On the local discrepancy of (\(n\alpha \))-sequences (Q538175)

The authors of this paper consider the local discrepancy of an infinite sequence of real numbers in the interval \([0,1)\). For an infinite sequence \((x_n)_{n\geq 1}\) of points in \([0,1)\), the local discrepancy of the first \(N\) points of the sequence at \(x\in [0,1)\) is defined as \[ \sum_{n=1}^N c_{[0,x)}(x_n)-Nx, \] where \(c_{[0,x)}\) denotes the indicator function of the interval \([0,x)\). Here, a special case of sequences well known in the theory of uniform distribution modulo one is studied, namely the case \(x_n=\{n\alpha\}\), where \(\alpha\) is an irrational number, and where \(\{\cdot\}\) denotes the fractional part of a real. The authors relate the local discrepancy \(D_N (\alpha,x)\) of the first \(N\) points of a sequence \(x_n=\{n\alpha\}\) at a point \(x\in [0,1)\) to the continued fraction expansion of \(\alpha\). As an example, the results are then applied to the special case \(x=1/2\).