We consider integer recurrences of the form a_n = f(a_{n-1}), where f is a quadratic polynomial with integer coefficients. We show, for four infinite families of f, that the set of primes dividing at least one term of such a sequence must have density zero, regardless of choice of a_0. The proof relies on tools from group theory and probability theory to develop a zero-density criterion in terms of arithmetic properties of the forward orbit of the critical point of f. This provides an analogy to results in real and complex dynamics, where analytic properties of the forward orbit of the critical point determine many global dynamical properties of f. The article also includes apparently new work on the irreducibility of iterates of quadratic polynomials.
We prove a result on the distribution of the general divisor functions in arithmetic progressions to smooth moduli which exceed the square root of the length.
Iannucci considered the positive divisors of a natural number $n$ that do not exceed the square root of $n$ and found all numbers whose such divisors are in arithmetic progression. Continuing the work, we define large divisors to be divisors at least $\sqrt{n}$ and find all numbers whose large divisors are in arithmetic progression. The asymptotic formula for the count of these numbers up to a bound $x$ is observed to be $\frac{x\log\log x}{\log x}$.
Iannucci considered the positive divisors of a natural number $n$ that do not exceed $\sqrt{n}$ and found all forms of numbers whose such divisors are in arithmetic progression. In this paper, we generalize Iannucci's result by excluding the trivial divisors $1$ and $\sqrt{n}$ (when $n$ is a square). Surprisingly, the length of our arithmetic progression cannot exceed $5$.
By using the $q$-analogue of van der Corput's method we study the divisor function in an arithmetic progression to modulus $q$. We show that the expected asymptotic formula holds for a larger range of $q$ than was previously known, provided that $q$ has a certain factorisation.
Let a be an integer and q a prime number. In this paper, we find an asymptotic formula for the number of positive integers n < x with the property that no divisor d > 1 of n lies in the arithmetic progression a modulo q.
We study the average value of the divisor function $τ(n)$ for $n\le x$ with $n \equiv a \bmod q$. The divisor function is known to be evenly distributed over arithmetic progressions for all $q$ that are a little smaller than $x^{2/3}$. We show how to go past this barrier when $q=p^k$ for odd primes $p$ and any fixed integer $k\ge 7$.
We prove the analogue of an identity of Huard, Ou, Spearman and Williams and apply it to evaluate a variety of sums involving divisor functions in two variables. It turns out that these sums count representations of positive integers involving radicals.
We obtain several asymptotic estimates for the sums of the restricted divisor function $$ τ_{M,N}(k) = #\{1 \le m \le M, \ 1\le n \le N: mn = k\} $$ over short arithmetic progressions, which improve some results of J. Truelsen. Such estimates are motivated by the links with the pair correlation problem for fractional parts of the quadratic function $αk^2$, $k=1,2,...$ with a real $α$.
We obtain an asymptotic formula for the average value of the divisor function over the integers $n \le x$ in an arithmetic progression $n \equiv a \pmod q$, where $q=p^k$ for a prime $p\ge 3$ and a sufficiently large integer $k$. In particular, we break the classical barrier $q \le x^{2/3}$ for such formulas, and generalise a recent result of R.~Khan (2015), making it uniform in $k$.
We study the variance of sums of the $k$-fold divisor function $d_k(n)$ over sparse arithmetic progressions, with averaging over both residue classes and moduli. In a restricted range, we confirm an averaged version of a recent conjecture about the asymptotics of this variance. This result is closely related to moments of Dirichlet $L$-functions and our proof relies on the asymptotic large sieve.
We prove that for a large class of multiplicative functions, referred to as generalized divisor functions, it is possible to find a lower bound for the corresponding variance in arithmetic progressions. As a main corollary, we deduce such a result for any $α$-fold divisor function, for any complex number $α\not\in \{1\}\cup-\mathbb{N}$, even when considering a sequence of parameters $α$ close in a proper way to $1$. Our work builds on that of Harper and Soundararajan, who handled the particular case of $k$-fold divisor functions $d_k(n)$, with $k\in\mathbb{N}_{\geq 2}$.
We show that, in a restricted range, the divisor function of integers in residue classes modulo a prime follows a Gaussian distribution, and a similar result for Hecke eigenvalues of classical holomorphic cusp forms. Furthermore, we obtain the joint distribution of these arithmetic functions in two related residue classes. These results follow from asymptotic evaluations of the relevant moments, and depend crucially on results on the independence of monodromy groups related to products of Kloosterman sums.
We obtain the triple correlations for a truncated divisor sum related to primes. We also obtain the mixed correlations for this divisor sum when it is summed over the primes, and give some applications to primes in short intervals.
Let $\gcd(d_{1},\ldots,d_{k})$ be the greatest common divisor of the positive integers $d_{1},\ldots,d_{k}$, for any integer $k\geq 2$, and let $τ$ and $μ$ denote the divisor function and the Möbius function, respectively. For an arbitrary arithmetic function $g$ and for any real number $x>5$ and any integer $k\geq 3$, we define the sum $$ S_{g,k}(x) :=\sum_{n\leq x}\sum_{d_{1}\cdots d_{k}=n} g(\gcd(d_{1},\ldots,d_{k})) $$ In this paper, we give asymptotic formulas for $S_{τ,k}(x)$ and $S_{μ,k}(x)$ for $k\geq 3$.
The integer $d$ is called an exponential divisor of $n=\prod_{i=1}^r p_i^{a_i}>1$ if $d=\prod_{i=1}^r p_i^{c_i}$, where $c_i \mid a_i$ for every $1\le i \le r$. The integers $n=\prod_{i=1}^r p_i^{a_i}, m=\prod_{i=1}^r p_i^{b_i}>1$ having the same prime factors are called exponentially coprime if $(a_i,b_i)=1$ for every $1\le i\le r$. In the paper we investigate asymptotic properties of certain arithmetic functions involving exponential divisors and exponentially coprime integers.
The prime divisors of a polynomial $P$ with integer coefficients are those primes $p$ for which $P(x) \equiv 0 \pmod{p}$ is solvable. Our main result is that the common prime divisors of any several polynomials are exactly the prime divisors of some single polynomial. By combining this result with a theorem of Ax we get that for any system $F$ of multivariate polynomial equations with integer coefficients, the set of primes $p$ for which $F$ is solvable modulo $p$ is the set of prime divisors of some univariate polynomial. In addition, we prove results on the densities of the prime divisors of…
In this paper, we develop Furstenberg's proof of infinity of primes, and prove several results about prime divisors of sequences of integers, including the celebrated Schur's theorem. In particular, we give a simple proof of a classical result which says that a non-degenerate linear recurrence sequence of integers of order k>1 has infinitely many prime divisors.
We prove recursive formulas involving sums of divisors and sums of triangular numbers and give a variety of identities relating arithmetic functions to divisor functions providing inductive identities for such arithmetic functions.
We give necessary conditions satisfied by the set of odd prime divisors of binary perfect polynomials. This allows us to get a new characterization of all the known perfect binary polynomials.
We investigate the distribution of the function $ω(n)$, the number of distinct prime divisors of $n$, in residue classes modulo $q$ for natural numbers $q$ greater than 2. In particular we ask `prime number races' style questions, as suggested by Coons and Dahmen in their paper `On the residue class distribution of the number of prime divisors of an integer'.
Let $a\geq 1, b\geq 0$ and $k\geq 2$ be any given integers. It has been proven that there exist infinitely many natural numbers $m$ such that sum of divisors of $m$ is a perfect $k$th power. We try to generalize this result when the values of $m$ belong to any given infinite arithmetic progression $an+b$. We prove if $a$ is relatively prime to $b$ and order of $b$ modulo $a$ is relatively prime to $k$ then there exist infinitely many natural numbers $n$ such that sum of divisors of $an+b$ is a perfect $k$th power. We also prove that, in general, either sum of divisors of $an+b$ is not a perfec…
Given a polynomial $ϕ$ over a global function field $K$ and a wandering base point $b\in K$, we give a geometric condition on $ϕ$ ensuring the existence of primitive prime divisors for almost all points in the orbit $\mathcal{O}_ϕ(b):=\{ϕ^n(b)\}_{n\geq0}$
For a positive integer $n$, let $σ(n)$ denote the sum of the positive divisors of $n$. Let $d$ be a proper divisor of $n$. We call $n$ a deficient-perfect number if $σ(n)=2n-d$. In this paper, we show that the only odd deficient-perfect number with four distinct prime divisors is $3^{2}\cdot 7^{2}\cdot 11^{2}\cdot 13^{2}$.
The divisor function $σ(n)$ denotes the sum of the divisors of the positive integer $n$. For a prime $p$ and $m \in \mathbb{N}$, the $p$-adic valuation of $m$ is the highest power of $p$ which divides $m$. Formulas for $ν_{p}(σ(n))$ are established. For $p=2$, these involve only the odd primes dividing $n$. These expressions are used to establish the bound $ν_{2}(σ(n)) \leq \lceil\log_{2}(n) \rceil$, with equality if and only if $n$ is the product of distinct Mersenne primes, and for an odd prime $p$, the bound is $ν_{p}(σ(n)) \leq \lceil \log_{p}(n) \rceil$, with equality related to solutions…
In 1982, Erdös and van Lint showed an estimate for the average of the ratio of the smallest and largest prime divisor of $n$. In this note, we apply C.H. Jia's method to give an estimate for the average of positive integer power of the ratio.
We compute the variances of sums in arithmetic progressions of generalised k-divisor functions related to certain L-functions in $\mathbb{F}_q(t)$, in the limit as $q\to\infty$. This is achieved by making use of recently established equidistribution results for the associated Frobenius conjugacy classes. The variances are thus expressed, when $q\to\infty$, in terms of matrix integrals, which may be evaluated. Our results extend those obtained previously in the special case corresponding to the usual $k$-divisor function, when the L-function in question has degree one. They illustrate the role …
For a function field $K$ and fixed polynomial $F\in K[x]$ and varying $f\in F$ (under certain restrictions) we give a lower bound for the degree of the greatest prime divisor of $F(f)$ in terms of the height of $f$, establishing a strong result for the function field analogue of a classical problem in number theory.
We consider the primes which divide the denominator of the x-coordinate of a sequence of rational points on an elliptic curve. It is expected that for every sufficiently large value of the index, each term should be divisible by a primitive prime divisor, one that has not appeared in any earlier term. Proofs of this are known in only a few cases. Weaker results in the general direction are given, using a strong form of Siegel's Theorem and some congruence arguments. Our main result is applied to the study of prime divisors of Somos sequences.
We consider the distribution of the largest prime divisor of the integers in the interval $[2,x]$, and investigate in particular the mode of this distribution, the prime number(s) which show up most often in this list. In addition to giving an asymptotic formula for this mode as $x$ tends to infinity, we look at the set of those prime numbers which, for some value of $x$, occur most frequently as the largest prime divisor of the integers in the interval $[2,x]$. We find that many prime numbers never have this property. We compare the set of "popular primes," those primes which are at some poin…
A representation of divisor function $τ(n)\equiv σ_{0}(n)$ by means of logarithmic residue of a function of complex variable is suggested. This representation may be useful theoretical instrument for further investigations of properties of natural numbers.
We show that for integers $n$, whose ratios of consecutive divisors are bounded above by an arbitrary constant, the normal order of the number of prime factors is $C \log \log n$, where $C=(1-e^{-γ})^{-1} = 2.280...$ and $γ$ is Euler's constant. We explore several applications and resolve a conjecture of Margenstern about practical numbers.
This paper discusses the additive prime divisor function $A(n) := \sum\limits_{p^α|| n} α\, p$ which was introduced by Alladi and Erd\H os in 1977. It is shown that $A(n)$ is uniformly distributed (mod $q$) for any fixed integer $q > 1.$
In this paper, we confirm a smoothed version of a recent conjecture on the variance of the k-fold divisor function in arithmetic progressions to individual composite moduli, in a restricted range. In contrast to a previous result of Rodgers and Soundararajan, we do not require averaging over the moduli. Our proof adapts a technique of S. Lester who treated in the same range the variance of the k-fold divisor function in the short intervals setting, and is based on a smoothed Voronoi summation formula but twisted by multiplicative characters. The use of Dirichlet characters allows us to extend …
We compute the divisors of Borcherds products on integral models of orthogonal Shimura varieties. As an application, we obtain an integral version of a theorem of Borcherds on the modularity of a generating series of special divisors.
Let $N$ be an odd perfect number and let $a$ be its third largest prime divisor, $b$ be the second largest prime divisor, and $c$ be its largest prime divisor. We discuss steps towards obtaining a non-trivial upper bound on $a$, as well as the closely related problem of improving bounds $bc$, and $abc$. In particular, we prove two results. First we prove a new general bound on any prime divisor of an odd perfect number and obtain as a corollary of that bound that $$a < 2N^{\frac{1}{6}}.$$ Second, we show that $$abc < (2N)^{\frac{3}{5}}.$$ We also show how in certain circumstances these bounds …
From varying Egyptian fraction equations we obtain generalizations of primary pseudoperfect numbers and Giuga numbers which we call prime power psuedoperfect numbers and prime power Giuga numbers respectively. We show that a sequence of Amarnath Murthy in the OEIS is a subsequence of the sequence of prime power psuedoperfect numbers. Prime factorization conditions sufficient to imply a number is a prime power pseudoperfect number or a prime power Giuga number are given. The conditions on prime factorizations naturally give rise to a generalization of Fermat primes which we call extended Fermat…
We consider the Dickman function $Ψ(x,y)$ in the limit when $\ln x/\ln y\to \infty $ and $\ln \ln x \ln y\to 0$. The asymptotic value is expressed in terms of the ratio of iterated loragithm of $x$ and $ln y$.
Let K be a number field, let f(x) in K(x) be a rational function of degree d> 1, and let z in K be a wandering point such that f^n(z) is nonzero for all n > 0. We prove that if the abc-conjecture holds for K, then for all but finitely many positive integers n, there is a prime p of K such that p | f^n(z) and p does not divide f^m(z) for all positive integers m < n. We prove the same result unconditionally for function fields of characteristic 0 when f is not isotrivial.
The only (unitary) perfect polynomials over $\mathbb{F}_2$ that are products of $x$, $x+1$ and Mersenne primes are precisely the nine (resp. nine "classes") known ones. This follows from a new result about the factorization of $M^{2h+1} +1$, for a Mersenne prime $M$ and for a positive integer $h$. Other consequences of such a factorization are new results about odd perfect polynomials.
Let $x$ be a positive integer. We give an asymptotic result for $ω(\operatorname{lcm}(m,n))$ summed over all positive integers $m$ and $n$ with $mn \le x$. This answers an open question posed in a recent paper.
The discrete Fourier transform of the greatest common divisor is a multiplicative function, if taken with respect to the same order of the primitive root of unity, which is a well known fact. As such, the transform can be expressed in the prime factors of the argument, the explicit form of which is proven in this paper. Subsequently it is shown how the procedure can be generalized to the discrete Fourier transform of a function of the greatest common divisor. From this representation some interesting relations concerning the Euler totient function and generalizations thereof are established.
For an integer $m >1$, we denote by $P(m)$ the largest prime divisor of $m$. We prove that $\limsup_{n \rightarrow +\infty} P(n!+1)/n \geqslant 1+9\log 2>7.238$, which improves a result of Stewart. More generally, for any nonzero polynomial $f(X)$ with integer coefficients, we show that $\limsup_{n \rightarrow +\infty} P(n!+f(n))/n \geqslant 1+9\log2$. This improves a result of Luca and Shparlinski. These improvements come from an additional combinatoric idea to the works mentioned above.
We develop a general method for lower bounding the variance of sequences in arithmetic progressions mod $q$, summed over all $q \leq Q$, building on previous work of Liu, Perelli, Hooley, and others. The proofs lower bound the variance by the minor arc contribution in the circle method, which we lower bound by comparing with suitable auxiliary exponential sums that are easier to understand. As an application, we prove a lower bound of $(1-ε) QN\log(Q^2/N)$ for the variance of the von Mangoldt function $(Λ(n))_{n=1}^{N}$, on the range $\sqrt{N} (\log N)^C \leq Q \leq N$. Previously such a resul…
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.
We introduce the notion of $ε$-irreducibility for arithmetic cycles meaning that the degree of its analytic part is small compared to the degree of its irreducible classical part. We will show that for every $ε>0$ any sufficiently high tensor power of an arithmetically ample hermitian line bundle can be represented by an $ε$-irreducible arithmetic divisor. Our methods of proof also allow us to study the distribution of divisors of small sections of an arithmetically ample hermitian line bundle $\overline{\mathcal{L}}$. We will prove that for increasing tensor powers $\overline{\mathcal{L}}^{\o…
