Probabilistic Proofs of Some Generalized Mertens' Formulas Via Generalized Dickman Distributions
Number Theory
2018-10-09 v3 Probability
Abstract
The classical Mertens' formula states that ∏p≤N(1−p1)−1∼eγlogN, where the product is over all primes p less than or equal to N, and γ is the Euler-Mascheroni constant. By the Euler product formula, this is equivalent to either of the following statements: i.N→∞lim∑n≤Nn1∑n:p∣n⇒p≤Nn1=eγ ii.n:p∣n⇒p≤N∑n1∼eγlogN. Via some random integer constructions and a criterion for weak convergence of distributions to so-called generalized Dickman distributions, we obtain some generalized Mertens' formulas, some of which are new and some of which have been proved using number-theoretic tools. For example, in the spirit of (i), we show that if A is a subset of the primes which has natural density θ∈(0,1] with respect to the set of all primes, then N→∞lim∑n≤N:p∣n⇒p∈An1∑n:p∣n⇒p≤Nandp∈An1=eγθΓ(θ+1), and also, for any k≥2, N→∞lim∑n≤N:p∣n⇒p∈A′(k)n1∑n:p∣n⇒p≤Nandp∈A′(k)n1=eγθΓ(θ+1), where ∑′(k) denotes that the summation is restricted to k-free positive integers. In the spirit of (ii), we show for example that ∑n:p∣n⇒p≤N′(k)n{(k−1)−free}ϕ(n{(k−1)−power})1∼eγlogN, where ϕ is the Euler totient function, and n{(k−1)−free} and n{(k−1)−power} are the (k−1)-free part and the (k−1)-power part of n.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1809.04888,
title = {Probabilistic Proofs of Some Generalized Mertens' Formulas Via Generalized Dickman Distributions},
author = {Ross G. Pinsky},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1809.04888},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
A few editorial changes were made