Affiliation:
1. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
2. CUNY–Baruch College, New York, NY 10010, USA
Abstract
The Markoff spectrum of binary indefinite quadratic forms can be studied in terms of heights of geodesics on low-index covers of the modular surface. The lowest geodesics on [Formula: see text] are the simple closed geodesics; these are indexed up to isometry by Markoff triples of positive integers (x, y, z) with x2 + y2 + z2 = 3xyz, and have heights [Formula: see text]. Geodesics considered by Crisp and Moran have heights [Formula: see text]; they conjectured that these heights, which lie in the "mysterious region" between 3 and the Hall ray, are isolated in the Markoff Spectrum. In our previous work, we classified the low height-achieving non-simple geodesics of [Formula: see text] into seven types according to the topology of highest arcs. Here, we obtain explicit formulas for the heights of geodesics of the first three types; the conjecture holds for approximation by closed geodesics of any of these types. Explicit examples show that each of the remaining types is realized.
Publisher
World Scientific Pub Co Pte Lt
Subject
Algebra and Number Theory
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