Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2001
Linear mod one transformations are those maps of the unit interval given by $f_{\beta,\alpha}(x)=\beta x+\alpha$ (mod 1), with $\beta>1$ and $0\le\alpha<1$. The lap-counting function is $L_{\beta,\alpha}(z)=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} L_{n}z^{n}$, where $L_{n}$ essentially counts the number of monotonic pieces of the $n$th iterate $f_{\beta,\alpha}^{n}$. Part I showed that the function $L_{\beta,\alpha}(z)$ is meromorphic on the unit disk $|z|<1$ and analytic on $|z|<1/\beta$. This paper shows that the singularities of $L_{\beta,\alpha}(z)$ on the circle $|z|=1/\beta$ are contained in the set $\{(1/\beta)\exp (2\pi il/N):0\le l\le N-1\}$, for some integer $N\ge 1$. Here $N$ can be taken to be the period $N_{\beta,\alpha}$ of a certain Markov chain $\Sigma_{\beta,\alpha}$ which encodes information about generalized lap numbers $L_{n}(i,j)$ of $f_{\beta,\alpha}$, where $L_{n}(i,j)$ counts monotonic pieces of $f_{\beta,\alpha}^{n}$ whose image is $[f^{i}(0),f^{j}(1^{-}))$. We show that $N_{\beta,\alpha}=1$ whenever $\beta>2$. Finally, we give the criterion that $N_{\beta,\alpha}=1$ if and only if for all $n\ge 1$ the map $f_{\beta,\alpha}^{n}$ is ergodic with respect to the maximal entropy measure of $f_{\beta,\alpha}$.