arXiv subjects

Lola Thompson

Publications and source records attributed to Lola Thompson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

On the digits of the sum of proper divisors

We study several probabilistic questions concerning the digits of $s(n)$, the sum of proper divisors of an integer $n$. In particular, we show that $s(n)$ obeys Benford's law with respect to logarithmic density. Moreover, we show that, for every function $k(x) \rightarrow \infty$, almost all integers $n \leq x$ have every decimal digit occurring among the first $k(x)$ digits and the last $k(x)$ digits of $s(n)$. We also present an upper bound for the number of composite integers $n$ up to $x$ for which $s(n)$ is missing at least one digit in its decimal expansion. This is in contrast with the main result of a recent paper of Benli, Cesana, Dartyge, Dombrowsky, and Thompson, in which the inputs $n$ were not required to be composite. It turns out that the primes make a substantial contribution to the preimage set $s^{-1}(\mathcal{A})$, where $\mathcal{A}$ is a set of integers with missing digits. Our result for composite $n$ shows that the count is much smaller when prime inputs are excluded.

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arXiv2026

A statistical investigation of a divisor-sum function

The sum of proper divisors function $s(n)$ has been studied for more than 2000 years. In this paper we study statistical properties of the related function $S_s(n) \coloneqq \sum_{d \mid n} s(d)$. This function arises from a generalization of the practical numbers. Although $S_s(n)$ is neither additive nor multiplicative, we prove that $S_s(n)/n$ has a continuous asymptotic distribution function, and that its values are dense in the interval $[0,\infty)$. We evaluate its mean and establish the existence of all higher moments. Moreover, if $\mu_k$ denotes the $k^{th}$ moment of $S_s(n)/n$, we show that $$\mu_k^{1/k} \sim e^{2\gamma} (\log k)^2$$ as $k \rightarrow \infty$, where $\gamma$ is the Euler-Mascheroni constant.

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arXiv2025

Counting Salem numbers arising from arithmetic hyperbolic orbifolds

The relationship between Salem numbers and short geodesics has been fruitful in quantitative studies of arithmetic hyperbolic orbifolds, particularly in dimensions 2 and 3. In this article, we push these connections even further. The primary goals are: (1) to bound the proportion of Salem numbers of degree up to $n+1$ in the commensurability class of classical arithmetic lattices in any odd dimension $n$; (2) to improve lower bounds for the strong exponential growth of averages of multiplicities in the geodesic length spectrum of non-compact arithmetic orbifolds. In order to accomplish these goals, we bound, for a fixed square-free integer $D$, the count of Salem numbers with minimal polynomial $f$ satisfying $f(1)f(-1)=-D$ in $\mathbb{Q}^{\times}/\mathbb{Q}^{\times 2}$. To do this, we make use of results on the distribution of Salem numbers, as well as classical methods for counting Pythagorean triples and Gauss' lattice-counting argument. To this end, we give a generalization of the count of Pythagorean triples and provide an elementary proof which may be of independent interest.

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arXiv2023

Sums of proper divisors with missing digits

Let $s(n)$ denote the sum of proper divisors of an integer $n$. In 1992, Erd\H{o}s, Granville, Pomerance, and Spiro (EGPS) conjectured that if $\mathcal{A}$ is a set of integers with asymptotic density zero then $s^{-1}(\mathcal{A})$ also has asymptotic density zero. In this paper we show that the EGPS conjecture holds when $\mathcal{A}$ is taken to be a set of integers with missing digits. In particular, we give a sharp upper bound for the size of this preimage set. We also provide an overview of progress towards the EGPS conjecture and survey recent work on sets of integers with missing digits.

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arXiv2022

Summing $μ(n)$: a faster elementary algorithm

We present a new elementary algorithm that takes \[ \mathrm{time} \ \ O_ε\left(x^{\frac{3}{5}} (\log x)^{\frac{3}{5}+ε} \right) \ \ \mathrm{and}\ \ \mathrm{space} \ \ O\left(x^{\frac{3}{10}} (\log x)^{\frac{13}{10}} \right)\] for computing $M(x) = \sum_{n \leq x} μ(n),$ where $μ(n)$ is the Möbius function. This is the first improvement in the exponent of $x$ for an elementary algorithm since 1985. We also show that it is possible to reduce space consumption to $O(x^{1/5} (\log x)^{5/3})$ by the use of (Helfgott, 2020; arxiv.org:1712.09130), at the cost of letting time rise to the order of $x^{3/5} (\log x)$.

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arXiv2020

Counting Salem numbers of arithmetic hyperbolic 3-orbifolds

It is known that the lengths of closed geodesics of an arithmetic hyperbolic orbifold are related to Salem numbers. We initiate a quantitative study of this phenomenon. We show that any non-compact arithmetic $3$-dimensional orbifold defines $c Q^{1/2} + O(Q^{1/4})$ square-rootable Salem numbers of degree $4$ which are less than or equal to $Q$. This quantity can be compared to the total number of such Salem numbers, which is shown to be asymptotic to $\frac{4}{3}Q^{3/2}+O(Q)$. Assuming the gap conjecture of Marklof, we can extend these results to compact arithmetic $3$-orbifolds. As an application, we obtain lower bounds for the strong exponential growth of mean multiplicities in the geodesic spectrum of non-compact even dimensional arithmetic orbifolds. Previously, such lower bounds had only been obtained in dimensions $2$ and $3$.

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arXiv2018

Counting and effective rigidity in algebra and geometry

The purpose of this article is to produce effective versions of some rigidity results in algebra and geometry. On the geometric side, we focus on the spectrum of primitive geodesic lengths (resp., complex lengths) for arithmetic hyperbolic 2-manifolds (resp., 3-manifolds). By work of Reid, this spectrum determines the commensurability class of the 2-manifold (resp., 3-manifold). We establish effective versions of these rigidity results by ensuring that, for two incommensurable arithmetic manifolds of bounded volume, the length sets (resp., the complex length sets) must disagree for a length that can be explicitly bounded as a function of volume. We also prove an effective version of a similar rigidity result established by the second author with Reid on a surface analog of the length spectrum for hyperbolic 3-manifolds. These effective results have corresponding algebraic analogs involving maximal subfields and quaternion subalgebras of quaternion algebras. To prove these effective rigidity results, we establish results on the asymptotic behavior of certain algebraic and geometric counting functions which are of independent interest.

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arXiv2017

Divisor-sum fibers

Let $s(\cdot)$ denote the sum-of-proper-divisors function, that is, $s(n) = \sum_{d\mid n,~d<n}d$. Erdős-Granville-Pomerance-Spiro conjectured that for any set $\mathcal{A}$ of asymptotic density zero, the preimage set $s^{-1}(\mathcal{A})$ also has density zero. We prove a weak form of this conjecture: If $ε(x)$ is any function tending to $0$ as $x\to\infty$, and $\mathcal{A}$ is a set of integers of cardinality at most $x^{\frac12+ε(x)}$, then the number of integers $n\le x$ with $s(n) \in \mathcal{A}$ is $o(x)$, as $x\to\infty$. In particular, the EGPS conjecture holds for infinite sets with counting function $O(x^{\frac12 + ε(x)})$. We also disprove a hypothesis from the same paper of EGPS by showing that for any positive numbers $α$ and $ε$, there are integers $n$ with arbitrarily many $s$-preimages lying between $α(1-ε)n$ and $α(1+ε)n$. Finally, we make some remarks on solutions $n$ to congruences of the form $σ(n) \equiv a\pmod{n}$, proposing a modification of a conjecture appearing in recent work of the first two authors. We also improve a previous upper bound for the number of solutions $n \leq x$, making it uniform in $a$.

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arXiv2017

Bounded gaps between primes and the length spectra of arithmetic hyperbolic 3-orbifolds

In 1992, Reid asked whether hyperbolic 3-manifolds with the same geodesic length spectra are necessarily commensurable. While this is known to be true for arithmetic hyperbolic 3-manifolds, the non-arithmetic case is still open. Building towards a negative answer to this question, Futer and Millichap recently constructed infinitely many pairs of non-commensurable, non-arithmetic hyperbolic 3-manifolds which have the same volume and whose length spectra begin with the same first $m$ geodesic lengths. In the present paper, we show that this phenomenon is surprisingly common in the arithmetic setting. In particular, given any arithmetic hyperbolic 3-orbifold derived from a quaternion algebra, any finite subset $S$ of its geodesic length spectrum, and any $k \geq 2$, we produce infinitely many $k$-tuples of arithmetic hyperbolic 3-orbifolds which are pairwise non-commensurable, have geodesic length spectra containing $S$, and have volumes lying in an interval of (universally) bounded length. The main technical ingredient in our proof is a bounded gaps result for prime ideals in number fields lying in Chebotarev sets which extends recent work of Thorner.

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arXiv2017

Lower Bounds for Heights in Relative Galois Extensions

The goal of this paper is to obtain lower bounds on the height of an algebraic number in a relative setting, extending previous work of Amoroso and Masser. Specifically, in our first theorem we obtain an effective bound for the height of an algebraic number $α$ when the base field $\mathbb{K}$ is a number field and $\mathbb{K}(α)/\mathbb{K}$ is Galois. Our second result establishes an explicit height bound for any non-zero element $α$ which is not a root of unity in a Galois extension $\mathbb{F}/\mathbb{K}$, depending on the degree of $\mathbb{K}/\mathbb{Q}$ and the number of conjugates of $α$ which are multiplicatively independent over $\mathbb{K}$. As a consequence, we obtain a height bound for such $α$ that is independent of the multiplicative independence condition.

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arXiv2017

A generalization of the practical numbers

A positive integer $n$ is practical if every $m \leq n$ can be written as a sum of distinct divisors of $n$. One can generalize the concept of practical numbers by applying an arithmetic function $f$ to each of the divisors of $n$ and asking whether all integers in a given interval can be expressed as sums of $f(d)$'s, where the $d$'s are distinct divisors of $n$. We will refer to such $n$ as `$f$-practical.' In this paper, we introduce the $f$-practical numbers for the first time. We give criteria for when all $f$-practical numbers can be constructed via a simple necessary-and-sufficient condition, demonstrate that it is possible to construct $f$-practical sets with any asymptotic density, and prove a series of results related to the distribution of $f$-practical numbers for many well-known arithmetic functions $f$.

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arXiv2017

Systoles of Arithmetic Hyperbolic Surfaces and 3-manifolds

Our main result is that for all sufficiently large $x_0>0$, the set of commensurability classes of arithmetic hyperbolic 2- or 3-orbifolds with fixed invariant trace field $k$ and systole bounded below by $x_0$ has density one within the set of all commensurability classes of arithmetic hyperbolic 2- or 3-orbifolds with invariant trace field $k$. The proof relies upon bounds for the absolute logarithmic Weil height of algebraic integers due to Silverman, Brindza and Hajdu, as well as precise estimates for the number of rational quaternion algebras not admitting embeddings of any quadratic field having small discriminant. When the trace field is $\mathbf{Q}$, using work of Granville and Soundararajan, we establish a stronger result that allows our constant lower bound $x_0$ to grow with the area. As an application, we establish a systolic bound for arithmetic hyperbolic surfaces that is related to prior work of Buser-Sarnak and Katz-Schaps-Vishne. Finally, we establish an analogous density result for commensurability classes of arithmetic hyperbolic 3-orbifolds with small area totally geodesic $2$-orbifolds.

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arXiv2015

On integers $n$ for which $X^n-1$ has a divisor of every degree

A positive integer $n$ is called $φ$-practical if the polynomial $X^n-1$ has a divisor in $\mathbb{Z}[X]$ of every degree up to $n$. In this paper, we show that the count of $φ$-practical numbers in $[1, x]$ is asymptotic to $C x/\log x$ for some positive constant $C$ as $x \rightarrow \infty$.

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arXiv2014

Arithmetic functions at consecutive shifted primes

For each of the functions $f \in \{ϕ, σ, ω, τ\}$ and every natural number $k$, we show that there are infinitely many solutions to the inequalities $f(p_n-1) < f(p_{n+1}-1) < \dots < f(p_{n+k}-1)$, and similarly for $f(p_n-1) > f(p_{n+1}-1) > \dots > f(p_{n+k}-1)$. We also answer some questions of Sierpiński on the digit sums of consecutive primes. The arguments make essential use of Maynard and Tao's method for producing many primes in intervals of bounded length.

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arXiv2014

Bounded gaps between primes in number fields and function fields

The Hardy--Littlewood prime $k$-tuples conjecture has long been thought to be completely unapproachable with current methods. While this sadly remains true, startling breakthroughs of Zhang, Maynard, and Tao have nevertheless made significant progress toward this problem. In this work, we extend the Maynard-Tao method to both number fields and the function field $\mathbb{F}_q(t)$.

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arXiv2013

Abelian surfaces over finite fields with prescribed groups

Let A be an abelian surface over F_q, the field of q elements. The rational points on A/\F_q form an abelian group A(\F_q) \simeq \Z/n_1\Z \times \Z/n_1 n_2 \Z \times \Z/n_1 n_2 n_3\Z \times\Z/n_1 n_2 n_3 n_4\Z. We are interested in knowing which groups of this shape actually arise as the group of points on some abelian surface over some finite field. For a fixed prime power q, a characterization of the abelian groups that occur was recently found by Rybakov. One can use this characterization to obtain a set of congruences modulo the integers $n_1, n_2, n_3, n_4$ on certain combinations of coefficients of the corresponding Weil polynomials. We use Rybakov's criterion to show that groups \Z/n_1\Z \times \Z/n_1 n_2 \Z \times \Z/n_1 n_2 n_3\Z \times\Z/n_1 n_2 n_3 n_4\Z do not occur if n_1 is very large with respect to n_2, n_2, n_4 (Theorem \ref{splitbound}), and occur with density zero in a wider range of the variables (Theorem \ref{splitbound-average}).

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arXiv2013

Variations on a theorem of Davenport concerning abundant numbers

Let σ(n) = \sum_{d \mid n}d be the usual sum-of-divisors function. In 1933, Davenport showed that that n/σ(n) possesses a continuous distribution function. In other words, the limit D(u):= \lim_{x\to\infty} \frac{1}{x}\sum_{n \leq x,~n/σ(n) \leq u} 1 exists for all u \in [0,1] and varies continuously with u. We study the behavior of the sums \sum_{n \leq x,~n/σ(n) \leq u} f(n) for certain complex-valued multiplicative functions f. Our results cover many of the more frequently encountered functions, including φ(n), τ(n), and μ(n). They also apply to the representation function for sums of two squares, yielding the following analogue of Davenport's result: For all u \in [0,1], the limit \[ \tilde{D}(u):= \lim_{R\to\infty} \frac{1}{πR}\#\{(x,y) \in \Z^2: 0<x^2+y^2 \leq R \text{ and } \frac{x^2+y^2}{σ(x^2+y^2)} \leq u\} \] exists, and \tilde{D}(u) is both continuous and strictly increasing on [0,1].

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arXiv2013

The sign changes of Fourier coefficients of Eisenstein series

In this paper we prove a number of theorems that determine the extent to which the signs of the Hecke eigenvalues of an Eisenstein newform determine the newform. We address this problem broadly and provide theorems of both individual and statistical nature. Many of these results are Eisenstein series analogues of well-known theorems for cusp forms. For instance, we determine how often the p-th Fourier coefficients of an Eisenstein newform begin with a fixed sequence of signs \varepsilon_p = {\pm 1, 0}. Moreover, we prove the following variant of the strong multiplicity-one theorem: an Eisenstein newform is uniquely determined by the signs of its Hecke eigenvalues with respect to any set of primes with density greater than 1/2.

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