We study sums of a random multiplicative function; this is an example, of number-theoretic interest, of sums of products of independent random variables (chaoses). Using martingale methods, we establish a normal approximation for the sum over those n \leq x with k distinct prime factors, provided that k = o(log log x) as x \rightarrow \infty. We estimate the fourth moments of these sums, and use a conditioning argument to show that if k is of the order of magnitude of log log x then the analogous normal limit theorem does not hold. The methods extend to treat the sum over those n \leq x with at most k distinct prime factors, and in particular the sum over all n \leq x. We also treat a substantially generalised notion of random multiplicative function.
We provide a simple proof that the partial sums $\sum_{n\leq x}f(n)$ of a Rademacher random multiplicative function $f$ change sign infinitely often as $x\to\infty$, almost surely.
We study multiplicative nested sums, which are generalizations of harmonic sums, and provide a calculation through multiplication of index matrices. Special cases interpret the index matrices as stochastic transition matrices of random walks on a finite number of sites. Relations among multiplicative nested sums, which are generalizations of relations between harmonic series and multiple zeta functions, can be easily derived from identities of the index matrices. Combinatorial identities and their generalizations can also be derived from this computation.
We consider partial sums of a weighted Steinhaus random multiplicative function and view this as a model for the Riemann zeta function. We give a description of the tails and high moments of this object. Using these we determine the likely maximum of $T \log T$ independently sampled copies of our sum and find that this is in agreement with a conjecture of Farmer--Gonek--Hughes on the maximum of the Riemann zeta function. We also consider the question of almost sure bounds. We determine upper bounds on the level of squareroot cancellation and lower bounds which suggest a degree of cancellation …
We consider a family of character sums as multiplicative analogues of Kloosterman sums. Using Gauss sums, Jacobi sums and Deligne's bound for hyper-Kloosterman sums, we establish asymptotic formulae for any real (positive) moments of the above character sum as the character runs over all non-trivial multiplicative characters mod $p.$ Moreover, an arcsine law is also established as a consequence of the method of moments. The evaluations of these moments also allow us to obtain asymptotic formulae for moments of such character sums weighted by special $L$-values (at $1/2$ and $1$).
We show that there is significant cancellation in certain exponential sums over small multiplicative subgroups of finite fields, giving an exposition of the arguments by Bourgain and Chang.
We show that if an exponential sum with multiplicative coefficients is large then the associated multiplicative function is "pretentious". This leads to applications in the circle method, and a natural interpretation of the local-global principle.
We study sums with multiplicative functions that take values over a non-homogenous Beatty sequence. We then apply our result in a few special cases to obtain asymptotic formulas such as the number of integers in a Beatty sequence representable as a sum of two squares up to a given magnitude.
We investigate the solubility of the congruence xy=1 (mod p), where p is a prime and x,y are restricted to lie in suitable short intervals. Our work relies on a mean value theorem for incomplete Kloosterman sums.
We establish a normal approximation for the limiting distribution of partial sums of random Rademacher multiplicative functions over function fields, provided the number of irreducible factors of the polynomials is small enough. This parallels work of Harper for random Rademacher multiplicative functions over the integers.
In this paper, we study the average size of the product of a number and its multiplicative inverse modulo a prime p. This turns out to be related to moments of L-functions and leads to a curious asymptotic formula for a certain triple exponential sum.
Consider a multiplicative function f(n) taking values on the unit circle. Is it possible that the partial sums of this function are bounded? We show that if we weaken the notion of multiplicativity so that f(pn)=f(p)f(n) for all primes p in some finite set P, then the answer is yes. We also discuss a result of Bronstein that shows that functions modified from characters at a finite number of places.
In the paper we obtain new estimates for binary and ternary sums of multiplicative characters with additive convolutions of characteristic functions of sets, having small additive doubling. In particular, we improve a result of M.-C. Chang. The proof uses Croot-Sisask almost periodicity lemma.
Let $p$ be an odd prime. Using I. M. Vinogradov's bilinear estimate, we present an elementary approach to estimate nontrivially the character sum $$ \sum_{x\in H}χ(x+a),\qquad a\in\Bbb F_p^*, $$ where $H<\Bbb F_p^*$ is a multiplicative subgroup in finite prime field $\Bbb F_p$. Some interesting mean-value estimates are also provided.
The series of some new estimates for the sums of the type \[ S_{q}(x;f)\,=\,\mathop{{\sum}'}\limits_{n\leqslant x}f(n)e_{q}(an^{*}+bn) \] is obtained. Here $q$ is a sufficiently large integer, $\sqrt{q}(\log{q})\!\ll\!x\leqslant q$, $a,b$ are integers, $(a,q)=1$, $e_{q}(v) = e^{2πiv/q}$, $f(n)$ is a multiplicative function, $nn^{*}\equiv 1 \pmod{q}$ and the prime sign means that $(n,q)=1$.
We present a class of multiplicative functions $f:\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{C}$ with bounded partial sums. The novelty here is that our functions do not need to have modulus bounded by $1$. The key feature is that they pretend to be the constant function $1$ and that for some prime $q$, $\sum_{k=0}^\infty \frac{f(q^k)}{q^k}=0$. These combined with other conditions guarantee that these functions are periodic and have sum equal to zero inside each period. Further, we study the class of multiplicative functions $f=f_1\ast f_2$, where each $f_j$ is multiplicative and periodic with bounded partial sums.…
Let $k$ be an integer greater than or equal $4$. We show that if a multiplicative function $f$ satisfies \[ f(x_1^2 + x_2^2 + \dots + x_k^2) = f(x_1)^2 + f(x_2)^2 + \dots + f(x_k)^2 \] for all positive integers $x_i$'s, then $f$ is the identity function.
Let $f$ be a multiplicative function which satisfies \[ f(a^2+b^2+c^2+d^2) = f(a^2+b^2)+f(c^2+d^2) \] for positive integers $a$, $b$, $c$, and $d$. We show that $f$ is the identity function provided that $f(3)\,f(11) \ne 0$. Otherwise, $f(n)=0$ for all $n \ge 2$ except for $n=3,9,11$.
We provide examples of multiplicative functions $f$ supported on the $k$-free integers such that at primes $f(p)=\pm 1$ and such that the partial sums of $f$ up to $x$ are $o(x^{1/k})$. Further, if we assume the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, then we can improve the exponent $1/k$: There are examples such that the partial sums up to $x$ are $o(x^{1/(k+\frac{1}{2})+ε})$, for all $ε>0$. This generalizes to the $k$-free integers the results of Aymone, `` A note on multiplicative functions resembling the {M}öbius function'', J. Number Theory, 212 (2020), pp. 113--121.
Let $\mathcal{P}$ be the set of the primes. We consider a class of random multiplicative functions $f$ supported on the squarefree integers, such that $\{f(p)\}_{p\in\mathcal{P}}$ form a sequence of $\pm1$ valued independent random variables with $\mathbb{E} f(p)<0$, $\forall p\in \mathcal{P}$. The function $f$ is called strongly biased (towards classical Möbius function), if $\sum_{p\in\mathcal{P}}\frac{f(p)}{p}=-\infty$ a.s., and it is weakly biased if $\sum_{p\in\mathcal{P}}\frac{f(p)}{p} $ converges a.s. Let $M_f(x):=\sum_{n\leq x}f(n)$. We establish a number of necessary and sufficient co…
We prove a stratification result for certain families of $n$-dimensional (complete algebraic) multiplicative character sums. The character sums we consider are sums of products of $r$ multiplicative characters evaluated at rational functions, and the families (with $nr$ parameters) are obtained by allowing each of the $r$ rational functions to be replaced by an "offset", i.e. a translate, of itself. For very general such families, we show that the stratum of the parameter space on which the character sum has maximum weight $n+j$ has codimension at least $j\lfloor(r-1)/2(n-1)\rfloor$ for $1\le …
The Landau-Selberg-Delange (LSD) method gives an asymptotic formula for the partial sums of a multiplicative function $f$ whose prime values are $α$ on average. In the literature, the average is usually taken to be $α$ with a very strong error term, leading to an asymptotic formula for the partial sums with a very strong error term. In practice, the average at the prime values may only be known with a fairly weak error term, and so we explore here how good an estimate this will imply for the partial sums of $f$, developing new techniques to do so.
This article is an expanded version of the talk given by the first author at the conference "Exponential sums over finite fields and applications" (ETH, Zürich, November, 2010). We state some conjectures on archimedian and $p$-adic estimates for multiplicative character sums over smooth projective varieties. We also review some of the results of J. Dollarhide, which formed the basis for these conjectures. Applying his results, we prove one of the conjectures when the smooth projective variety is ${\mathbb P}^n$ itself.
We consider the random functions $S_N(z):=\sum_{n=1}^N z(n) $, where $z(n)$ is the completely multiplicative random function generated by independent Steinhaus variables $z(p)$. It is shown that ${\Bbb E} |S_N|\gg \sqrt{N}(\log N)^{-0.05616}$ and that $({\Bbb E} |S_N|^q)^{1/q}\gg_{q} \sqrt{N}(\log N)^{-0.07672}$ for all $q>0$.
We obtain several asymptotic formulas for the sum of the divisor function $τ(n)$ with $n \le x$ in an arithmetic progressions $n \equiv a \pmod q$ on average over $a$ from a set of several consecutive elements from set of reduced residues modulo $q$ and on average over arbitrary sets. The main goal is to obtain nontrivial results for $q \ge x^{2/3}$ with the small amount of averaging over $a$. We recall that for individual values of $a$ the limit of our current methods is $q \le x^{2/3-\varepsilon}$ for an arbitrary fixed $\varepsilon> 0$. Our method builds on an approach due to Blomer (2008) …
We deduce asymptotic formulas for the alternating sums $\sum_{n\le x} (-1)^{n-1} f(n)$ and $\sum_{n\le x} (-1)^{n-1} \frac1{f(n)}$, where $f$ is one of the following classical multiplicative arithmetic functions: Euler's totient function, the Dedekind function, the sum-of-divisors function, the divisor function, the gcd-sum function. We also consider analogs of these functions, which are associated to unitary and exponential divisors, and other special functions. Some of our results improve the error terms obtained by Bordellès and Cloitre. We formulate certain open problems.
A method of estimating sums of multiplicative functions braided with Dirichlet characters is demonstrated, leading to a taxonomy of the characters for which such sums are large.
Let ${\mathcal H}$ be a multiplicative subgroup of $\mathbb{F}_p^*$ of order $H>p^{1/4}$. We show that $$ \max_{(a,p)=1}\left|\sum_{x\in {\mathcal H}} {\mathbf{\,e}}_p(ax)\right| \le H^{1-31/2880+o(1)}, $$ where ${\mathbf{\,e}}_p(z) = \exp(2 πi z/p)$, which improves a result of Bourgain and Garaev (2009). We also obtain new estimates for double exponential sums with product $nx$ with $x \in {\mathcal H}$ and $n \in {\mathcal N}$ for a short interval ${\mathcal N}$ of consecutive integers.
There are two main interrelated goals of this paper. Firstly we investigate the sums \[ S_N(α,γ):=\sum_{n=1}^N\frac{1}{n\|nα-γ\|}~~~\text{and}~~~ R_N(α,γ):=\sum_{n=1}^N\frac{1}{\|nα-γ\|}\,, \] where $α$ and $γ$ are real parameters and $\|\cdot\|$ is the distance to the nearest integer. Our theorems improve upon previous results of W. M. Schmidt and others, and are (up to constants) best possible. Related to the above sums, we also obtain upper and lower bounds for the cardinality of \[ \{1\le n\le N:\|nα-γ\|<\varepsilon\} \, , \] valid for all sufficiently large $N$ and all sufficiently small …
In the paper we obtain some new upper bounds for exponential sums over multiplicative subgroups G of F^*_p having sizes in the range [p^{c_1}, p^{c_2}], where c_1,c_2 are some absolute constants close to 1/2. As an application we prove that in symmetric case G is always an additive basis of order five, provided by |G| > p^{1/2} log^{1/3} p. Also the method allows us to give a new upper bound for Heilbronn's exponential sum.
Let $f(n)$ be a multiplicative function satisfying $|f(n)|\leq 1$, $q$ $(\leq N^2)$ be a positive integer and $a$ be an integer with $(a,\,q)=1$. In this paper, we shall prove that $$\sum_{\substack{n\leq N\\ (n,\,q)=1}}f(n)e({a\bar{n}\over q})\ll\sqrt{τ(q)\over q}N\log\log(6N)+q^{{1\over 4}+{ε\over 2}}N^{1\over 2}(\log(6N))^{1\over 2}+{N\over \sqrt{\log\log(6N)}},$$ where $\bar{n}$ is the multiplicative inverse of $n$ such that $\bar{n}n\equiv 1\,({\rm mod}\,q),\,e(x)=\exp(2πix),\,τ(q)$ is the divisor function.
We prove an estimate for multi-variable multiplicative character sums over affine subspaces of $\mathbb A^n_k$, which generalize the well known estimates for both classical Jacobi sums and one-variable polynomial multiplicative character sums.
As early as the 1930s, Pál Erdős conjectured that: {\em for any multiplicative function $f:\mathbb{N}\to\{-1,1\}$, the partial sums $\sum_{n\leq x}f(n)$ are unbounded.} Considering this conjecture, in this paper we consider multiplicative functions $f$ satisfying $$\sum_{p\leq x}f(p)=c\cdot\frac{x}{\log x}(1+o(1)).$$ We prove that if $c>0$ then the partial sums of $f$ are unbounded, and if $c<0$ then the partial sums of $μf$ are unbounded. Extensions of this result are also discussed.
We study exponential sums whose coefficients are completely multiplicative and belong to the complex unit disc. Our main result shows that such a sum has substantial cancellation unless the coefficient function is essentially a Dirichlet character. As an application we improve current bounds on odd order character sums. Furthermore, conditionally on the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis we obtain a bound for odd order character sums which is best possible.
Let $f(n)$ be a multiplicative function with $|f(n)|\leq 1, q$ be a prime number and $a$ be an integer with $(a, q)=1, χ$ be a non-principal Dirichlet character modulo $q$. Let $\varepsilon$ be a sufficiently small positive constant, $A$ be a large constant, $q^{\frac12+\varepsilon}\ll N\ll q^A$. In this paper, we shall prove that $$ \sum_{n\leq N}f(n)χ(n+a)\ll N\frac{\log\log q}{\log q} $$ and that $$ \sum_{n\leq N}f(n)χ(n+a_1)\cdotsχ(n+a_t)\ll N\frac{\log\log q}{\log q}, $$ where $t\geq 2, a_1, \ldots, a_t$ are distinct integers modulo $q$.
