English

Borel complexity of sets of normal numbers via generic points in subshifts with specification

Dynamical Systems 2020-01-17 v2 Logic Number Theory

Abstract

We study the Borel complexity of sets of normal numbers in several numeration systems. Taking a dynamical point of view, we offer a unified treatment for continued fraction expansions and base rr expansions, and their various generalisations: generalised L\"uroth series expansions and β\beta-expansions. In fact, we consider subshifts over a countable alphabet generated by all possible expansions of numbers in [0,1)[0,1). Then normal numbers correspond to generic points of shift-invariant measures. It turns out that for these subshifts the set of generic points for a shift-invariant probability measure is precisely at the third level of the Borel hierarchy (it is a Π30\Pi^0_3-complete set, meaning that it is a countable intersection of FσF_\sigma-sets, but it is not possible to write it as a countable union of GδG_\delta-sets). We also solve a problem of Sharkovsky--Sivak on the Borel complexity of the basin of statistical attraction. The crucial dynamical feature we need is a feeble form of specification. All expansions named above generate subshifts with this property. Hence the sets of normal numbers under consideration are Π30\Pi^0_3-complete.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1811.04450,
  title  = {Borel complexity of sets of normal numbers via generic points in subshifts with specification},
  author = {Dylan Airey and Steve Jackson and Dominik Kwietniak and Bill Mance},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1811.04450},
  year   = {2020}
}

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