English

Moments of primes in progressions to a large modulus

Number Theory 2025-07-08 v2 Probability

Abstract

Assuming a uniform qq-variant of the prime kk-tuple conjecture, we compute moments of the number of primes in arithmetic progressions to a large modulus qq as the residue classes vary. Consequently, depending on the size of φ(q)\varphi(q), 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