English

A problem in comparative order theory

Number Theory 2021-09-01 v2

Abstract

Write ordp()\mathrm{ord}_p(\cdot) for the multiplicative order in Fp×\mathbb{F}_p^{\times}. Recently, Matthew Just and the second author investigated the problem of classifying pairs α,βQ×{±1}\alpha, \beta \in \mathbb{Q}^{\times}\setminus\{\pm 1\} for which ordp(α)>ordp(β)\mathrm{ord}_p(\alpha) > \mathrm{ord}_p(\beta) holds for infinitely many primes pp. They called such pairs order-dominant. We describe an easily-checkable sufficient condition for α,β\alpha,\beta to be order-dominant. Via the large sieve, we show that almost all integer pairs α,β\alpha,\beta satisfy our condition, with a power savings on the size of the exceptional set.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2107.08998,
  title  = {A problem in comparative order theory},
  author = {Sergei Konyagin and Paul Pollack},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2107.08998},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

12 pages; accepted version incorporating minor edits

R2 v1 2026-06-24T04:19:53.321Z