Jens Marklof University of Bristol
Smallest denominators
Abstract:
If we partition the unit interval into 3000 equal subintervals and take the
smallest denominator amongst all rational points in each subinterval, what can
we say about the distribution of those 3000 denominators? I will discuss this
and related questions, its connection with Farey statistics and random lattices.
In particular, I will report on higher dimensional versions of a recent proof of
the 1977 Kruyswijk-Meijer conjecture by Balazard and Martin [Bull. Sci. Math.
187 (2023), Paper No. 103305] on the convergence of the expectation value of the
above distribution, as well as closely related work by Chen and Haynes [Int. J.
Number Theory 19 (2023), 1405--1413]. In fact, we will uncover the full
distribution and prove convergence of more moments than just the expectation
value. (This I believe was previously not known even in one dimension.) We
furthermore obtain a higher dimensional extension of Kargaev and Zhigljavsky's
work on moments of the distance function for the Farey sequence [J. Number
Theory 65 (1997), 130--149] as well as new results on pigeonhole statistics.