Topology of univoque sets in real base expansions (Q2131815)

The authors are concerned with the topology of sets of numbers having a unique expansion to some real base \(q > 1\). This of course depends on the precise nature of \(q\). To be more precise, given a \(q > 1\) and a \(M \in \mathbb{N}\) with \(q \le M+1\), an expansion of a real number \(x\) is a series expansion \(x = \sum_{i=1}^\infty c_i q^{-i}\) with \(c_i \in \{0,1,\dots, M\}\). The expansion is said to be infinite if the sequence \((c_i)\) is not eventually constant equal to \(0\), and to be co-infinite if the sequence \((c_i)\) is not eventually constant equal to \(M\). It is said to be doubly infinite if it is both infinite and co-infinite. Of course, not all numbers need to have such an expansion. The set of numbers expressible in this way is denoted by \(J_q\). In earlier work [Topology Appl. 205, 117--137 (2016; Zbl 1362.11010)], the authors studied expansions of \(1\) in terms of the three sets \[ \mathcal{U} = \{q >1 : 1 \text{ has a unique expansion in base }q\}, \] the larger set \[ \mathcal{V}=\{q >1 : 1 \text{ has a unique doubly infinite expansion in base }q\}, \] and the topological closure \(\overline{\mathcal{U}}\). In the present paper, the authors study for \(q\) fixed the sets \[ \mathcal{U}_q = \{x \in J_q : x\text{ has a unique expansion in base } q\}, \] the larger set \[ \mathcal{V}_q = \{x \in J_q : x \text{has a unique doubly infinite expansion in base }q\}, \] and the topological closure \(\overline{\mathcal{U}_q}\). The authors prove many results on the topology and interrelations of these sets, which depends strongly on whether \(q\) lies in one of the originally defined sets, and in that case which ones.