On probability measures arising from lattice points on circles

A circle, centered at the origin and with radius chosen so that it has non-empty intersection with the integer lattice [Formula: see text] , gives rise to a probability measure on the unit circle in a natural way. Such measures, and their weak limits, are said to be attainable from lattice points on circles. We investigate the set of attainable measures and show that it contains all extreme points, in the sense of convex geometry, of the set of all probability measures that are invariant under some natural symmetries. Further, the set of attainable measures is closed under convolution, yet there exist symmetric probability measures that are not attainable. To show this, we study the geometry of projections onto a finite number of Fourier coefficients and find that the set of attainable measures has many singularities with a “fractal” structure. This complicated structure in some sense arises from prime powers—singularities do not occur for circles of radius [Formula: see text] if n is square free.