Combinatorial structure of Sturmian words and continued fraction expansion of Sturmian numbers (Q6073547)

Based on authors' abstract: Let $\theta = [0; a_1, a_2, \ldots ]$ be the regular continued fraction expansion of an irrational real number $\theta \in (0, 1)$. Let also $(M_k)_{k\ge 0}$ be the sequence of finite words over the alphabet $\{p,q\}$ associated to $\theta$ defined by $$ M_0=p, \quad M_1=p^{a_1-1}q, \quad M_k=(M_{k-1})^{a_k}M_{k-2}\text{ for }k\ge 2. $$ As it is well-known that the characteristic Sturmian word of slope $\theta$ is the limit of a sequence of finite words $(M_k)_{k\ge 0}$. The authors extend this result to any Sturmian word $s$. Further for any integer $b\ge 2$ they provide the continued fraction expansion of any real number $\xi$ whose $b$-ary expansion is a Sturmian word $s$ over the alphabet $\{0,b-1\}$. This result extends a classical result of Böhmer who initially studied the case where $s$ is characteristic. As a consequence, the authors obtain a formula for the irrationality exponent of $\xi$ in terms of the slope and the intercept of $s$.