English

Dense sets of natural numbers with unusually large least common multiples

Number Theory 2025-11-12 v5

Abstract

For any constant C0>0C_0>0, we construct a set ANA \subset {\mathbb N} such that one has nA:nx1n=exp((C02+o(1))(loglogx)1/2logloglogx) \sum_{n \in A: n \leq x} \frac{1}{n} = \exp\left(\left(\frac{C_0}{2}+o(1)\right) (\log\log x)^{1/2} \log\log\log x \right) and n,mA:n,mx1lcm(n,m)C0(nA:nx1n)2 \sum_{n,m \in A: n, m \leq x} \frac{1}{\operatorname{lcm}(n,m)} \ll_{C_0} \left(\sum_{n \in A: n \leq x} \frac{1}{n}\right)^2 as xx \to \infty, with the growth rate given here optimal up to the dependence on C0C_0. This answers in the negative a question of Erd\H{o}s and Graham, and also clarifies the nature of certain ``mostly coprime'' sets studied by Bergelson and Richter.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2407.04226,
  title  = {Dense sets of natural numbers with unusually large least common multiples},
  author = {Terence Tao},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.04226},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

20 pages, no figures. Adds an appendix providing an argument of Will Sawin that improved the upper bound to match the lower bound (after correcting a typo in the latter)