We study primitive divisors of terms of the sequence P_n=n^2+b, for a fixed integer b which is not a negative square. It seems likely that the number of terms with a primitive divisor has a natural density. This seems to be a difficult problem. We survey some results about divisors of this sequence as well as provide upper and lower growth estimates for the number of terms which have a primitive divisor.
In this paper, we obtain analogues of Zsigmondy's theorem and the primitive divisor results for the Lucas and Lehmer sequences in polynomial rings of several variables.
We study the primitive divisors of the terms of $(Δ_n)_{n \geq 1}$, where $Δ_n=N_{K/ \mathbb{Q}}(u^n-1)$ for $K$ a real quadratic field, and $u>1$ a unit element of its ring of integers. The methods used allow us to find the terms of the sequence that do not have a primitive prime divisor.
We show that for an elliptic divisibility sequence on a twist of the Fermat cubic, u^3+v^3=m, with m cube-free, all the terms beyond the first have a primitive divisor.
Stewart reduced the problem of determining all Lucas and Lehmer sequences whose $n$-th element does not have a primitive divisor to solving certain Thue equations. Using the method of Tzanakis and de Weger for solving Thue equations, we determine such sequences for $n \leq 30$. Further computations lead us to conjecture that, for $n > 30$, the $n$-th element of such sequences always has a primitive divisor.
Let $\al$ and $\be$ be conjugate complex algebraic integers which generate Lucas or Lehmer sequences. We present an algorithm to search for elements of such sequences which have no primitive divisors. We use this algorithm to prove that for all $\al$ and $\be$ with $\hgt(\be/\al) \leq 4$, the $n$-th element of these sequences has a primitive divisor for $n > 30$. In the course of proving this result, we give an improvement of a result of Stewart concerning more general sequences.
Let $P$ be a non-torsion point on the elliptic curve $E_{a}: y^{2}=x^{3}+ax$. We show that if $a$ is fourth-power-free and either $n>2$ is even or $n>1$ is odd with $x(P)<0$ or $x(P)$ a perfect square, then the $n$-th element of the elliptic divisibility sequence generated by $P$ always has a primitive divisor.
Silverman proved the analogue of Zsigmondy's Theorem for elliptic divisibility sequences. For elliptic curves in global minimal form, it seems likely this result is true in a uniform manner. We present such a result for certain infinite families of curves and points. Our methods allow the first explicit examples of the elliptic Zsigmondy Theorem to be exhibited.
Primitive prime divisors play an important role in group theory and number theory. We study a certain number theoretic quantity, called $Φ^*_n(q)$, which is closely related to the cyclotomic polynomial $Φ_n(x)$ and to primitive prime divisors of $q^n-1$. Our definition of $Φ^*_n(q)$ is novel, and we prove it is equivalent to the definition given by Hering. Given positive constants $c$ and $k$, we give an algorithm for determining all pairs $(n,q)$ with $Φ^*_n(q)\le cn^k$. This algorithm is used to extend (and correct) a result of Hering which is useful for classifying certain families of subgr…
We consider primitive divisors of terms of integer sequences defined by quadratic polynomials. Apart from some small counterexamples, when a term has a primitive divisor, that primitive divisor is unique. It seems likely that the number of terms with a primitive divisor has a natural density. We discuss two heuristic arguments to suggest a value for that density, one using recent advances made about the distribution of roots of polynomial congruences.
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.
Garcia, Kahoro, and Luca showed that the Bateman-Horn conjecture implies $ϕ(p-1) \geq ϕ(p+1)$ for a majority of twin-primes pairs $p,p+2$ and that the reverse inequality holds for a small positive proportion of the twin primes. That is, $p$ tends to have more primitive roots than does $p+2$. We prove that Dickson's conjecture, which is much weaker than Bateman-Horn, implies that the quotients $\frac{ϕ(p+1)}{ϕ(p-1)}$, as $p,p+2$ range over the twin primes, are dense in the positive reals. We also establish several Schinzel-type theorems, some of them unconditional, about the behavior of $\frac{…
Let $(b_n) = (b_1, b_2, ...)$ be a sequence of integers. A primitive prime divisor of a term $b_k$ is a prime which divides $b_k$ but does not divide any of the previous terms of the sequence. A zero orbit of a polynomial $f(z)$ is a sequence of integers $(c_n)$ where the $n$-th term is the $n$-th iterate of $f$ at 0. We consider primitive prime divisors of zero orbits of polynomials. In this note, we show that for integers $c$ and $d$, where $d > 1$ and $c \neq \pm 1$, every iterate in the zero orbit of $f(z) = z^d + c$ contains a primitive prime whenever zero has an infinite orbit. If $c = \…
Let $Q(n)$ denote the count of the primitive subsets of the integers $\{1,2\ldots n\}$. We give a new proof that $Q(n) = α^{(1+o(1))n}$ which allows us to give a good error term and to improve upon the lower bound for the value of this constant $α$. We also show that the method developed can be applied to many similar problems that can be stated in terms of the divisor graph, including other questions about primitive sets, geometric-progression-free sets, and the divisor graph path-cover problem.
A primitive prime divisor of an element a_n of a sequence (a_1,a_2,a_3,...) is a prime P that divides a_n, but does not divide a_m for all m < n. The Zsigmondy set Z of the sequence is the set of n such that a_n has no primitive prime divisors. Let f : X --> X be a self-morphism of a variety, let D be an effective divisor on X, and let P be a point of X, all defined over the algebraic closure of Q. We consider the Zsigmondy set Z(X,f,P,D) of the sequence defined by the arithmetic intersection of the f-orbit of P with D. Under various assumptions on X, f, D, and P, we use Vojta's conjecture wit…
We say a natural number~$n$ is abundant if $σ(n)>2n$, where $σ(n)$ denotes the sum of the divisors of~$n$. The aliquot parts of~$n$ are those divisors less than~$n$, and we say that an abundant number~$n$ is pseudoperfect if there is some subset of the aliquot parts of~$n$ which sum to~$n$. We say~$n$ is weird if~$n$ is abundant but not pseudoperfect. We call a weird number~$n$ primitive if none of its aliquot parts are weird. We find all primitive weird numbers of the form $2^kpq$ ($p<q$ being odd primes) for $1\le k\le14$. We also find primitive weird numbers of the same form, larger than an…
In 2007, Zhi-Wei Sun defined a \emph{covering number} to be a positive integer $L$ such that there exists a covering system of the integers where the moduli are distinct divisors of $L$ greater than 1. A covering number $L$ is called \emph{primitive} if no proper divisor of $L$ is a covering number. Sun constructed an infinite set $\mathcal L$ of primitive covering numbers, and he conjectured that every primitive covering number must satisfy a certain condition. In this paper, for a given $L\in \mathcal L$, we derive a formula that gives the exact number of coverings that have $L$ as the least…
Let $\mathcal C_Q$ be the cyclic group of order $Q$, $n$ a divisor of $Q$ and $r$ a divisor of $Q/n$. We introduce the set of $(r,n)$-free elements of $\mathcal C_Q$ and derive a lower bound for the the number of elements $θ\in \mathbb F_q$ for which $f(θ)$ is $(r,n)$-free and $F(θ)$ is $(R,N)$-free, where $ f, F \in \mathbb F_q[x]$. As an application, we consider the existence of $\mathbb F_q$-primitive points on curves like $y^n=f(x)$ and find, in particular, all the odd prime powers $q$ for which the elliptic curves $y^2=x^3 \pm x$ contain an $\mathbb F_q$-primitive point.
Let F(z) be a rational function in Q(z) of degree at least 2 with F(0) = 0 and such that F does not vanish to order d at 0. Let b be a rational number having infinite orbit under iteration of F, and write F^n(b) = A_n/B_n as a fraction in lowest terms. We prove that for all but finitely many n > 0, the numerator A_n has a primitive divisor, i.e., there is a prime p such that p divides A_n and p does not divide A_i for all i < n. More generally, we prove an analogous result when F is defined over a number field and 0 is a periodic point for F.
We prove the finiteness of the Zsigmondy set associated to the critical orbit of f(z) = z^d+c for rational values of c by finding an effective bound on the size of the set. For non-recurrent critical orbits, the Zsigmondy set is explicitly computed by utilizing effective dynamical height bounds. In the general case, we use Thue-style Diophantine approximation methods to bound the size of the Zsigmondy set when d >2, and complex-analytic methods when d=2.
In this work we discuss Dirichlet products evaluated at Fibonacci numbers. As first applications of the results we get a representation of Fibonacci numbers in terms of Euler's totient function, an upper bound on the number of primitive prime divisors and representations of some related Euler products. Moreover, we sum functions over all primitive divisors of a Fibonacci number and obtain a non--trivial fixed point of this operation.
Assuming Vojta's conjecture, we give a sufficient condition for the limit \[ \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{h_{Y}(f^{n}(x))}{h_{H}(f^{n}(x))} \] is equal to zero, where $f \colon X \longrightarrow X$ is a surjective self-morphism on a smooth projective variety $X$, $h_{H}$ is an ample height function on $X$, and $h_{Y}$ is a global height function associated with a closed subscheme $Y \subset X$ of codimension at least two. Based on this, we propose a conjecture on a sufficient condition for the limit to be zero. We point out that our conjecture implies Dynamical Mordell-Lang conjecture for endomor…
We study the existence of a Zsigmondy bound for a sequence of divisors associated to points on an elliptic curve over a function field. More precisely, let $k$ be an algebraically closed field, let $\mathcal{C}$ be a nonsingular projective curve over $k$, and let $K$ denote the function field of $\mathcal{C}$. Suppose $E$ is an ordinary elliptic curve over $K$ and suppose there does not exist an elliptic curve $E_0$ defined over $k$ that is isomorphic to $E$ over $K$. Suppose $P\in E(K)$ is a non-torsion point and $Q\in E(K)$ is a torsion point of order $r$. The sequence of points $\{nP+Q\}\su…
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.
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.
Let $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ be a finite field with $q^n$ elements and $r$ be a positive divisor of $q^n-1$. An element $α\in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}^*$ is called $r$-primitive if its multiplicative order is $(q^n-1)/r$. Also, $α\in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ is $k$-normal over $\mathbb{F}_q$ if the greatest common divisor of the polynomials $g_α(x) = αx^{n-1}+ α^q x^{n-2} + \ldots + α^{q^{n-2}}x + α^{q^{n-1}}$ and $x^n-1$ in $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}[x]$ has degree $k$. These concepts generalize the ideas of primitive and normal elements, respectively. In this paper, we consider non-negative integers $m_1,m_2,k_1,k_2$, po…
Motivated by a question of Venkataramana, we consider the greatest common divisor of $ϕ(f(n))$ where $f$ is a primitive polynomial with integer coefficients, and $n$ ranges over all natural numbers. Assuming Schinzel's hypothesis, we establish that this gcd may be bounded just in terms of the degree of the polynomial $f$. Unconditionally we establish such a bound for quadratic polynomials, as well as polynomials that split completely into linear factors. The paper also addresses a question of Calegari, and establishes that there are infinitely many $n$ such that $n^2+1$ is not divisible by any…
We determine primitive solutions to the equation $(x-r)^2 + x^2 + (x+r)^2 = y^n$ for $1 \le r \le 5,000$, making use of a factorization argument and the Primitive Divisors Theorem due to Bilu, Hanrot and Voutier.
We prove an optimal Zsigmondy bound for elliptic divisibility sequences over function fields in case the $j$-invariant of the elliptic curve is constant. In more detail, given an elliptic curve $E$ with a point $P$ of infinite order, the sequence $D_1$, $D_2, \ldots$ of denominators of multiples $P$, $2P,\ldots$ of $P$ is a strong divisibility sequence in the sense that $\gcd(D_m, D_n) = D_{\gcd(m,n)}$. This is the genus-one analogue of the genus-zero Fibonacci, Lucas and Lehmer sequences. A number $N$ is called a Zsigmondy bound of the sequence if each term $D_{n}$ with $n>N$ presents a new p…
We define a primitive index of an integer in a sequence to be the index of the term with the integer as a primitive divisor. For the sequences $k^u+h^u$ and $k^u-h^u$, we discern a formula to find the primitive indexes of any composite number given the primitive indexes of its prime factors. We show how this formula reduces to a formula relating the multiplicative order of $k$ modulo $N$ to that of its prime factors. We then introduce immediate consequences of the formula: certain sequences which yield the same primitive indexes for numbers with the same unique prime factors, an expansion of t…
Let K be a number field or a function field of characteristic 0, let f be a K-rational function of degree greater than 1, and let a be an element of K. Let S be a finite set of places of K containing all the archimedean ones and the primes where f has bad reduction. After excluding all the natural counter-examples, we define a subset A(f,a) of pairs of integers (m,n) with m nonnegative and n positive, and show that for all but finitely many (m,n) in A(f,a) there is a prime p of K which is not in S such that the p-adic valuation of f^{m+n}(a)-f^m(a) is precisely equal to 1, and moreover a has p…
We find analogues of the primitive divisor results of Zsigmondy, Bang, Bilu-Hanrot-Voutier, and Carmichael in polynomial rings, following the methods of Carmichael.
We study the existence of primes and of primitive divisors in classical divisibility sequences defined over function fields. Under various hypotheses, we prove that Lucas sequences and elliptic divisibility sequences over function fields defined over number fields contain infinitely many irreducible elements. We also prove that an elliptic divisibility sequence over a function field has only finitely many terms lacking a primitive divisor.
The {\em Liouville function} is defined by $\gl(n):=(-1)^{Ω(n)}$ where $Ω(n)$ is the number of prime divisors of $n$ counting multiplicity. Let $\z_m:=e^{2πi/m}$ be a primitive $m$--th root of unity. As a generalization of Liouville's function, we study the functions $\gl_{m,k}(n):=\z_m^{kΩ(n)}$. Using properties of these functions, we give a weak equidistribution result for $Ω(n)$ among residue classes. More formally, we show that for any positive integer $m$, there exists an $A>0$ such that for all $j=0,1,...,m-1,$ we have $$#\{n\leq x:Ω(n)\equiv j (\bmod m)\}=\frac{x}{m}+O(\frac{x}{\log^A x…
A positive integer n is called a covering number if there are some distinct divisors n_1,...,n_k of n greater than one and some integers a_1,...,a_k such that Z is the union of the residue classes a_1(mod n_1),...,a_k(mod n_k). A covering number is said to be primitive if none of its proper divisors is a covering number. In this paper we give some sufficient conditions for n to be a (primitive) covering number; in particular, we show that for any r=2,3,... there are infinitely many primitive covering numbers having exactly r distinct prime divisors. In 1980 P. Erdos asked whether there are inf…
We consider the family of polynomials $f_{d,c}(x)=x^d+c$ over the rational field $\Q$. Fixing integers $d, n\ge 2$, we show that the density of primes that can appear as primitive prime divisors of $f_{d,c}^n(0)$ for some $c\in\Q$ is positive. In fact, under certain assumptions, we explicitly calculate the latter density when $d=2$. Furthermore, fixing $d,n\ge 2$, we show that for a given integer $N>0$, there is $c\in \Q$ such that $\f^n(0)$ has at least $N$ primitive prime divisors each of which is appearing up to any predetermined power. This shows that there is no uniform upper bound on the…
Let $\mathbb{K}$ be a number field of degree $n$ over $\mathbb{Q}$. Let $\widehat{\mathbb{A}}$ be the set of integers of $\mathbb{K}$ which are primitive over $\mathbb{Q}$ and $I(\mathbb{K})$ be its index. Gunji and McQuillan defined the following integer $i(\mathbb{K})=\underset{θ\in \widehat{\mathbb{A}}}{\text{lcm}}\;i(θ)$, where $i(θ)=\underset{x\in \mathbb{Z}}{\text{gcd}}\;F_θ(x)$ and $F_θ(x)$ is the characteristic polynomial of $θ$ over $\mathbb{Q}$. We prove that if $p$ is a prime number less than or equal to $n$ then there exists a number field $\mathbb{K}$ of degree $n$ for which $p$ d…
In this note we describe a method for finding prime numbers as fixed points of particularly simple sequences. Some basic calculations show that success rates for identifying primes this way are over 99.9%. In particular, it seems that the set of odd primes can be obtained as fixed points of the sequence which we call A(1), the sequence of smallest divisors of triangular numbers, where the divisors are positive numbers that have not yet appeared in the sequence.
For a prime number $p$ we study the zeros modulo $p$ of divisor polynomials of rational elliptic curves $E$ of conductor $p$. Ono made the observation that these zeros of are often $j$-invariants of supersingular elliptic curves over $\overline{\mathbb{F}_p}$. We show that these supersingular zeros are in bijection with zeros modulo $p$ of an associated quaternionic modular form $v_E$. This allows us to prove that if the root number of $E$ is $-1$ then all supersingular $j$-invariants of elliptic curves defined over $\mathbb{F}_{p}$ are zeros of the corresponding divisor polynomial. If the roo…
A rationality condition is derived for the existence of odd perfect numbers involving the square root of a product, which consists of a sequence of repunits, multiplied by twice the base of one of the repunits. This constraint also provides an upper bound for density of odd integers which could satisfy ${{σ(N)}\over N}=2$, where $N$ belongs to a fixed interval with a lower limit greater than $10^{300}$. Characteristics of prime divisors of repunits are used to establish whether the product containing the repunits can be a perfect square. It is shown that the arithmetic primitive divisors with …
Let $\ell$ be any fixed prime number. We define the $\ell$-Genocchi numbers by $G_n:=\ell(1-\ell^n)B_n$, with $B_n$ the $n$-th Bernoulli number. They are integers. We introduce and study a variant of Kummer's notion of regularity of primes. We say that an odd prime $p$ is $\ell$-Genocchi irregular if it divides at least one of the $\ell$-Genocchi numbers $G_2,G_4,\ldots, G_{p-3}$, and $\ell$-regular otherwise. With the help of techniques used in the study of Artin's primitive root conjecture, we give asymptotic estimates for the number of $\ell$-Genocchi irregular primes in a prescribed arithm…
It is shown that there are finitely many perfect powers in an elliptic divisibility sequence whose first term is divisible by 2 or 3. For Mordell curves the same conclusion is shown to hold if the first term is greater than 1. Examples of Mordell curves and families of congruent number curves are given with corresponding elliptic divisibility sequences having no perfect power terms. The proofs combine primitive divisor results with modular methods for Diophantine equations.
Let $k\geq 3$ and $n\geq 3$ be odd integers, and let $m\geq 0$ be any integer. For a prime number $\ell$, we prove that the class number of the imaginary quadratic field $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{\ell^{2m}-2k^n})$ is either divisible by $n$ or by a specific divisor of $n$. Applying this result, we construct an infinite family of certain tuples of imaginary quadratic fields of the form $$\left(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{d}), \mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{d+1}), \mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{4d+1}), \mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{2d+4}), \mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{2d+16}), \cdots, \mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{2d+4^t}) \right)$$ with $d\in \mathbb{Z}$ and $1\leq 4^t\leq 2|d|…
We prove that the equation $(x-3r)^3+(x-2r)^3 + (x-r)^3 + x^3 + (x+r)^3 + (x+2r)^3+(x+3r)^3= y^p$ only has solutions which satisfy $xy=0$ for $1\leq r\leq 10^6$ and $p\geq 5$ prime. This article complements the work on the equations $(x-r)^3 + x^3 + (x+r)^3 = y^p$ and $(x-2r)^3 + (x-r)^3 + x^3 + (x+r)^3 + (x+2r)^3= y^p$ . The methodology in this paper makes use of the Primitive Divisor Theorem due to Bilu, Hanrot and Voutier for a complete resolution of the Diophantine equation.
In this note we compute a constant $N$ that bounds the number of non--primitive divisors in elliptic divisibility sequences over function fields of any characteristic. We improve a result of Ingram--Mah{é}--Silverman--Stange--Streng, 2012, and we show that the constant can be chosen independently of the specific point and to some extent of the specific curve, as predicted in loc. cit.