Abstract:
For a real $\alpha$ the ordinary irrationality measure function is defined as
$$
\psi_{\alpha}(t)\,=\,\min_{1\le q\le t, \, q\in \mathbb{Z}}||q\alpha ||,\quad t\,\ge\,1
$$
(here $||\xi || = \min_{a\in \mathbb{Z}}|\xi - a|$ is the distance from $\xi$ to the nearest integer).
This function is connected with the best approximations to $\alpha$. Many Diophantine properties
of real numbers can be described in terms of the irrationality measure function $\psi_\alpha (t)$.
In particular it is convenient to define Lagrange and Dirichlet spectra in terms of the values
$$
\liminf_{t\to\infty}
t\psi_\alpha (t)\,\,\,\,
\text{and}\,\,\,\,
\limsup_{t\to\infty}
t\psi_\alpha (t).
$$
Another interesting result is related to oscillation property of the difference
$\psi_\alpha (t) -\psi_\beta (t).$ In our lecture, we will discuss certain properties of the functions
$$
\psi_\alpha^{[2]}(t)\,=\,\min_{
\begin{array}{c}
(q,p): \, q,p\in \mathbb{Z}, 1\le q\le t, \cr
(p,q) \neq (p_n, q_n) \,\forall\, n =0,1,2,3,...
\end{array} } |q\alpha -p|
$$
and
$$
\psi_\alpha^{[2]*} (t)\,=\,\min_{
\begin{array}{c}
(q,p): \, q,p\in \mathbb{Z}, 1\le q\le t, \cr
p/q \neq p_n/q_n \,\forall\, n =0,1,2,3,...
\end{array} } |q\alpha -p|
$$
related to the “second best” approximations
and certain properties of the function $\mu_{\alpha}(t)$
associated with the Minkowski diagonal continued fraction for $\alpha$.