arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Jan Fornal.
Consider $k$ pairwise disjoint residue classes $a_i \pmod{m_i}$. We prove that \[ \max_{1\leq i<j\leq k}\gcd(m_i,m_j) \gg k\exp\!\left(-(2+o(1)) \sqrt{\frac{\log k}{\log\log k}}\right). \] The proof uses a complete graph whose edges are colored by the gcds of the corresponding moduli, together with a structural lemma, a sieve-theoretic partition, M\"obius inversion, and the discrete Fourier transform.
Let $(X,\mu)$ be a probability space equipped with an invertible, measure-preserving transformation $T\colon X \to X$. We exhibit a wide class of weights $w$ so that whenever $f,g \in L^{\infty}(X)$, the bilinear ergodic averages \[ \frac{1}{N} \sum_{n \leq N} w(n)\, T^{an}f \cdot T^{bn}g, \qquad a,b \in \mathbb{Z} \] converge $\mu$-almost surely. This class encompasses the von Mangoldt function, resolving Problem 12 from Frantzikinakis' survey on open problems in ergodic theory, the divisor function, the sum-of-two-squares representation function, etc., as well as their restrictions to lower-density Piatetski-Shapiro sequences of the form $\{\lfloor k^{c}\rfloor : k \in \mathbb{N}\}$, $1 \leq c < 7/6$. Our methods combine combinatorial number theory and higher-order Fourier analysis with classical Fourier-analytic/martingale-based methods; the role of $U^{3}$ analysis is particularly significant.
We prove the following Wiener-Wintner Theorem along the sequence of prime times, the first extension of the Wiener-Wintner Theorem to arithmetic sequences: for every probability space, $(X, \nu),$ equipped with a measure-preserving transformation, $T : X \to X,$ and every $f \in L^p(X), 1 < p \leq \infty$, there exists a set of full probability, $X_f \subset X$ with $\nu(X_f) = 1,$ so that for all $\omega \in X_f$, \[ \frac{1}{N} \sum_{n \leq N} e^{ 2 \pi i p_n \theta} f(T^{p_n} \omega) \] converges for all $\theta \in [0,1]$; above, $\{2 = p_1 < p_2 < \dots\}$ are an enumeration of the primes. Our proof lives at the interface of classical Fourier analysis, combinatorial number theory, higher order Fourier analysis, and pointwise ergodic theory, with U^3 theory playing an important role; our $U^3$-estimates for Heath-Brown models of the von Mangoldt function may be of independent interest.
This paper resolves the question of pointwise convergence for ergodic averages of a single function along the set of polynomial values of primes of the form $x^2 + ny^2$. Following the influential paper of Bourgain \cite{bourgain1989pointwise}, we employ the Hardy-Littlewood circle method where major arc and minor arc estimates for the set of prime ideals constitute the main novelty of the paper. We also prove that our convergence results cannot be extended to class of $L^1$ functions.