English

On Generalized Carmichael Numbers

Number Theory 2021-03-09 v1

Abstract

Given an integer kk, define CkC_k as the set of integers n>max(k,0)n > \max(k,0) such that ank+1a(modn)a^{n-k+1} \equiv a \pmod{n} holds for all integers aa. We establish various multiplicative properties of the elements in CkC_k and give a sufficient condition for the infinitude of CkC_k. Moreover, we prove that there are finitely many elements in CkC_k with one and two prime factors if and only if k>0k>0 and kk is prime. In addition, if all but two prime factors of nCkn \in C_k are fixed, then there are finitely many elements in CkC_k, excluding certain infinite families of nn. We also give conjectures about the growth rate of CkC_k with numerical evidence. We explore a similar question when both aa and kk are fixed and prove that for fixed integers a2a \geq 2 and kk, there are infinitely many integers nn such that ank1(modn)a^{n-k} \equiv 1 \pmod{n} if and only if (k,a)(0,2)(k,a) \neq (0,2) by building off the work of Kiss and Phong. Finally, we discuss the multiplicative properties of positive integers nn such that Carmichael function λ(n)\lambda(n) divides nkn-k.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2103.04883,
  title  = {On Generalized Carmichael Numbers},
  author = {Yongyi Chen and Tae Kyu Kim},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2103.04883},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

16 pages, 5 figures