Generalized Hausdorff dimension of irrationals with Lagrange value exactly 3

Abstract

We study the generalized Hausdorff dimension of some natural subsets of $k^{-1}(3)$, where $k^{-1}(3)$ consists of the real numbers $x$ for which $\left| x-\frac{p}{q} \right|<\frac{1}{(3+\varepsilon)q^2}$ has infinitely many rational solutions $\frac{p}{q}$ for any $\varepsilon<0$ but only finitely many for any $\varepsilon>0$. It is well known that $k^{-1}(3)$ is an uncountable set with Hausdorff dimension zero. Given any dimension function $h$, we determine the exact "cut point" at which the generalized Hausdorff dimension $\mathcal{H}^h(k^{-1}(3))$ drops from infinity to zero. In particular we show that such a measure is always zero or not $\sigma$--finite, and, as an application, we can classify topologically $k^{-1}(3)$. Moreover, we show that the subset of attainable elements of $k^{-1}(3)$ has the same generalized Hausdorff dimension as $k^{-1}(3)$, but the subset of non--attainable elements of $k^{-1}(3)$ has a "strictly smaller" generalized Hausdorff dimension.