Generalization of a density theorem of Khinchin and Diophantine approximation

DOI10.5802/JTNB.1255MaRDI QIDQ6072959zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors József Beck, W. W. L. Chen

Publication date 13 October 2023

Published in Journal de Théorie des Nombres de Bordeaux (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.09089

zbMATH Keywords

billiards density geodesics

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Irregularities of distribution, discrepancy (11K38) Flows on surfaces (37E35)

Abstract: The continuous version of a fundamental result of Khinchin says that a half-infinite torus line in the unit square

[0, 1]^{2}

exhibits superdensity, which is a best form of time-quantitative density, if and only if the slope of the geodesic is a badly approximable number. In this paper, we give a proof of the extension of this result of Khinchin to the case when the unit torus

[0, 1]^{2}

is replaced by a finite polysquare surface, or square tiled surface. The argument is based on diophantine approximation and continued fractions, traditional tools in number theory. In particular, we use the famous

3

-distance theorem in diophantine approximation combined with an iterative process. In short, this is a very number-theoretic study of a very number-theoretic problem. This paper improves on an earlier result of the authors and Yang where it is shown that badly approximable numbers that satisfy a quite severe technical restriction on the digits of their continued fractions lead to superdense geodesics. Here we overcome this technical impediment. This paper is self-contained, and the reader does not need any knowledge of dynamical systems.

Review text

A classical result of Khinchin implies that any half-infinite geodesic is superdense on the unit torus \([0,1]^2\) if and only if the slope of the geodesic is a badly approximable number. The authors extend this result to so-called finite polysquare translation surfaces. A polysquare region is a connected polygon on the plane which is built from unit squares such that two unit squares are either disjoint, intersect at a common point or have a common edge. Furthermore, any two squares are joined by a chain of squares in which neighboring squares share an edge. A finite polysquare translation surface is a polysquare region in which horizontal and vertical boundary edges are pairwise identified. The main result of the paper (Theorem 1.1) shows that a half-infinite geodesic that does not hit a vertex of a given arbitrary, finite polysquare translation surface is superdense on this surface if and only if the slope of the geodesic is a badly approximable number. Importantly, this result can be shown using only traditional methods from number theory such as continued fractions and the Three-Distance Theorem.

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