English

Duality Between Prime Factors and The Prime Number Theorem For Arithmetic Progressions -- Higher Order Dualities

Number Theory 2026-04-21 v1

Abstract

In 1977, the first author observed a duality between the largest and smallest prime factors of integers, and established as a consequence some new results on the M\"obius function μ(n)\mu(n) using the Prime Number Theorem for Arithmetic Progressions. In that 1977 paper, higher order dualities were observed involving the kk-th largest and kk-th smallest prime factors, facilitated by the M\"obius function and ω(n)k1\omega(n)^{k-1}, where ω(n)\omega(n) is the number of distinct prime factors on nn. In 2024, the first author and Jason Johnson proved new results involving μ(n)\mu(n) and ω(n)\omega(n), by exploiting the second order duality identity of Alladi (1977). We establish here extensions to all higher orders kk, the results of Alladi (1977) and of Alladi-Johnson (2024), by utilizing the kk-th order duality in Alladi's 1977 paper. First, we show that for each k2k\geq 2, n=2μ(n)ω(n)kn=0, \sum_{n=2}^{\infty} \frac{\mu(n)\omega(n)^{k}}{n} =0, where μ(n)\mu(n) is the M\"obius Function and ω(n)\omega(n) counts the number of distinct prime factors of nn. Further, using the General Duality Identity and the Prime Number Theorem of Arithmetic Progressions, we prove that for integers j,j,\ell satisfying 1j1 \leq j \leq \ell and (j,)=1(j,\ell)=1 n=2p1(n)j(mod)μ(n)ω(n)k1n=0, \sum_{\substack{n=2 \\ p_1(n) \equiv j\;(mod\;\ell)}}^{\infty} \frac{\mu(n)\omega(n)^{k-1}}{n}=0, \nonumber for every k3k \geq 3; this result for k=1k=1 is due to Alladi (1977) and for k=2k=2 due to Alladi-Johnson (2024). We also recast this result in the following manner as a density-type theorem: for integers j,j,\ell satisfying 1j1 \leq j \leq \ell and (j,)=1(j,\ell)=1 (1)kn=2p1(n)j(mod)μ(n)(ω(n)1k1)n=1φ(), (-1)^k\sum_{\substack{n=2 \\ p_1(n) \equiv j\;(mod\;\ell)}}^{\infty} \frac{\mu(n){\omega(n)-1 \choose k-1}}{n}=\frac{1}{\varphi(\ell)}, \nonumber for every k3k \geq 3. All results are established here in quantitative form.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.17832,
  title  = {Duality Between Prime Factors and The Prime Number Theorem For Arithmetic Progressions -- Higher Order Dualities},
  author = {Krishnaswami Alladi and Sroyon Sengupta},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.17832},
  year   = {2026}
}