On some periodic continued fractions along the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ extension over $\mathbb{Q}$

Abstract

In 2021, Brock, Elkies, and Jordan generalized the theory of periodic continued fractions (PCFs) over $\mathbb{Z}$ to the ring of integers in a number field. In particular, they considered the case where the number field is an intermediate field of the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-extension over $\mathbb{Q}$ and asked whether a $(N, \ell)$-type PCF for $X_n = 2\cos(2\pi/2^{n+2})$ exists. In this paper, we construct $(1,2)$ and $(0,3)$-type PCFs for $X_n$ for all $n\geq1$. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first explicit construction of type (0,3) continued fractions for all $n\geq1$. To obtain such results, for each type, we construct a bijection between a certain subset of the group of relative units in each layer of the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-extension and the set of PCFs for $X_n$. While our result confirms the existence of such PCFs for all $n\geq1$ in types $(1,2)$ and $(0,3)$, determining all PCFs remains an open problem. The bijections constructed in our result translate this problem into the study of the subsets of the relative units. As a second main result, we give explicit bounds for the logarithms of the relative units corresponding to $(1,2)$ or $(0,3)$-type PCFs for $X_n$. These bounds allow us to explain interesting phenomena observed in the distribution of such points.