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Ofir Gorodetsky

Publications and source records attributed to Ofir Gorodetsky.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2023

Sums of two squares are strongly biased towards quadratic residues

Chebyshev famously observed empirically that more often than not, there are more primes of the form $3 \bmod 4$ up to $x$ than of the form $1 \bmod 4$. This was confirmed theoretically much later by Rubinstein and Sarnak in a logarithmic density sense. Our understanding of this is conditional on the generalized Riemann hypothesis as well as on the linear independence of the zeros of $L$-functions. We investigate similar questions for sums of two squares in arithmetic progressions. We find a significantly stronger bias than in primes, which happens for almost all integers in a \emph{natural density} sense. Because the bias is more pronounced, we do not need to assume linear independence of zeros, only a Chowla-type conjecture on nonvanishing of $L$-functions at $1/2$. To illustrate, we have under GRH that the number of sums of two squares up to $x$ that are $1 \bmod 3$ is greater than those that are $2 \bmod 3$ 100% of the time in natural density sense.

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arXiv2022

Squarefrees are Gaussian in short intervals

We show that counts of squarefree integers up to $X$ in short intervals of size $H$ tend to a Gaussian distribution as long as $H\rightarrow\infty$ and $H = X^{o(1)}$. This answers a question posed by R.R. Hall in 1989. More generally we prove a variant of Donsker's theorem, showing that these counts scale to a fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter $1/4$. In fact we are able to prove these results hold in general for collections of $B$-free integers as long as the sieving set $B$ satisfies a very mild regularity property, for Hurst parameter varying with the set $B$.

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arXiv2022

Mean values of arithmetic functions in short intervals and in arithmetic progressions in the large-degree limit

A classical problem in number theory is showing that the mean value of an arithmetic function is asymptotic to its mean value over a short interval or over an arithmetic progression, with the interval as short as possible or the modulus as large as possible. We study this problem in the function field setting, and prove for a wide class of arithmetic functions (namely factorization functions), that such an asymptotic result holds, allowing the size of the short interval to be as small as a square-root of the size of the full interval, and analogously for arithmetic progressions. For instance, our results apply for the indicator function of polynomials with a divisor of given degree, and are much stronger than those known for the analogous function over the integers. As opposed to many previous works, our results apply in the \emph{large-degree limit}, where the base field $\mathbb{F}_q$ is fixed. Our proofs are based on relationships between certain character sums and symmetric functions, and in particular we use results from symmetric function theory due to Eğecioğlu and Remmel. We also use recent bounds of Bhowmick, Lê and Liu on character sums, which are in the spirit of the Drinfeld--Vlăduţ bound.

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arXiv2022

Uniform estimates for almost primes over finite fields

We establish a new asymptotic formula for the number of polynomials of degree $n$ with $k$ prime factors over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. The error term tends to $0$ uniformly in $n$ and in $q$, and $k$ can grow beyond $\log n$. Previously, asymptotic formulas were known either for fixed $q$, through the works of Warlimont and Hwang, or for small $k$, through the work of Arratia, Barbour and Tavaré. As an application, we estimate the total variation distance between the number of cycles in a random permutation on $n$ elements and the number of prime factors of a random polynomial of degree $n$ over $\mathbb{F}_q$. The distance tends to $0$ at rate $1/(q\sqrt{\log n})$. Previously this was only understood when either $q$ is fixed and $n$ tends to $\infty$, or $n$ is fixed and $q$ tends to $\infty$, by results of Arratia, Barbour and Tavaré.

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arXiv2020

The variance of the number of sums of two squares in $\mathbb{F}_q[T]$ in short intervals

Consider the number of integers in a short interval that can be represented as a sum of two squares. What is an estimate for the variance of these counts over random short intervals? We resolve a function field variant of this problem in the large $q$ limit, finding a connection to the $z$-measures first investigated in the context of harmonic analysis on the infinite symmetric group. A similar connection to $z$-measures is established for sums over short intervals of the divisor functions $d_z(n)$. We use these results to make conjectures in the setting of the integers which match very well with numerically produced data. Our proofs depend on equidistribution results of N. Katz and W. Sawin.

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arXiv2020

On the variance of squarefree integers in short intervals and arithmetic progressions

We evaluate asymptotically the variance of the number of squarefree integers up to $x$ in short intervals of length $H < x^{6/11 - \varepsilon}$ and the variance of the number of squarefree integers up to $x$ in arithmetic progressions modulo $q$ with $q > x^{5/11 + \varepsilon}$. On the assumption of respectively the Lindelöf Hypothesis and the Generalized Lindelöf Hypothesis we show that these ranges can be improved to respectively $H < x^{2/3 - \varepsilon}$ and $q > x^{1/3 + \varepsilon}$. Furthermore we show that obtaining a bound sharp up to factors of $H^{\varepsilon}$ in the full range $H < x^{1 - \varepsilon}$ is equivalent to the Riemann Hypothesis. These results improve on a result of Hall (1982) for short intervals, and earlier results of Warlimont, Vaughan, Blomer, Nunes and Le Boudec in the case of arithmetic progressions.

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arXiv2020

Traces of powers of matrices over finite fields

Let $M$ be a random matrix chosen according to Haar measure from the unitary group $\mathrm{U}(n,\mathbb{C})$. Diaconis and Shahshahani proved that the traces of $M,M^2,\ldots,M^k$ converge in distribution to independent normal variables as $n \to \infty$, and Johansson proved that the rate of convergence is superexponential in $n$. We prove a finite field analogue of these results. Fixing a prime power $q = p^r$, we choose a matrix $M$ uniformly from the finite unitary group $\mathrm{U}(n,q)\subseteq \mathrm{GL}(n,q^2)$ and show that the traces of $\{ M^i \}_{1 \le i \le k,\, p \nmid i}$ converge to independent uniform variables in $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$ as $n \to \infty$. Moreover we show the rate of convergence is exponential in $n^2$. We also consider the closely related problem of the rate at which characteristic polynomial of $M$ equidistributes in `short intervals' of $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}[T]$. Analogous results are also proved for the general linear, special linear, symplectic and orthogonal groups over a finite field. In the two latter families we restrict to odd characteristic. The proofs depend upon applying techniques from analytic number theory over function fields to formulas due to Fulman and others for the probability that the characteristic polynomial of a random matrix equals a given polynomial.

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arXiv2019

q-Congruences, with applications to supercongruences and the cyclic sieving phenomenon

We establish a supercongruence conjectured by Almkvist and Zudilin, by proving a corresponding $q$-supercongruence. Similar $q$-supercongruences are established for binomial coefficients and the Apéry numbers, by means of a general criterion involving higher derivatives at roots of unity. Our methods lead us to discover new examples of the cyclic sieving phenomenon, involving the $q$-Lucas numbers.

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arXiv2019

Irreducible polynomials over $\mathbb{F}_{2^r}$ with three prescribed coefficients

For any positive integers $n \ge 3$ and $r \ge 1$, we prove that the number of monic irreducible polynomials of degree $n$ over $\mathbb{F}_{2^r}$ in which the coefficients of $T^{n-1}$, $T^{n-2}$ and $T^{n-3}$ are prescribed has period $24$ as a function of $n$, after a suitable normalization. A similar result holds over $\mathbb{F}_{5^r}$, with the period being $60$. We also show that this is a phenomena unique to characteristics $2$ and $5$. The result is strongly related to the supersingularity of certain curves associated with cyclotomic function fields, and in particular it complements an equidistribution result of Katz.

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arXiv2019

A polynomial analogue of Landau's theorem and related problems

Recently, an analogue over $\mathbb{F}_q[T]$ of Landau's theorem on sums of two squares was considered by Bary-Soroker, Smilansky and Wolf. They counted the number of monic polynomials in $\mathbb{F}_q[T]$ of degree $n$ of the form $A^2+TB^2$, which we denote by $B(n,q)$. They studied $B(n,q)$ in two limits: fixed $n$ and large $q$; and fixed $q$ and large $n$. We generalize their result to the most general limit $q^n \to \infty$. More precisely, we prove \begin{equation*} B(n,q) \sim K_q \cdot \binom{n-\frac{1}{2}}{n} \cdot q^n , \qquad q^n \to \infty, \end{equation*} for an explicit constant $K_q = 1+O\left(1/q\right)$. Our methods are different and are based on giving explicit bounds on the coefficients of generating functions. These methods also apply to other problems, related to polynomials with prime factors of even degree.

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arXiv2019

Chebotarev density theorem in short intervals for extensions of $\mathbb{F}_q(T)$

An old open problem in number theory is whether Chebotarev density theorem holds in short intervals. More precisely, given a Galois extension $E$ of $\mathbb{Q}$ with Galois group $G$, a conjugacy class $C$ in $G$ and an $1\geq \varepsilon>0$, one wants to compute the asymptotic of the number of primes $x\leq p\leq x+x^{\varepsilon}$ with Frobenius conjugacy class in $E$ equal to $C$. The level of difficulty grows as $\varepsilon$ becomes smaller. Assuming the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, one can merely reach the regime $1\geq\varepsilon>1/2$. We establish a function field analogue of Chebotarev theorem in short intervals for any $\varepsilon>0$. Our result is valid in the limit when the size of the finite field tends to $\infty$ and when the extension is tamely ramified at infinity. The methods are based on a higher dimensional explicit Chebotarev theorem, and applied in a much more general setting of arithmetic functions, which we name $G$-factorization arithmetic functions.

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arXiv2019

Correlation of arithmetic functions over $\mathbb{F}_q[T]$

For a fixed polynomial $Δ$, we study the number of polynomials $f$ of degree $n$ over $\mathbb F_q$ such that $f$ and $f+Δ$ are both irreducible, an $\mathbb F_q[T]$-analogue of the twin primes problem. In the large-$q$ limit, we obtain a lower-order term for this count if we consider non-monic polynomials, which depends on $Δ$ in a manner which is consistent with the Hardy-Littlewood Conjecture. We obtain a saving of $q$ if we consider monic polynomials only and $Δ$ is a scalar. To do this, we use symmetries of the problem to get for free a small amount of averaging in $Δ$. This allows us to obtain additional saving from equidistribution results for $L$-functions. We do all this in a combinatorial framework that applies to more general arithmetic functions than the indicator function of irreducibles, including the Möbius function and divisor functions.

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arXiv2018

Roots of Polynomials and The Derangement Problem

We present a new killing-a-fly-with-a-sledgehammer proof of one of the oldest results in probability which says that the probability that a random permutation on $n$ elements has no fixed points tends to $e^{-1}$ as $n$ tends to infinity. Our proof stems from the connection between permutations and polynomials over finite fields and is based on an independence argument, which is trivial in the polynomial world.

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arXiv2017

On Certain Degenerate Whittaker Models for Cuspidal Representations of $\mathrm{GL}_{k\cdot n}\left(\mathbb{F}_q\right)$

Let $π$ be an irreducible cuspidal representation of $\mathrm{GL}_{kn}\left(\mathbb{F}_q\right)$. Assume that $π= π_θ$, corresponds to a regular character $θ$ of $\mathbb{F}_{q^{kn}}^{*}$. We consider the twisted Jacquet module of $π$ with respect to a non-degenerate character of the unipotent radical corresponding to the partition $(n^k)$ of $kn$. We show that, as a $\mathrm{GL}_{n}\left(\mathbb{F}_q\right)$-representation, this Jacquet module is isomorphic to $π_{θ\upharpoonright_{\mathbb{F}_n^*}} \otimes \mathrm{St}^{k-1}$, where $\mathrm{St}$ is the Steinberg representation of $\mathrm{GL}_{n}\left(\mathbb{F}_q\right)$. This generalizes a theorem of D. Prasad, who considered the case $k=2$. We prove and rely heavily on a formidable identity involving $q$-hypergeometric series and linear algebra.

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