English

On the index of appearance of a Lucas sequence

Number Theory 2022-12-13 v1

Abstract

Let u=(un)n0\mathbf{u} = (u_n)_{n \geq 0} be a Lucas sequence, that is, a sequence of integers satisfying u0=0u_0 = 0, u1=1u_1 = 1, and un=a1un1+a2un2u_n = a_1 u_{n - 1} + a_2 u_{n - 2} for every integer n2n \geq 2, where a1a_1 and a2a_2 are fixed nonzero integers. For each prime number pp with p2a2Dup \nmid 2a_2D_{\mathbf{u}}, where Du:=a12+4a2D_{\mathbf{u}} := a_1^2 + 4a_2, let ρu(p)\rho_{\mathbf{u}}(p) be the rank of appearance of pp in u\mathbf{u}, that is, the smallest positive integer kk such that pukp \mid u_k. It is well known that ρu(p)\rho_{\mathbf{u}}(p) exists and that p(Dup)(modρu(p))p \equiv \big(D_{\mathbf{u}} \mid p \big) \pmod {\rho_{\mathbf{u}}(p)}, where (Dup)\big(D_{\mathbf{u}} \mid p \big) is the Legendre symbol. Define the index of appearance of pp in u\mathbf{u} as ιu(p):=(p(Dup))/ρu(p)\iota_{\mathbf{u}}(p) := \left(p - \big(D_{\mathbf{u}} \mid p \big)\right) / \rho_{\mathbf{u}}(p). For each positive integer tt and for every x>0x > 0, let Pu(t,x)\mathcal{P}_{\mathbf{u}}(t, x) be the set of prime numbers pp such that pxp \leq x, p2a2Dup \nmid 2a_2 D_{\mathbf{u}}, and ιu(p)=t\iota_{\mathbf{u}}(p) = t. Under the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, and under some mild assumptions on u\mathbf{u}, we prove that \begin{equation*} \#\mathcal{P}_{\mathbf{u}}(t, x) = A\, F_{\mathbf{u}}(t) \, G_{\mathbf{u}}(t) \, \frac{x}{\log x} + O_{\mathbf{u}}\!\left(\frac{x}{(\log x)^2} + \frac{x \log (2\log x)}{\varphi(t) (\log x)^2}\right) , \end{equation*} for all positive integers tt and for all x>t3x > t^3, where AA is the Artin constant, Fu()F_{\mathbf{u}}(\cdot) is a multiplicative function, and Gu()G_{\mathbf{u}}(\cdot) is a periodic function (both these functions are effectively computable in terms of u\mathbf{u}). Furthermore, we provide some explicit examples and numerical data.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2212.06127,
  title  = {On the index of appearance of a Lucas sequence},
  author = {Carlo Sanna},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.06127},
  year   = {2022}
}