Moments of primes in progressions to a large modulus
Number Theory
2025-07-08 v2 Probability
Abstract
Assuming a uniform -variant of the prime -tuple conjecture, we compute moments of the number of primes in arithmetic progressions to a large modulus as the residue classes vary. Consequently, depending on the size of , the prime count follows either a Gaussian or a Poisson distribution. In particular, the least prime in progressions follows an exponential distribution, with some unexpected discrepancies observed for smooth moduli.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2402.07941,
title = {Moments of primes in progressions to a large modulus},
author = {Sun-Kai Leung},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.07941},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
25 pages, 4 figures; to appear in Forum Math