On the metric theory of inhomogeneous Diophantine approximation: an Erdős-Vaaler type result (Q2663306)

Let \(\psi: \mathbb{N} \rightarrow\mathbb{R}^+\) and let \(\gamma \in\mathbb{R}\). The paper under review is concerned with the Lebesgue measure of the set \[ W(\psi, \gamma) = \{x \in [0,1] : \Vert qx-\gamma \Vert < \psi(q) \; \text{ for infinitely many } q \in\mathbb{N}\}, \] where \(\Vert \cdot \Vert\) denotes the distance to the nearest integer. It was shown by \textit{P. Szüsz} [Acta Math. Acad. Sci. Hung. 9, 177--193 (1958; Zbl 0084.27401)] that if \(\psi\) is non-increasing with \(\sum_{q=1}^\infty \psi(q) = \infty\), this set has full Lebesgue measure regardless of the value of \(\gamma\). The present paper is concerned with the monotonicity condition on \(\psi\). For this purpose, the author introduces the condition of a real number \(\gamma\) being tamely Liouville. For a real number \(\gamma\) and \(Q > 0\), let \[ \sigma(Q) = \min\left\{T > 0 : \Vert q\gamma \Vert \ge q^{-T} \text{ for } q \in \{1,2,\dots, Q\}\right\}. \] The number \(\gamma\) is tamely Liouville if \(\sigma(Q) \ll (\log Q)^{1/4-\varepsilon}\) for some \(\varepsilon > 0\). Otherwise, \(\gamma\) is wildly Liouville. It is shown that if \(\gamma\) is tamely Liouville, \(\psi(q) = O((q \log\log^2 q)^{-1})\), and \(\sum_{q=1}^\infty \psi(q) = \infty\), then \(W(\psi, \gamma)\) has full Lebesgue measure. If \(\gamma\) is wildly Liouville, it is shown that the same conclusion holds for those \(\psi\) which in addition to the other properties satisfy the stronger divergence condition \[ \liminf_{Q \rightarrow \infty} \sum_{q=Q}^{Q^{(\log Q)^{1/8}}} \psi(q) = \infty. \] Note the absence of a monotonicity condition. The proof heavily depends on the theory of discrepancies for irrational rotations together with a mean-and-variance argument.