Intrinsic Diophantine approximation on the unit circle and its Lagrange spectrum

Abstract

Let $\mathcal{L}(S^1)$ be the Lagrange spectrum arising from intrinsic Diophantine approximation on the unit circle $S^1$ by its rational points. We give a complete description of the structure of $\mathcal{L}(S^1)$ below its smallest accumulation point. To this end, we use digit expansions of points on $S^1$, which were originally introduced by Romik in 2008 as an analogue of simple continued fraction of a real number. We prove that the smallest accumulation point of $\mathcal{L}(S^1)$ is 2. Also we characterize the points on $S^1$ whose Lagrange numbers are less than 2 in terms of Romik's digit expansions. Our theorem is the analogue of the celebrated theorem of Markoff on badly approximable real numbers.

48 pages, 8 figures. To be published in the Annales de l'Institut Fourier