Let a,f and g be integers, with a and f coprime. Under the generalized Riemann hypothesis it follows from work of Hooley and Lenstra that the set of primes p such that p=a(mod f) and g is primitive root mod p has a natural density. In this note we explicitly evaluate this density and give some applications of this result.
We study the number of primes with a given primitive root and in an arithmetic progression under the assumption of a suitable form of the generalized Riemann Hypothesis. Previous work of Lenstra, Moree and Stevenhagen has given asymptotics without an explicit error term, we provide an explicit error term by combining their work with the method of Hooley regarding Artin's primitive root conjecture. We give an application to a Diophantine problem involving primes with a given primitive root.
Given positive integers a,b,c and d such that c and d are coprime we show that the primes p=c(mod d)dividing a^k+b^k for some k>=1 have a natural density and explicitly compute this density. We demonstrate our results by considering some claims of Fermat that he made in a 1641 letter to Mersenne.
Let a and f be coprime positive integers. Let g be an integer. Under the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis (GRH) it follows by a result of H.W. Lenstra that the set of primes p such that p=a(mod f) and g is a primitive root modulo p has a natural density. In this note this density is explicitly evaluated with an Euler product as result.
We investigate the question of which growth rates are possible for the number of periodic points of a compact group automorphism. Our arguments involve a modification of Linnik's Theorem, concerning small prime numbers in arithmetic progressions which lie in intervals.
We demonstrate, using character sum arguments, the existence of primitive polynomials of degree n over a finite field GF(q) with the coefficients for x^(n-1), x^(n-2), and x^(n-3) prescribed, so long as char(GF(q)) is at least 5 and n is at least 9. The cases n=7, 8 are also considered.
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.
In this article, we give a largely self-contained proof that the quartic extension $\mathbb{F}_{q^4}$ of the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ contains a primitive element $α$ such that the element $α+α^{-1}$ is also a primitive element of ${\mathbb{F}_{q^4}},$ and $Tr_{\mathbb{F}_{q^4}|\mathbb{F}_{q}}(α)=a$ for any prescribed $a \in \mathbb{F}_q$. The corresponding result for finite field extensions of degrees exceeding 4 has already been established by Gupta, Sharma and Cohen.
We prove the existence of primitive sets (sets of integers in which no element divides another) in which the gap between any two consecutive terms is substantially smaller than the best known upper bound for the gaps in the sequence of prime numbers. The proof uses the probabilistic method. Using the same techniques we improve the bounds obtained by He for gaps in geometric-progression-free sets.
Let $p$ be a prime. If an integer $g$ generates a subgroup of index $t$ in $(\mathbb Z/p\mathbb Z)^*,$ then we say that $g$ is a $t$-near primitive root modulo $p$. We point out the easy result that each primitive residue class contains a positive natural density subset of primes $p$ not having $g$ as a $t$-near primitive root and prove a more difficult variant.
Let $F=\mathbb{F}_{q^m}$, $m>6$, $n$ a positive integer, and $f=p/q$ with $p$, $q$ co-prime irreducible polynomials in $F[x]$ and deg$(p)$ $+$ deg$(q)= n$. A sufficient condition has been obtained for the existence of primitive pairs $(α, f(α))$ in $F$ such that for any prescribed $a, b$ in $E=\mathbb{F}_q$, Tr$F/E (α) = a$ and Tr$F/E (α^{-1}) = b$. Further, for every positive integer $n$, such a pair definitely exists for large enough $(q,m)$. The case $n = 2$ is dealt separately and proved that such a pair exists for all $(q,m)$ apart from at most $64$ choices.
In this paper we continue the investigations about unlike powers in arithmetic progression. We provide sharp upper bounds for the length of primitive non-constant arithmetic progressions consisting of squares/cubes and $n$-th powers.
Given $m, n, q\in \mathbb{N}$ such that $q$ is a prime power and $m\geq 3$, $a\in \mathbb{F}_q$, we establish a sufficient condition for the existence of primitive pair $(α, f(α))$ in $\mathbb{F}_{q^m}$ such that $α$ is normal over $\mathbb{F}_q$ and $\text{Tr}_{\mathbb{F}_{q^m}/\mathbb{F}_q}(α^{-1})=a$, where $f(x)\in \mathbb{F}_{q^m}(x)$ is a rational function of degree sum $n$. Further, when $n=2$ and $q=5^k$ for some $k\in \mathbb{N}$, such a pair definitely exists for all $(q, m)$ apart from at most $20$ choices.
Given $F= \mathbb{F}_{p^{t}}$, a field with $p^t$ elements, where $p $ is a prime power, $t\geq 7$, $n$ are positive integers and $f=f_1/f_2$ is a rational function, where $f_1, f_2$ are relatively prime, irreducible polynomials with $deg(f_1) + deg(f_2) = n $ in $F[x]$. We construct a sufficient condition on $(p,t)$ which guarantees primitive pairing $(ε, f(ε))$ exists in $F$ such that $Tr_{\mathbb{F}_{p^t}/\mathbb{F}_p}(ε) = a$ and $Tr_{\mathbb{F}_{p^t}/\mathbb{F}_p}(f(ε)) = b$ for any prescribed $a,b \in \mathbb{F}_{p}$. Further, we demonstrate for any positive integer $n$, such a pair defi…
In this paper we address the problem of computing asymptotic formulae for the expected values and second moments of central values of primitive Dirichlet $L$-functions $L(1/2,χ_{8d}\otimesψ)$ when $ψ$ is a fixed even primitive non-quadratic character of odd modulus $q$, $χ_{8d}$ is a primitive quadratic character, $d\equiv h\pmod r$ is odd and squarefree and $r\equiv0\pmod q$ is even. Restricting to these arithmetic progressions ensures that the resulting sets of $L$-functions each form a ``family of primitive $L$-functions" in the specific sense defined by Conrey, Farmer, Keating, Rubinstein …
In this paper, we determine all primitive solutions to the equation $(x+r)^2 +(x+2r)^2 +\cdots +(x+dr)^2 = y^n$ for $2\leq d\leq 10$ and for $1\leq r\leq 10^4$. We make use of a factorization argument and the Primitive Divisors Theorem due to Bilu, Hanrot and Voutier.
We prove that for any prime power $q\notin\{3,4,5\}$, the cubic extension $\mathbb{F}_{q^3}$ of the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ contains a primitive element $ξ$ such that $ξ+ξ^{-1}$ is also primitive, and $\textrm{Tr}_{\mathbb{F}_{q^3}/\mathbb{F}_q}(ξ)=a$ for any prescribed $a\in\mathbb{F}_q$. This completes the proof of a conjecture of Gupta, Sharma, and Cohen concerning the analogous problem over an extension of arbitrary degree $n\ge3$.
A reasonably complete theory of the approximation of an irrational by rational fractions whose numerators and denominators lie in prescribed arithmetic progressions is developed in this paper. Results are both, on the one hand, from a metrical and a non-metrical point of view and, on the other hand, from an asymptotic and also a uniform point of view. The principal novelty is a Khintchine type theorem for uniform approximation in this context. Some applications of this theory are also discussed.
In this article, we establish a sufficient condition for the existence of a primitive element $α\in {\mathbb{F}_{q^n}}$ such that the element $α+α^{-1}$ is also a primitive element of ${\mathbb{F}_{q^n}},$ and $Tr_{\mathbb{F}_{q^n}|\mathbb{F}_{q}}(α)=a$ for any prescribed $a \in \mathbb{F}_q$, where $q=p^k$ for some prime $p$ and positive integer $k$. We prove that every finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}~ (n \geq5),$ contains such primitive elements except for finitely many values of $q$ and $n$. Indeed, by computation, we conclude that there are no actual exceptional pairs $(q,n)$ for $n\geq5.$
By definition primitive and $2$-primitive elements of a finite field extension $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ have order $q^n-1$ and $(q^n-1)/2$, respectively. We have already shown that, with minor reservations, there exists a primitive element and a $2$-primitive element $ξ\in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ with prescribed trace in the ground field $\mathbb{F}_q$. Here we amend our previous proofs of these results, firstly, by a reduction of these problems to extensions of prime degree $n$ and, secondly, by deriving an exact expression for the number of squares in $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ whose trace has prescribed value …
Given a prime power $q$ and a positive integer $n$, let $\mathbb{F}_{q^{n}}$ denote the finite field with $q^n$ elements. Also let $a,b$ be arbitrary members of the ground field $\mathbb{F}_{q}$. We investigate the existence of a non-zero element $ξ\in \mathbb{F}_{q^{n}}$ such that $ξ+ ξ^{-1}$ is primitive and $T(ξ)=a, T(ξ^{-1})=b$, where $T(ξ)$ denotes the trace of $ξ$ in $\mathbb{F}_{q}$. This was a question intended to be addressed by Cao and Wang in 2014. Their work dealt instead with another problem already in the literature. Our solution deals with all values of $n \geq 5$. A related stu…
In this paper, we explore the existence of $m$-terms arithmetic progressions in $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ with a given common difference whose terms are all primitive elements, and at least one of them is normal. We obtain asymptotic results for $m \ge 4$ and concrete results for $m \in \{2,3\}$, where the complete list of exceptions when the common difference belongs to $\mathbb{F}_{q}^*$ is obtained. The proofs combine character sums, sieve estimates, and computational arguments using the software SageMath.
We investigate, using the weighted linear sieve, the distribution of almost-primes among the residue classes (mod p) that generate the multiplicative group of reduced residue classes. We are concerned with finding an upper bound for the least prime or almost-prime primitive root (mod p) that holds uniformly for all p, analogous to Linnik's Theorem on a uniform upper bound for the least prime in a single arithmetic progression (mod p).
This paper explores the existence and distribution of primitive elements in finite field extensions with prescribed traces in several intermediate field extensions. Our main result provides an inequality-like condition to ensure the existence of such elements. We then derive concrete existence results for a special class of intermediate extensions.
Let $τ$ be the primitive Dirichlet character of conductor 4, let $χ$ be the primitive even Dirichlet character of conductor 8 and let $k$ be an integer. Then the $U_2$ operator acting on cuspidal overconvergent modular forms of weight $2k+1$ and character $τ$ has slopes in the arithmetic progression ${2,4,...,2n,...}$, and the $U_2$ operator acting on cuspidal overconvergent modular forms of weight $k$ and character $χ\cdot τ^k$ has slopes in the arithmetic progression ${1,2,...,n,...}$. We then show that the characteristic polynomials of the Hecke operators $U_2$ and $T_p$ acting on the space…
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 paper we derive a formula for the number of $N$-free elements over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ with prescribed trace, in particular trace zero, in terms of Gaussian periods. As a consequence, we derive a simple explicit formula for the number of primitive elements, in quartic extensions of Mersenne prime fields, having absolute trace zero. We also give a simple formula in the case when $Q = (q^m-1)/(q-1)$ is prime. More generally, for a positive integer $N$ whose prime factors divide $Q$ and satisfy the so called semi-primitive condition, we give an explicit formula for the number of…
It is known that there is a one-to-one correspondence between equivalence classes of primitive indefinite binary quadratic forms and primitive hyperbolic conjugacy classes of the modular group. Due to such a correspondence, Sarnak obtained the asymptotic formula for the class number sum in order of the fundamental unit by using the prime geodesic theorem for the modular group. In the present paper, we propose asymptotic formulas of the class number sums over discriminants in arithmetic progressions. Since there are relations between the arithmetic properties of the discriminants and the conjug…
The previous paper [4] proved the existence of primitive polynomials and primitive normal polynomials of degree n with k prescribed coefficients in the finite field GF(q) for all sufficiently large q. This paper presents a loger versions of the result on primitve normal polynomials.
The first purpose of our paper is to show how Hooley's celebrated method leading to his conditional proof of the Artin conjecture on primitive roots can be combined with the Hardy-Littlewood circle method. We do so by studying the number of representations of an odd integer as a sum of three primes, all of which have prescribed primitive roots. The second purpose is to analyse the singular series. In particular, using results of Lenstra, Stevenhagen and Moree, we provide a partial factorisation as an Euler product and prove that this does not extend to a complete factorisation.
Let $q$ be a prime power and $n, r$ integers such that $r\mid q^n-1$. An element of $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ of multiplicative order $(q^n-1)/r$ is called \emph{$r$-primitive}. For any odd prime power $q$, we show that there exists a $2$-primitive element of $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ with arbitrarily prescribed $\mathbb{F}_q$ trace when $n\geq 3$. Also we explicitly describe the values that the trace of such elements may have when $n=2$. A feature of this amended version is the reduction of the discussion to extensions of prime degree $n$.
We describe a straightforward method to generate a random prime q such that the multiplicative group GF(q)* also has a random large prime-order subgroup. The described algorithm also yields this order p as well as a p'th primitive root of unity. The methods here are efficient asymptotically, but due to large constants may not be very useful in practical settings.
Let $p>2$ be prime and $g$ a primitive root modulo $p$. We present an argument for the fact that discrete logarithms of the numbers in any arithmetic progression are uniformly distributed in $[1,p]$ and raise some questions on the subject.
Let GF(q), q=p^r, be a finite field with a primitive element g. In this paper we use exponential sums and Jacobi sums to compute the number of the irreducible polynomials of degree m over GF(q) with trace fixed and norm restricted to a coset of a subgroup <g^s>, s|(q-1). We give the number explicitly for s=2, 3, 4 when q=p, and for s|(p^e+1) when r=2en. Finally, we give explicit formulae for the number when both trace and norm are fixed, p=2 and m =< 30.
In this paper, we introduce and study a variant of Kummer's notion of (ir)regularity of primes which we call G-irregularity. It is based on Genocchi numbers $G_n$, rather than Bernoulli number $B_n.$ We say that an odd prime $p$ is G-irregular if it divides at least one of the integers $G_2,G_4,\ldots, G_{p-3}$, and G-regular otherwise. We show that, as in Kummer's case, G-irregularity is related to the divisibility of some class number. Furthermore, we obtain some results on the distribution of G-irregular primes. In particular, we show that each primitive residue class contains infinitely ma…
In this paper, using a deep result on the existence of primitive divisors of Lehmer numbers due to Y. Bilu, G. Hanrot and P. M. Voutier, we first give an explicit formula for all positive integer solutions of the Diophantine equation $(x-d)^2+x^2+(x+d)^2=y^n$ (*) when $n$ is an odd prime and $d=p^r$, $p>3$ a prime. So this improves the results on the papers of A. Koutsianas and V. Patel \cite{KP} and A. Koutsianas \cite{Kou}. Secondly, under the assumption of our first result, we prove that (*) has at most one solution $(x,y)$. Next, for a general $d$, we prove the following two results: (i) i…
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 $Q(n)$ 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 famous conjecture of Artin states that there are infinitely many prime numbers for which a fixed integer $g$ is a primitive root, provided $g \neq -1$ and $g$ is not a perfect square. Thanks to work of Hooley, we know that this conjecture is true, conditional on the truth of the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis. Using a combination of Hooley's analysis and the techniques of Maynard-Tao used to prove the existence of bounded gaps between primes, Pollack has shown that (conditional on GRH) there are bounded gaps between primes with a prescribed primitive root. In the present article, we provide …