In this note we will describe a simple and practical approach to get rigorous bounds on the Hausdorff dimension of limits sets for some one dimensional Markov iterated function schemes. The general problem has attracted considerable attention, but we are particularly concerned with the role of the value of the Hausdorff dimension in solving conjectures and problems in other areas of mathematics. As our first application we confirm, and often strengthen, conjectures on the difference of the Lagrange and Markov spectra in Diophantine analysis, which appear in the work of Matheus and Moreira [Comment. Math. Helv. 95 (2020), pp. 593–633]. As a second application we (re-)validate and improve estimates connected with the Zaremba conjecture in number theory, used in the work of Bourgain–Kontorovich [Ann. of Math. (2) 180 (2014), pp. 137–196], Huang [An improvement to Zaremba’s conjecture, ProQuest LLC, Ann Arbor, MI, 2015] and Kan [Mat. Sb. 210 (2019), pp. 75–130]. As a third more geometric application, we rigorously bound the bottom of the spectrum of the Laplacian for infinite area surfaces, as illustrated by an example studied by McMullen [Amer. J. Math. 120 (1998), pp. 691-721].
In all approaches to estimating the dimension of limit sets there are questions about the efficiency of the algorithm, the computational effort required and the rigour of the bounds. The approach we use has the virtues of being simple and efficient and we present it in this paper in a way that is straightforward to implement.
These estimates apparently cannot be obtained by other known methods.