finite Lévy constant. In Section 2, the authors give a purely combinatorial proof of this last result, and they also extend it to ``quasi-Sturmian'' \(\alpha\) satisfying \(p_{\mathbf{a}}(n) \le n+k\), considered by Cassaigne. The main result of the paper, also obtained by combinatorial arguments, states a slightly more general result that what we state here for simplicity Theorem [1.2]. Let \(a, b\) be integers with \(1 \le a < b \). The set of Lévy constants of Sturmian irrationals with Farey coefficients in \(\{a, b\}\) is equal to the whole interval \([\mathcal{L}([0;\bar{a}], [\mathcal{L}([0;\bar{b}]]\). This easily implies that the set of Lévy constants of irrational real numbers the sequence of coefficients of which is periodic or Sturmian is the whole interval \([\log((1+\sqrt{5})/2), +\infty)\). A key object of the study is the quantity \[ T(a_1, \ldots,a_n) = \operatorname{Tr}\left(\begin{pmatrix} a_1 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \cdots \begin{pmatrix} a_n & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \right) \] used by \textit{H. Jager} and \textit{P. Liardet} [Indag. Math. 50, No. 2, 181--197 (1988; Zbl 0655.10045)] for giving an explicit value of \(\mathcal{L}(\alpha)\) when \(\alpha\) is quadratic.