Searcharxiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 1705.00699

The Doorways Problem and Sturmian Words

Jason Siefken
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The doorways problem considers adjacent parallel hallways of unit width each with a single doorway (aligned with integer lattice points) of unit width. It then asks, what are the properties of lines that pass through each doorway? Configurations of doorways closely correspond to Sturmian words, and so properties of these configurations may be lifted to properties of Sturmian words. This paper classifies the slopes of lines of sight, lines that pass through each doorway, for both the case of a finite number of parallel hallways and an infinite number and their consequences for Sturmian words. We then produce a metric on configurations with an infinite number of hallways that preserves the property of admitting a line of sight under limits. Pulling back this metric to $\mathbb R$, we produce the Baire metric under which the irrational numbers form a complete metric space. Pulling back this metric to the set of all Sturmian sequences, we show that the set of all Sturmian sequences is complete with this metric (unlike with the standard metric).

Explore related subjects

math.DS

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Jason Siefken. 2017-05-01. The Doorways Problem and Sturmian Words. https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.00699

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Admissible Fourier Lengths, KAM Reducibility, and Spectral Applications

We develop a perturbative KAM reducibility theory for one-frequency $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ cocycles based on an admissible Fourier length $\ell$. The regularity relevant to the iteration is measured by positive adapted Fourier width rather than ordinary smoothness in the Euclidean length $|n|$. The same length governs Fourier decay, truncation and resonance scales, and the arithmetic condition controlling the small divisors. This framework contains the classical analytic and Gevrey settings, while non-monotone choices of $\ell$ allow classical nowhere differentiable Weierstrass-type perturbations and continuous perturbations outside every positive H\"older class. As spectral applications, we obtain purely absolutely continuous spectrum for every phase and $1/2$-H\"older continuity of the integrated density of states for the associated quasiperiodic Schr\"odinger operators. The Aubry dual has pure point spectrum for Lebesgue almost every dual phase, with eigenfunctions exponentially localized in the metric induced by $\ell$. We also construct nowhere differentiable quasiperiodic potentials with purely absolutely continuous Cantor spectrum.

math.DS↗
arXiv2026

Dynamics inside the attracting basins of some skew products

Polynomial skew products in $\mathbb{C}^2$ are maps of the form $F(z,w)=(P(z),Q(z,w))$, where $P$ and $Q$ are polynomials. Their local dynamics have been widely investigated. In this paper, we study the global dynamics inside Fatou components of some skew products. We consider all the inverse images in a Fatou component of a given point and use the Kobayashi metric to measure the distance between points. In the cases we consider, there are always arbitrarily large Kobayashi balls in the complement of these inverse sets.

math.DS↗
arXiv2026

Ergodicity of dynamical systems without uniqueness of orbits

Recently, there has been considerable interest in the study of non-deterministic dynamical systems. To analyze the chaotic behavior of such systems from a measure-theoretic viewpoint, it is desirable to consider ergodicity. However, the classical definition of ergodicity involves invariant sets, whose definition is not unique for non-deterministic dynamical systems. Thus, we are led to the question of which invariance yields an interesting definition of ergodicity. Here, we propose a definition based on the strong backward invariance and show that analogs of classical results hold. We also consider implications of the Birkhoff ergodic theorem for systems without uniqueness of orbits.

math.DS↗