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Pieter Moree

Publications and source records attributed to Pieter Moree.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2021

Landau and Ramanujan approximations for divisor sums and coefficients of cusp forms

In 1961, Rankin determined the asymptotic behavior of the number $S_{k,q}(x)$ of positive integers $n\le x$ for which a given prime $q$ does not divide $σ_k(n),$ the $k$-th divisor sum function. By computing the associated Euler-Kronecker constant $γ_{k,q},$ which depends on the arithmetic of certain subfields of $\mathbb Q(ζ_q)$, we obtain the second order term in the asymptotic expansion of $S_{k,q}(x).$ Using a method developed by Ford, Luca and Moree (2014), we determine the pairs $(k,q)$ with $(k, q-1)=1$ for which Ramanujan's approximation to $S_{k,q}(x)$ is better than Landau's. This entails checking whether $γ_{k,q}<1/2$ or not, and requires a substantial computational number theoretic input and extensive computer usage. We apply our results to study the non-divisibility of Fourier coefficients of six cusp forms by certain exceptional primes, extending the earlier work of Moree (2004), who disproved several claims made by Ramanujan on the non-divisibility of the Ramanujan tau function by five such exceptional primes.

math.NT↗
arXiv2021

Cyclotomic numerical semigroup polynomials with at most two irreducible factors

A numerical semigroup $S$ is cyclotomic if its semigroup polynomial $P_S$ is a product of cyclotomic polynomials. The number of irreducible factors of $P_S$ (with multiplicity) is the polynomial length $\ell(S)$ of $S.$ We show that a cyclotomic numerical semigroup is complete intersection if $\ell(S)\le 2$. This establishes a particular case of a conjecture of Ciolan, García-Sánchez and Moree (2016) claiming that every cyclotomic numerical semigroup is complete intersection. In addition, we investigate the relation between $\ell(S)$ and the embedding dimension of $S.$

math.AC↗
arXiv2021

Cyclotomic exponent sequences of numerical semigroups

We study the cyclotomic exponent sequence of a numerical semigroup $S,$ and we compute its values at the gaps of $S,$ the elements of $S$ with unique representations in terms of minimal generators, and the Betti elements $b\in S$ for which the set $\{a \in \operatorname{Betti}(S) : a \le_{S}b\}$ is totally ordered with respect to $\le_S$ (we write $a \le_S b$ whenever $a - b \in S,$ with $a,b\in S$). This allows us to characterize certain semigroup families, such as Betti-sorted or Betti-divisible numerical semigroups, as well as numerical semigroups with a unique Betti element, in terms of their cyclotomic exponent sequences. Our results also apply to cyclotomic numerical semigroups, which are numerical semigroups with a finitely supported cyclotomic exponent sequence. We show that cyclotomic numerical semigroups with certain cyclotomic exponent sequences are complete intersections, thereby making progress towards proving the conjecture of Ciolan, García-Sánchez and Moree (2016) stating that $S$ is cyclotomic if and only if it is a complete intersection.

math.AC↗
arXiv2020

Cyclotomic polynomials with prescribed height and prime number theory

Given any positive integer $n,$ let $A(n)$ denote the height of the $n^{\text{th}}$ cyclotomic polynomial, that is its maximum coefficient in absolute value. It is well known that $A(n)$ is unbounded. We conjecture that every natural number can arise as value of $A(n)$ and prove this assuming that for every pair of consecutive primes $p$ and $p'$ with $p\ge 127$ we have $p'-p<\sqrt{p}+1.$ We also conjecture that every natural number occurs as maximum coefficient of some cyclotomic polynomial and show that this is true if Andrica's conjecture that always $\sqrt{p'}-\sqrt{p}<1$ holds. This is the first time, as far as the authors know, a connection between prime gaps and cyclotomic polynomials is uncovered. Using a result of Heath-Brown on prime gaps we show unconditionally that every natural number $m\le x$ occurs as $A(n)$ value with at most $O_ε(x^{3/5+ε})$ exceptions. On the Lindelöf Hypothesis we show there are at most $O_ε(x^{1/2+ε})$ exceptions and study them further by using deep work of Bombieri--Friedlander--Iwaniec on the distribution of primes in arithmetic progressions beyond the square-root barrier.

math.NT↗
arXiv2020

On Positivity and Minimality for Second-Order Holonomic Sequences

An infinite sequence $\langle{u_n}\rangle_{n\in\mathbb{N}}$ of real numbers is holonomic (also known as P-recursive or P-finite) if it satisfies a linear recurrence relation with polynomial coefficients. Such a sequence is said to be positive if each $u_n \geq 0$, and minimal if, given any other linearly independent sequence $\langle{v_n}\rangle_{n \in\mathbb{N}}$ satisfying the same recurrence relation, the ratio $u_n/v_n$ converges to $0$. In this paper, we focus on holonomic sequences satisfying a second-order recurrence $g_3(n)u_n = g_2(n)u_{n-1} + g_1(n)u_{n-2}$, where each coefficient $g_3, g_2,g_1 \in \mathbb{Q}[n]$ is a polynomial of degree at most $1$. We establish two main results. First, we show that deciding positivity for such sequences reduces to deciding minimality. And second, we prove that deciding minimality is equivalent to determining whether certain numerical expressions (known as periods, exponential periods, and period-like integrals) are equal to zero. Periods and related expressions are classical objects of study in algebraic geometry and number theory, and several established conjectures (notably those of Kontsevich and Zagier) imply that they have a decidable equality problem, which in turn would entail decidability of Positivity and Minimality for a large class of second-order holonomic sequences.

math.NT↗
arXiv2019

Unitary cyclotomic polynomials

The notion of block divisibility naturally leads one to introduce unitary cyclotomic polynomials. We formulate some basic properties of unitary cyclotomic polynomials and study how they are connected with cyclotomic, inclusion-exclusion and Kronecker polynomials. Further, we derive some related arithmetic function identities involving the unitary analog of the Dirichlet convolution.

math.NT↗
arXiv2019

Computation of the Kummer ratio of the class number for prime cyclotomic fields

Let $ζ_q$ be a primitive $q^{\text{th}}$ root of unity with $q$ an arbitrary odd prime. The ratio of Kummer's first factor of the class number of the cyclotomic number field $\mathbb{Q}(ζ_q)$ and its expected order of magnitude (a simple function of $q$) is called the Kummer ratio and denoted by $r(q)$. It is known that typically $r(q)$ is close to 1, but nevertheless it is believed that it is unbounded, but only large on a very thin sequence of primes $q$. We propose an algorithm to compute $r(q)$ requiring the evaluation of $O(q\log q)$ products and $O(q)$ logarithms. Using it we obtain a new record maximum for $r(q)$, namely $r(6766811) =1.709379\dotsc$ (the old record being $r(5231)=1.556562\dotsc$). The program used and the results described here, are collected at the following address \url{http://www.math.unipd.it/~languasc/rq-comput.html}. This is a (preliminary) report about the computational part of a joint project with Pieter Moree, Sumaia Saad Eddin, and Alisa Sedunova.

math.NT↗
arXiv2019

Jordan totient quotients

The Jordan totient $J_k(n)$ can be defined by $J_k(n)=n^k\prod_{p\mid n}(1-p^{-k})$. In this paper, we study the average behavior of fractions $P/Q$ of two products $P$ and $Q$ of Jordan totients, which we call Jordan totient quotients. To this end, we describe two general and ready-to-use methods that allow one to deal with a larger class of totient functions. The first one is elementary and the second one uses an advanced method due to Balakrishnan and Pétermann. As an application, we determine the average behavior of the Jordan totient quotient, the $k^{th}$ normalized derivative of the $n^{th}$ cyclotomic polynomial $Φ_n(z)$ at $z=1$, the second normalized derivative of the $n^{th}$ cyclotomic polynomial $Φ_n(z)$ at $z=-1$, and the average order of the Schwarzian derivative of $Φ_n(z)$ at $z=1$.

math.NT↗
arXiv2019

Asymptotic performance of metacyclic codes

A finite group with a cyclic normal subgroup N such that G/N is cyclic is said to be metacyclic. A code over a finite field F is a metacyclic code if it is a left ideal in the group algebra FG for G a metacyclic group. Metacyclic codes are generalizations of dihedral codes, and can be constructed as quasi-cyclic codes with an extra automorphism. In this paper, we prove that metacyclic codes form an asymptotically good family of codes. Our proof relies on a version of Artin's conjecture for primitive roots in arithmetic progression being true under the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis (GRH).

cs.IT↗
arXiv2019

Irregular primes with respect to Genocchi numbers and Artin's primitive root conjecture

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 many G-irregular primes and establish non-trivial lower bounds for their number up to a given bound $x$ as $x$ tends to infinity. As a by-product, we obtain some results on the distribution of primes in arithmetic progressions with a prescribed near-primitive root.

math.NT↗
arXiv2019

Primes in arithmetic progressions and nonprimitive roots

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.

math.NT↗
arXiv2018

Constrained ternary integers

An integer $n$ is said to be ternary if it is composed of three distinct odd primes. In this paper, we asymptotically count the number of ternary integers $n \leq x$ with the constituent primes satisfying various constraints. We apply our results to the study of the simplest class of (inverse) cyclotomic polynomials that can have coefficients that are greater than 1 in absolute value, namely to the $n^{th}$ (inverse) cyclotomic polynomials with ternary $n$. We show, for example, that the corrected Sister Beiter conjecture is true for a fraction $\ge 0.925$ of ternary integers.

math.NT↗
arXiv2018

Coefficients and higher order derivatives of cyclotomic polynomials: old and new

The $n^{th}$ cyclotomic polynomial $Φ_n(x)$ is the minimal polynomial of an $n^{th}$ primitive root of unity. Its coefficients are the subject of intensive study and some formulas are known for them. Here we are interested in formulas which are valid for all natural numbers $n$. In these a host of famous number theoretical objects such as Bernoulli numbers, Stirling numbers of both kinds and Ramanujan sums make their appearance, sometimes even at the same time! In this paper we present a survey of these formulas which until now were scattered in the literature and introduce an unified approach to derive some of them, leading also to shorter proofs as a by-product. In particular, we show that some of the formulas have a more elegant reinterpretation in terms of Bell polynomials. This approach amounts to computing the logarithmic derivatives of $Φ_n$ at certain points. Furthermore, we show that the logarithmic derivatives at $\pm 1$ of any Kronecker polynomial (a monic product of cyclotomic polynomials and a monomial) satisfy a family of linear equations whose coefficients are Stirling numbers of the second kind. We apply these equations to show that certain polynomials are not Kronecker. In particular, we infer that for every $k\ge 4$ there exists a symmetric numerical semigroup with embedding dimension $k$ and Frobenius number $2k+1$ that is not cyclotomic, thus establishing a conjecture of Alexandru Ciolan, Pedro García-Sánchez and the second author. In an appendix Pedro García-Sánchez shows that for every $k\ge 4$ there exists a symmetric non-cyclotomic numerical semigroup having Frobenius number $2k+1.$

math.NT↗
arXiv2017

Irregular behaviour of class numbers and Euler-Kronecker constants of cyclotomic fields: the log log log devil at play

Kummer (1851) and, many years later, Ihara (2005) both posed conjectures on invariants related to the cyclotomic field $\mathbb Q(ζ_q)$ with $q$ a prime. Kummer's conjecture concerns the asymptotic behaviour of the first factor of the class number of $\mathbb Q(ζ_q)$ and Ihara's the positivity of the Euler-Kronecker constant of $\mathbb Q(ζ_q)$ (the ratio of the constant and the residue of the Laurent series of the Dedekind zeta function $ζ_{\mathbb Q(ζ_q)}(s)$ at $s=1$). If certain standard conjectures in analytic number theory hold true, then one can show that both conjectures are true for a set of primes of natural density 1, but false in general. Responsible for this are irregularities in the distribution of the primes. With this survey we hope to convince the reader that the apparently dissimilar mathematical objects studied by Kummer and Ihara actually display a very similar behaviour.

math.NT↗
arXiv2017

On the discriminator of Lucas sequences

We consider the family of Lucas sequences uniquely determined by $U_{n+2}(k)=(4k+2)U_{n+1}(k) -U_n(k),$ with initial values $U_0(k)=0$ and $U_1(k)=1$ and $k\ge 1$ an arbitrary integer. For any integer $n\ge 1$ the discriminator function $\mathcal{D}_k(n)$ of $U_n(k)$ is defined as the smallest integer $m$ such that $U_0(k),U_1(k),\ldots,U_{n-1}(k)$ are pairwise incongruent modulo $m$. Numerical work of Shallit on $\mathcal{D}_k(n)$ suggests that it has a relatively simple characterization. In this paper we will prove that this is indeed the case by showing that for every $k\ge 1$ there is a constant $n_k$ such that ${\mathcal D}_{k}(n)$ has a simple characterization for every $n\ge n_k$. The case $k=1$ turns out to be fundamentally different from the case $k>1$.

math.NT↗
arXiv2017

Browkin's discriminator conjecture

Let $q\ge 5$ be a prime and put $q^*=(-1)^{(q-1)/2}\cdot q$. We consider the integer sequence $u_q(1),u_q(2),\ldots,$ with $u_q(j)=(3^j-q^*(-1)^j)/4$. No term in this sequence is repeated and thus for each $n$ there is a smallest integer $m$ such that $u_q(1),\ldots,u_q(n)$ are pairwise incongruent modulo $m$. We write $D_q(n)=m$. The idea of considering the discriminator $D_q(n)$ is due to Browkin (2015) who, in case $3$ is a primitive root modulo $q,$ conjectured that the only values assumed by $D_q(n)$ are powers of $2$ and of $q$. We show that this is true for $n\neq 5$, but false for infinitely many $q$ in case $n=5$. We also determine $D_q(n)$ in case 3 is not a primitive root modulo $q$. Browkin's inspiration for his conjecture came from earlier work of Moree and Zumalacárregui (2016), who determined $D_5(n)$ for $n\ge 1$, thus establishing a conjecture of Salajan. For a fixed prime $q$ their approach is easily generalized, but requires some innovations in order to deal with all primes $q\ge 7$ and all $n\ge 1$. Interestingly enough, Fermat and Mirimanoff primes play a special role in this.

math.NT↗
arXiv2017

Denominators of Bernoulli polynomials

For a positive integer $n$ let $\mathfrak{P}_n=\prod_{s_p(n)\ge p} p,$ where $p$ runs over all primes and $s_p(n)$ is the sum of the base $p$ digits of $n$. For all $n$ we prove that $\mathfrak{P}_n$ is divisible by all "small" primes with at most one exception. We also show that $\mathfrak{P}_n$ is large, has many prime factors exceeding $\sqrt{n}$, with the largest one exceeding $n^{20/37}$. We establish Kellner's conjecture, which says that the number of prime factors exceeding $\sqrt{n}$ grows asymptotically as $κ\sqrt{n}/\log n$ for some constant $κ$ with $κ=2$. Further, we compare the sizes of $\mathfrak{P}_n$ and $\mathfrak{P}_{n+1}$, leading to the somewhat surprising conclusion that although $\mathfrak{P}_n$ tends to infinity with $n$, the inequality $\mathfrak{P}_n>\mathfrak{P}_{n+1}$ is more frequent than its reverse.

math.NT↗