Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-19T12:45:52.125Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

FROM KHINCHIN’S CONJECTURE ON STRONG UNIFORMITY TO SUPERUNIFORM MOTIONS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2014

József Beck*
Affiliation:
Mathematics Department, Busch Campus, Hill Center, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, U.S.A. email jbeck@math.rutgers.edu
Get access

Abstract

We attempt to develop a new chapter of the theory of uniform distribution; we call it strong uniformity. Strong uniformity in a nutshell means that we combine Lebesgue measure with the classical theory of uniform distribution, basically founded by Weyl in his famous paper from 1916 [Über die Gleichverteilung von Zahlen mod Eins, Math. Ann.77 (1916), 313–352], which is built around nice test sets, such as axis-parallel rectangles and boxes. We prove the continuous version of the well-known Khinchin’s conjecture [Eins Satz über Kettenbrüche mit arithmetischen Adwendungen, Math. Z.18 (1923), 289–306] in every dimension $d\geqslant 2$ (the discrete version turned out to be false—it was disproved by Marstrand [On Khinchin’s conjecture about strong uniform distribution, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 21 (1970), 540–556]). We consider an arbitrarily complicated but fixed measurable test set $S$ in the $d$-dimensional unit cube, and study the uniformity of a typical member of some natural families of curves, such as all torus lines or billiard paths starting from the origin, with respect to $S$. In the two-dimensional case we have the very surprising superuniformity of the typical torus lines and billiard paths. In dimensions ${\geqslant}3$ we still have strong uniformity, but not superuniformity. However, in dimension three we have the even more striking super-duper uniformity for two-dimensional rays (replacing the torus lines). Finally, we indicate how to exhibit superuniform motions on every “reasonable” plane region (e.g., the circular disk) and on every “reasonable” closed surface (sphere, torus and so on).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University College London 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beck, J., Superuniformity of the typical billiard paths. In An Irregular Mind: Szemerédi is 70 (Bolyai Society Mathematical Studies 21) (eds Bárány, I., Solymosi, J. and Sági, G.), Springer (2010), 170. Special volume dedicated to the 70th birthday of Endre Szemerédi (Conference in Budapest, August 2010).Google Scholar
Drmota, M. and Tichy, R. F., Sequences, Discrepancies and Applications (Lecture Notes in Mathematics 1651), Springer (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimmett, G. R. and Stirzaker, D. R., Probability and Random Processes, 2nd edn., Clarendon Press (Oxford, 1992).Google Scholar
Kerckhoff, S., Masur, H. and Smillie, J., Ergodicity of billiard flows and quadratic differentials. Ann. of Math. (2) 124 1986, 293311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kesten, H., On a conjecture of Erdős and Szüsz related to uniform distribution mod 1. Acta Arith. 12 1966–1967, 193212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khinchin, A., Eins Satz über Kettenbrüche mit arithmetischen Adwendungen. Math. Z. 18 1923, 289306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
König, D. and Szücs, A., Mouvement d’un point abandonne a l’interier d’un cube. Rend. Circ. Mat. Palermo (2) 36 1913, 7990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuipers, L. and Niederreiter, H., Uniform Distribution of Sequences, Wiley–Interscience (New York, 1974).Google Scholar
Marstrand, J. M., On Khinchin’s conjecture about strong uniform distribution. Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 21 1970, 540556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raikov, D. A., On some arithmetical properties of summable functions. Mat. Sb. 1(43) 1936, 377384.Google Scholar
Riesz, F., Sur la théorie ergodique. Comment. Math. Helv. 17 1945, 221239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weyl, H., Über die Gleichverteilung von Zahlen mod Eins. Math. Ann. 77 1916, 313352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar