We prove a nine-distance theorem for Kronecker sequences on flat three-tori. That is, we show that among the first $N$ orbit points, at most nine distinct positive nearest-neighbour distances occur. This proves the conjecture of Haynes and Marklof. An example of Dettmann shows that nine is optimal. More generally, we prove that on a flat $d$-dimensional torus the number of such distances is at most $2^d+1$. The main tool is a new growth theorem for the denominators $q_1<q_2<\cdots$ of best simultaneous approximations in a $d$-dimensional inner-product space, which is of independent interest. We prove that, whenever $q_{n+2^d}$ is defined, either $q_{n+2^d}\ge2q_{n+1}$, or the indices $1,\ldots,2^d$ can be partitioned into disjoint pairs $\{j,k\}$, $j<k$, such that $q_{n+k}=q_n+q_{n+j}$. In particular, $$ q_{n+2^d}\ge \min\{2q_{n+1},q_n+q_{n+2^{d-1}}\}\ge q_n+q_{n+1}. $$
The uniform Littlewood conjecture (ULC), introduced by Bandi, Fregoli and Kleinbock, asserts in the two-number case that $$ \lim_{Q\to\infty} Q\min_{1\le n\le Q}\|n\xi\|\,\|n\zeta\|=0 $$ for all real $\xi,\zeta$. It is proven to hold for almost every pair $(\xi,\zeta)$. Schleischitz, however, has recently disproved the full statement and showed that the set of counterexamples contains a dense $G_\delta$ set. We prove that a set of counterexample pairs with the first coordinate being a badly approximable number has Hausdorff dimension at least $3/2$. We further show that the set of badly approximable numbers $\xi$ for which there exists $\zeta$ such that $(\xi,\zeta)$ is a counterexample to ULC has full Hausdorff dimension. This contrasts with the classical Littlewood conjecture, for which the set of possible counterexamples is known to have Hausdorff dimension $0$.
