English

Borel-Cantelli sequences

Dynamical Systems 2012-08-07 v2 Number Theory

Abstract

A sequence {xn}1\{x_{n}\}_1^\infty in [0,1)[0,1) is called Borel-Cantelli (BC) if for all non-increasing sequences of positive real numbers {an}\{a_n\} with i=1ai=\underset{i=1}{\overset{\infty}{\sum}}a_i=\infty the set k=1n=kB(xn,an))={x[0,1)xnx<anformanyn1}\underset{k=1}{\overset{\infty}{\cap}} \underset{n=k}{\overset{\infty}{\cup}} B(x_n, a_n))=\{x\in[0,1)\mid |x_n-x|<a_n \text{for} \infty \text{many}n\geq1\} has full Lebesgue measure. (To put it informally, BC sequences are sequences for which a natural converse to the Borel-Cantelli Theorem holds). The notion of BC sequences is motivated by the Monotone Shrinking Target Property for dynamical systems, but our approach is from a geometric rather than dynamical perspective. A sufficient condition, a necessary condition and a necessary and sufficient condition for a sequence to be BC are established. A number of examples of BC and not BC sequences are presented. The property of a sequence to be BC is a delicate diophantine property. For example, the orbits of a pseudo-Anosoff IET (interval exchange transformation) are BC while the orbits of a "generic" IET are not. The notion of BC sequences is extended to more general spaces.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0910.5412,
  title  = {Borel-Cantelli sequences},
  author = {Michael Boshernitzan and Jon Chaika},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0910.5412},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

20 pages. Some proofs clarified

R2 v1 2026-06-21T14:04:27.059Z