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Bounding sums of the M\"obius function over arithmetic progressions

Number Theory 2014-07-01 v1

Abstract

Let M(x)=1nxμ(n)M(x)=\sum_{1\le n\le x}\mu(n) where μ\mu is the M\"obius function. It is well-known that the Riemann Hypothesis is equivalent to the assertion that M(x)=O(x1/2+ϵ)M(x)=O(x^{1/2+\epsilon}) for all ϵ>0\epsilon>0. There has been much interest and progress in further bounding M(x)M(x) under the assumption of the Riemann Hypothesis. In 2009, Soundararajan established the current best bound of M(x)xexp((logx)1/2(loglogx)c) M(x)\ll\sqrt{x}\exp\left((\log x)^{1/2}(\log\log x)^c\right) (setting cc to 1414, though this can be reduced). Halupczok and Suger recently applied Soundararajan's method to bound more general sums of the M\"obius function over arithmetic progressions, of the form M(x;q,a)=nxna(modq)μ(n). M(x;q,a)=\sum_{\substack{n\le x \\ n\equiv a\pmod{q}}}\mu(n). They were able to show that assuming the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, M(x;q,a)M(x;q,a) satisfies M(x;q,a)ϵxexp((logx)3/5(loglogx)16/5+ϵ) M(x;q,a)\ll_{\epsilon}\sqrt{x}\exp\left((\log x)^{3/5}(\log\log x)^{16/5+\epsilon}\right) for all qexp(log22(logx)3/5(loglogx)11/5)q\le\exp\left(\frac{\log 2}2\lfloor(\log x)^{3/5}(\log\log x)^{11/5}\rfloor\right), with aa such that (a,q)=1(a,q)=1, and ϵ>0\epsilon>0. In this paper, we improve Halupczok and Suger's work to obtain the same bound for M(x;q,a)M(x;q,a) as Soundararajan's bound for M(x)M(x) (with a 1/21/2 in the exponent of logx\log x), with no size or divisibility restriction on the modulus qq and residue aa.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1406.7326,
  title  = {Bounding sums of the M\"obius function over arithmetic progressions},
  author = {Lynnelle Ye},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.7326},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

29 pages; undergraduate thesis version

R2 v1 2026-06-22T04:49:47.779Z