Metric theorems for continued \(\beta\)-fractions (Q2274062)

In the present article, the main attention is given to a certain generalization of the regular continued fraction which is closely related to the \(\beta\)-expansion. This generalized representation of real numbers is following and is called the continued \(\beta\)-fraction expansion: \[ x=[a_0(x); a_1(x), a_2(x),\dots, a_n(x),\dots ]= a_0(x)+\cfrac{1}{ a_1(x)+\cfrac{1}{ a_2(x)+\cfrac{1}{ a_3(x)+\dots}}}, \] where \(a_n(x)=\left[\frac{1}{T^{n-1}(x)}\right]_{\beta}\), \(n \ge 1\), and \(\beta>1\) is a fixed real number. The continued \(\beta\)-fraction expansion is generated by the map \(T: [0,1)\to[0,1)\) given by \[ T(x)=\left\{\frac{1}{x}\right\}_{\beta}=\frac{1}{x}-\left[\frac{1}{x}\right]_{\beta} \] for all \(x\in [0,1)\) and, also, the condition \(T(0)=0\) holds. That is, \(a_0(x)=[x]_{\beta}\), where \(\{x\}_{\beta}\) and \([x]_{\beta}\) are the \(\beta\)-fractional and \(\beta\)-integral parts of \(x\) respectively. In addition, the authors note that when \(\beta\) is an integer, the continued \(\beta\)-fraction expansion is the regular continued fraction expansion. Brief surveys on the \(\beta\)- and continued fraction expansions are given, researches on relationships between \(\beta\)-expansions and regular continued fractions are noted. Some properties of \(\beta\)-integers and of the set of \(\beta\)-integers are considered. The main results of this paper are focused on the metric properties of the partial quotients occurring in the continued \(\beta\)-fraction expansion and are similar to the well-known Khintchine, Jarník, and Borel-Bernstein theorems for the regular continued fraction. The main statement on the Lebesgue measure of the set \(E(\varphi)\) and some corollaries are proved. Here \[ E(\varphi)=\left\{x\in[0,1): a_n(x)\ge \varphi(n)~\text{for infinitely many}~ n\in\mathbb N\right\}, \] \(\varphi: \mathbb N\to \mathbb R^{+}\) is a positive function, and \(\beta>1\) is a root of \(t^2-at-1=0\) with a positive integer \(a\ge 1\) or is a root of \(t^2-at+1=0\) with a positive integer \(a \ge 3\). Several differences between the regular continued fraction and the continued \(\beta\)-fraction for non-integral \(\beta >1\) are considered.