On the partitions with Sturmian-like refinements (Q2260736)

It is well known that a partition of the additive unit circle of the form \(\{[0,1-\alpha),[1-\alpha,1)\}\) generates a Sturmian sequence for an irrational circle rotation. How this partition behaves under iteration is known to be closely related to the combinatorial properties of the sequence obtained by coding the orbit of the point \(0\). The \(n\)th refinement of the partition under an irrational rotation is known to consist of \((n+1)\) intervals, and the `three lengths' theorem of \textit{V. T. Sós} [Ann. Univ. Sci. Budap. Rolando Eötvös, Sect. Math. 1, 127--134 (1958; Zbl 0094.02903)] shows that no more than three possible lengths of intervals appear. The combinatorial properties of sequences arising from other partitions are less well understood, with partial results known for finite interval partitions. Here a different collection of partitions whose refinement under an irrational rotation can be described in some detail. This is the collection of partitions with elements comprising finite unions of right-closed and left-open intervals with endpoints chosen in a systematic fashion from the past orbit of \(0\). It is shown that the refinements eventually coincide with the refinements of a preimage of the Sturmian partition, in particular having connected elements. This result is formulated in terms of properties of factor maps from a one-sided Sturmian shift.