Gap Statistics of the Sequence $\{\alpha\sqrt{n}\}$

Abstract

The gaps in the sequence $\{\sqrt{n}\}$ were shown by Elkies-McMullen (2004) to have a limiting distribution which is not the exponential distribution. However it is conjectured that the distribution of gaps in the sequence $\{\alpha\sqrt{n}\}$ is exponential, provided $\alpha^2$ is irrational. For almost all values of $\alpha$, we prove an important step in this direction. In particular, we show that all the correlations are Poissonian along a subsequence. Therefore, our result implies that the gap distribution converges to the exponential distribution along the same subsequence.