English

Unique double base expansions

Number Theory 2024-03-20 v4 Dynamical Systems

Abstract

For two real bases q0,q1>1q_0, q_1 > 1, we consider expansions of real numbers of the form k=1ik/(qi1qi2qik)\sum_{k=1}^{\infty} i_k/(q_{i_1}q_{i_2}\cdots q_{i_k}) with ik{0,1}i_k \in \{0,1\}, which we call (q0,q1)(q_0,q_1)-expansions. A sequence (ik)(i_k) is called a unique (q0,q1)(q_0,q_1)-expansion if all other sequences have different values as (q0,q1)(q_0,q_1)-expansions, and the set of unique (q0,q1)(q_0,q_1)-expansions is denoted by Uq0,q1U_{q_0,q_1}. In the special case q0=q1=qq_0 = q_1 = q, the set Uq,qU_{q,q} is trivial if qq is below the golden ratio and uncountable if qq is above the Komornik--Loreti constant. The curve separating pairs of bases (q0,q1)(q_0, q_1) with trivial Uq0,q1U_{q_0,q_1} from those with non-trivial Uq0,q1U_{q_0,q_1} is the graph of a function G(q0)\mathcal{G}(q_0) that we call generalized golden ratio. Similarly, the curve separating pairs (q0,q1)(q_0, q_1) with countable Uq0,q1U_{q_0,q_1} from those with uncountable Uq0,q1U_{q_0,q_1} is the graph of a function K(q0)\mathcal{K}(q_0) that we call generalized Komornik--Loreti constant. We show that the two curves are symmetric in q0q_0 and q1q_1, that G\mathcal{G} and K\mathcal{K} are continuous, strictly decreasing, hence almost everywhere differentiable on (1,)(1,\infty), and that the Hausdorff dimension of the set of q0q_0 satisfying G(q0)=K(q0)\mathcal{G}(q_0)=\mathcal{K}(q_0) is zero. We give formulas for G(q0)\mathcal{G}(q_0) and K(q0)\mathcal{K}(q_0) for all q0>1q_0 > 1, using characterizations of when a binary subshift avoiding a lexicographic interval is trivial, countable, uncountable with zero entropy and uncountable with positive entropy respectively. Our characterizations in terms of SS-adic sequences including Sturmian and the Thue--Morse sequences are simpler than those of Labarca and Moreira (2006) and Glendinning and Sidorov (2015), and are relevant also for other open dynamical systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2209.02373,
  title  = {Unique double base expansions},
  author = {Vilmos Komornik and Wolfgang Steiner and Yuru Zou},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2209.02373},
  year   = {2024}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T00:47:27.320Z