Let $K$ denote the middle third Cantor set and ${\cal A}:= \{3^n : n = 0,1,2, >... \} $. Given a real, positive function $ψ$ let $ W_{\cal A}(ψ)$ denote the set of real numbers $x$ in the unit interval for which there exist infinitely many $(p,q) \in \Z \times {\cal A} $ such that $ |x - p/q| < ψ(q) $. The analogue of the Hausdorff measure version of the Duffin-Schaeffer conjecture is established for $ W_{\cal A}(ψ) \cap K $. One of the consequences of this is that there exist very well approximable numbers, other than Liouville numbers, in $K$ -- an assertion attributed to K. Mahler.
In this paper, we consider the intrinsic Diophantine approximation on the triadic Cantor set $\mathcal{K}$, i.e. approximating the points in $\mathcal{K}$ by rational numbers inside $\mathcal{K}$, a question posed by K. Mahler. By using another height function of a rational number in $\mathcal{K}$, i.e. the denominator obtained from its periodic 3-adic expansion, a complete metric theory for this variant intrinsic Diophantine approximation is presented which yields the divergence theory of Mahler's original question.
Khintchine's and Dyson's transference theorems can be very easily deduced from Mahler's transference theorem. In the multiplicative setting an obstacle appears, which does not allow deducing the multiplicative transference theorem immediately from Mahler's theorem. Some extra considerations are required, for instance, induction by the dimension. In this paper we propose an analogue of Mahler's theorem which implies the multiplicative transference theorem immediately.
In 1984, Kurt Mahler posed the following fundamental question: How well can irrationals in the Cantor set be approximated by rationals in the Cantor set? Towards development of such a theory, we prove a Dirichlet-type theorem for this intrinsic diophantine approximation on Cantor-like sets, and discuss related possible theorems/conjectures. The resulting approximation function is analogous to that for R^d, but with d being the Hausdorff dimension of the set, and logarithmic dependence on the denominator instead.
We show that missing $q$-ary digit sets $F\subseteq[0,1]$ have corresponding naturally associated countable binary $q$-automatic sequence $f$. Using this correspondence, we show that the Hausdorff dimension of $F$ is equal to the base-$q$ logarithm of the Mahler eigenvalue of $f$. In addition, we demonstrate that the standard mass distribution $ν_F$ supported on $F$ is equal to the ghost measure $μ_f$ of $f$.
This is the second paper in a series of two in which a global algebraic number theory of the reals is formulated with the purpose of providing a unified setting for algebraic and transcendental number theory. In this paper, to any real number $θ$ we associate its polynomial diophantine approximation ring: a tri-filtered subring of a nonstandard model of the ring $\mathbb{Z}[X]$. We characterize the filtration structure of the polynomial diophantine approximation ring according to the Mahler class and the Mahler type of $θ$. The arithmetic of polynomial diophantine approximation groups is intro…
Suppose that $F(x)\in\mathbb{Z}[[x]]$ is a Mahler function and that $1/b$ is in the radius of convergence of $F(x)$. In this paper, we consider the approximation of $F(1/b)$ by algebraic numbers. In particular, we prove that $F(1/b)$ cannot be a Liouville number. If $F(x)$ is also regular, we show that $F(1/b)$ is either rational or transcendental, and in the latter case that $F(1/b)$ is an $S$-number or a $T$-number.
We prove a number of results on the metric and non-metric theory of Diophantine approximation for Yu's multidimensional variant of Mahler's classification of transcendental numbers. Our results arise as applications of well known results in Diophantine approximation to the setting of Yu's classification.
We first recall the connection, going back to A. Thue, between rational approximation to algebraic numbers and integer solutions of some Diophantine equations. Next we recall the equivalence between several finiteness results on various Diophantine equations. We also give many equivalent statements of Mahler's generalization of the fundamental theorem of Thue. In particular, we show that the theorem of Thue--Mahler for degree $3$ implies the theorem of Thue--Mahler for arbitrary degree $\ge3$, and we relate it with a theorem of Siegel on the rational integral points of the projective line $¶^1…
Let $F \in \mathbb Z[x, y]$ be an irreducible binary form of degree $d \geq 7$ and content one. Let $α$ be a root of $F(x, 1)$ and assume that the field extension $\mathbb Q(α)/\mathbb Q$ is Galois. We prove that, for every sufficiently large prime power $p^k$, the number of solutions to the Diophantine equation of Thue type $$ |F(x, y)| = tp^k $$ in integers $(x, y, t)$ such that $\gcd(x, y) = 1$ and $1 \leq t \leq (p^k)^λ$ does not exceed $24$. Here $λ= λ(d)$ is a certain positive, monotonously increasing function that approaches one as $d$ tends to infinity. We also prove that, for every su…
This text is a slightly expanded version of a survey article on certain aspects of low dimensional dynamics and number theory written after a kind invitation by the editors of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society.
Following K. Mahler's suggestion for further research on intrinsic approximation on the Cantor ternary set, we obtain a Dirichlet type theorem for the limit sets of rational iterated function systems. We further investigate the behavior of these approximation functions under random translations. We connect the information regarding the distribution of rationals on the limit set encoded in the system to the distribution of rationals in reduced form by proving a Khinchin type theorem. Finally, using a result of S. Ramanujan, we prove a theorem motivating a conjecture regarding the distribution o…
This paper goes back to a famous problem of Mahler in metrical Diophantine approximation. The problem has been settled by Sprindzuk and subsequently improved by Alan Baker and Vasili Bernik. In particular, Bernik's result establishes a convergence Khintchine type theorem for Diophantine approximation by polynomials, that is it allows arbitrary monotonic error of approximation. In the present paper the monotonicity assumption is completely removed.
In this note we prove algebraic independence results for the values of a special class of Mahler functions. In particular, the generating functions of Thue-Morse, regular paperfolding and Cantor sequences belong to this class, and we obtain the algebraic independence of the values of these functions at every non-zero algebraic point in the open unit disk. The proof uses results on Mahler's method.
Let $γ\in(0;\frac{1}{2}),τ\geq 1$ and define the "$γ,τ$ Diophantine set" as: $$D_{γ,τ}:=\{α\in (0;1): ||qα||\geq\fracγ{q^τ}\quad\forall q\in\Bbb{N}\},\qquad||x||:=\inf_{p\in\Bbb{Z}}|x-p|. $$ In this paper we study the topology of these sets and we show that, for large $τ$ and for almost all $γ>0$, $D_{γ,τ}$ is a Cantor set.
We prove that these Cantor sets are made up of transcendental numbers, apart from their endpoints $0$ and $1$, under some arithmetical assumptions on the data. To that purpose, we establish a criterion of linear independence over the field of algebraic numbers for the three numbers $1$, a characteristic Sturmian number, and an arbitrary Sturmian number with the same slope.
We first propose two conjectural estimates on Diophantine approximation of logarithms of algebraic numbers. Next we discuss the state of the art and we give further partial results on this topic.
Let $μ\geq 2$ be a real number and let $\Mcal(μ)$ denote the set of real numbers approximable at order at least $μ$ by rational numbers. More than eighty years ago, Jarní k and, independently, Besicovitch established that the Hausdorff dimension of $\Mcal(μ)$ is equal to $2/μ$. We investigate the size of the intersection of $\Mcal(μ)$ with Ahlfors regular compact subsets of the interval $[0, 1]$. In particular, we propose a conjecture for the exact value of the dimension of $\Mcal(μ)$ intersected with the middle-third Cantor set and give several results supporting this conjecture. We especiall…
We show that Mahler's classification of real numbers $ζ$ with respect to the growth of the sequence $(w_{n}(ζ))_{n\geq 1}$ is equivalently induced by certain natural assumptions on the decay of the sequence $(λ_{n}(ζ))_{n\geq 1}$ concerning simultaneous rational approximation. Thereby we obtain a much clearer picture on simultaneous approximation to successive powers of a real number in general. Another variant of the Mahler classification concerning uniform approximation by algebraic numbers is shown as well. Our method has several applications to classic exponents of Diophantine approximatio…
In 1984, K. Mahler asked how well elements in the Cantor middle third set can be approximated by rational numbers from that set, and by rational numbers outside of that set. We consider more general missing digit sets $C$ and construct numbers in $C$ that are arbitrarily well approximable by rationals in $C$, but badly approximable by rationals outside of $C$. More precisely, we construct them so that all but finitely many of their convergents lie in $C$.
Let x be a real number and let n be a positive integer. We define four exponents of Diophantine approximation, which complement the exponents w_n(x) and w_n^*(x) defined by Mahler and Koksma. We calculate their six values when n=2 and x is a real number whose continued fraction expansion coincides with some Sturmian sequence of positive integers, up to the initial terms. In particular, we obtain the exact exponent of approximation to such a continued fraction x by quadratic surds.
In the first part we construct algorithms which we apply to solve S-unit, Mordell, cubic Thue, cubic Thue-Mahler and generalized Ramanujan-Nagell equations. As a byproduct we obtain alternative practical approaches for various classical Diophantine problems, including the fundamental problem of finding all elliptic curves over Q with good reduction outside a given finite set of rational primes. To illustrate the utility of our algorithms we determined the solutions of large classes of equations, containing many examples of interest which are out of reach for the known methods. In addition we u…
While Roth's theorem states that the irrationality measure of all the irrational algebraic numbers is 2, and the same holds true over function fields in characteristic zero, some counter-examples were found over function fields in positive characteristic. This was put forward first by Mahler in 1949, in his fundamental paper on Diophantine approximation \cite{M}. It seems that, except for particular elements, as power series with bounded partial quotients, Roth's theorem holds. Until now, only one element, with unbounded partial quotients, discovered by Mills and Robbins \cite{MR} in 1986, has…
We establish several new inequalities linking classical exponents of Diophantine approximation associated to a real vector $\underlineξ=(ξ,ξ^{2},\ldots,ξ^{N})$, in various dimensions $N$. We thereby obtain variants, and partly refinements, of recent results of Badziahin and Bugeaud. We further implicitly recover inequalities of Bugeaud and Laurent as special cases, with new proofs. Similar estimates concerning general real vectors (not on the Veronese curve) with $\mathbb{Q}$-linearly independent coordinates are addressed as well. Our method is based on Minkowski's Second Convex Body Theorem, …
We present a new approach to metric Diophantine approximation on manifolds based on the correspondence between approximation properties of numbers and orbit properties of certain flows on homogeneous spaces. This approach yields a new proof of a conjecture of Mahler, originally settled by V. Sprindzhuk in 1964. We also prove several related hypotheses of A. Baker and V. Sprindzhuk formulated in 1970s. The core of the proof is a theorem which generalizes and sharpens earlier results on non-divergence of unipotent flows on the space of lattices.
In a recent work [3], the authors established new results about general linear Mahler systems in several variables from the perspective of transcendental number theory, such as a multivariate extension of Nishioka's theorem. Working with functions of several variables and with different Mahler transformations leads to a number of complications, including the need to prove a general vanishing theorem and to use tools from ergodic Ramsey theory and Diophantine approximation (e.g., a variant of the $p$-adic Schmidt subspace theorem). These complications make the proof of the main results proved i…
There are abundant results on Diophantine approximation over fields of positive characteristic (see the survey papers [13, 25]), but there is very little information about simultaneous approximation. In this paper, we develop a technique of \geometry of numbers" in positive characteristic, so that we may generalize some of the classical results on simultaneous approximation to the case of function fields. More precisely, we approximate a finite set of Laurent series by rational functions with a common denominator. In particular, the lower bound results we obtain may be regarded as a high dimen…
Let $K$ be a number field, let $S$ be a finite set of places of $K$ containing the archimedean places and let $μ$, $α_1,α_2,α_3$ be non--zero elements in $K$. Denote by $\OS$ the ring of $S$--integers in $K$ and by $\OS^\times$ the group of $S$--units. Then the set of equivalence classes (namely, up to multiplication by $S$--units) of the solutions $(x,y,z,\varepsilon_1, \varepsilon_2,\varepsilon_3,\varepsilon)\in\OS^3\times(\OS^\times)^4$ of the diophantine equation $$ (X-α_1 E_1 Y) (X-α_2E_2 Y) (X-α_3E_3 Y)Z=μE, $$ satisfying $\Card\{α_1\varepsilon_1,α_2\varepsilon_2,α_3\varepsilon_3\}= 3$, …
Intrinsic Diophantine approximation on fractals, such as the Cantor ternary set, was undoubtedly motivated by questions asked by K. Mahler (1984). One of the main goals of this paper is to develop and utilize the theory of infinite de Bruijn sequences in order to answer closely related questions. In particular, we prove that the set of infinite de Bruijn sequences in $k\geq 2$ letters, thought of as a set of real numbers via a decimal expansion, has positive Hausdorff dimension. For a given $k$, these sequences bear a strong connection to Diophantine approximation on certain fractals. In parti…
Fix $d\in\mathbb N$, and let $S\subseteq\mathbb R^d$ be either a real-analytic manifold or the limit set of an iterated function system (for example, $S$ could be the Cantor set or the von Koch snowflake). An $extrinsic$ Diophantine approximation to a point $\mathbf x\in S$ is a rational point $\mathbf p/q$ close to $\mathbf x$ which lies $outside$ of $S$. These approximations correspond to a question asked by K. Mahler ('84) regarding the Cantor set. Our main result is an extrinsic analogue of Dirichlet's theorem. Specifically, we prove that if $S$ does not contain a line segment, then for ev…
We establish various new results on a problem proposed by K. Mahler in 1984 concerning rational approximation to fractal sets by rational numbers inside and outside the set in question, respectively. Some of them provide a natural continuation and improvement of recent results of Broderick, Fishman and Reich and Fishman and Simmons. A key feature is that many of our new results apply to more general, multi-dimensional fractal sets and require only mild assumptions on the iterated function system. Moreover we provide a non-trivial lower bound for the distance of a rational number $p/q$ outside …
We introduce and develop a class of \textit{Cantor-winning} sets that share the same amenable properties as the classical winning sets associated to Schmidt's $(α,β)$-game: these include maximal Hausdorff dimension, invariance under countable intersections with other Cantor-winning sets and invariance under bi-Lipschitz homeomorphisms. It is then demonstrated that a wide variety of badly approximable sets appearing naturally in the theory of Diophantine approximation fit nicely into our framework. As applications of this phenomenon we answer several previously open questions, including some re…
It is well known that all numbers that are normal of order $k$ in base $b$ are also normal of all orders less than $k$. Another basic fact is that every real number is normal in base $b$ if and only if it is simply normal in base $b^k$ for all $k$. This may be interpreted to mean that a number is normal in base $b$ if and only if all blocks of digits occur with the desired relative frequency along every infinite arithmetic progression. We reinterpret these theorems for the $Q$-Cantor series expansions and show that they are no longer true in a particularly strong way. The main theoretical resu…
We exploit dynamical properties of diagonal actions to derive results in Diophantine approximations. In particular, we prove that the continued fraction expansion of almost any point on the middle third Cantor set (with respect to the natural measure) contains all finite patterns (hence is well approximable). Similarly, we show that for a variety of fractals in [0,1]^2, possessing some symmetry, almost any point is not Dirichlet improvable (hence is well approximable) and has property C (after Cassels). We then settle by similar methods a conjecture of M. Boshernitzan saying that there are no …
A {\it two-dimensional continued fraction expansion} is a map $μ$ assigning to every $x \in\mathbb R^2\setminus\mathbb Q^2$ a sequence $μ(x)=T_0,T_1,\dots$ of triangles $T_n$ with vertices $x_{ni}=(p_{ni}/d_{ni},q_{ni}/d_{ni})\in\mathbb Q^2, d_{ni}>0, p_{ni}, q_{ni}, d_{ni}\in \mathbb Z,$ $i=1,2,3$, such that \begin{eqnarray*} \det \left(\begin{matrix} p_{n1}& q_{n1} &d_{n1}\\ p_{n2}& q_{n2} &d_{n2}\\ p_{n3}& q_{n3} &d_{n3} \end{matrix} \right) = \pm 1\,\,\, \,\,\,\mbox{and}\,\,\,\,\,\, \bigcap_n T_n = \{x\}. \end{eqnarray*} We construct a two-dimensional continued fraction expansion $μ^*$ suc…
The approximation constant $λ_{k}(ζ)$ is defined as the supremum of real $η$ such that $\Vert ζ^{j}x\Vert\leq x^{-η}$ for $1\leq j\leq k$ has infinitely many integer solutions $x$. Here $\Vert.\Vert$ denotes the distance to the closest integer. We establish a connection on the joint spectrum $(λ_{1}(ζ),λ_{2}(ζ),\ldots)$ which will lead to various improvements of known results on the individual spectrum of the approximation constants $λ_{k}(ζ)$ as well. In particular, this extends a result by Bugeaud to the case of arbitrary dimension $k$. Concretely, given $k\geq 1$ and $λ\geq 1$, we infer {\e…
This work addresses problems on simultaneous Diophantine approximation on fractals, motivated by a long standing problem of Mahler regarding Cantor's middle $1/3$ set. We obtain the first instances where a complete analogue of Khintchine's Theorem holds for fractal measures. Our results apply to fractals which are self-similar by a system of rational similarities of $\mathbb{R}^d$ (for any $d\geq 1$) and have sufficiently small Hausdorff co-dimension. A concrete example of such measures in the context of Mahler's problem is the Hausdorff measure on the "middle $1/5$ Cantor set"; i.e. the set o…
We investigate some Diophantine approximation constants related to the simultaneous approximation of $(ζ,ζ^{2},\ldots,ζ^{k})$ for Liouville numbers $ζ$. For a certain class of Liouville numbers including the famous representative $\sum_{n\geq 1} 10^{-n!}$ and numbers in the Cantor set, we explicitly determine all approximation constants simultaneously for all $k\geq 1$.
Let $M$ be a set of positive integers. We study the maximal density $μ(M)$ of the sets of nonnegative integers $S$ whose elements do not differ by an element in $M$. In 1973, Cantor and Gordon established a formula for $μ(M)$ for $|M|\leq 2$. Since then, many researchers have worked upon the problem and found several partial results in the case $|M|\geq 3$, including some results in the case, $M$ is an infinite set. In this paper, we study the maximal density problem for the families $M=\{a,a+1,2a+1,n\}$ and $M=\{a,a+1,2a+1,3a+1,n\}$, where $a$ and $n$ are positive integers. In most of the cas…
It was discovered some years ago that there exist non-integer real numbers $q>1$ for which only one sequence $(c_i)$ of integers $c_i \in [0,q)$ satisfies the equality $\sum_{i=1}^\infty c_iq^{-i}=1$. The set of such "univoque numbers" has a rich topological structure, and its study revealed a number of unexpected connections with measure theory, fractals, ergodic theory and Diophantine approximation. In this paper we consider for each fixed $q>1$ the set $\mathcal{U}_q$ of real numbers $x$ having a unique representation of the form $\sum_{i=1}^\infty c_iq^{-i}=x$ with integers $c_i$ belonging…
