English

Products of Farey Fractions

Number Theory 2017-08-07 v2

Abstract

The {Farey fractions} FnF_n of order nn consist of all fractions hk\frac{h}{k} in lowest terms lying in the closed unit interval and having denominator at most nn. This paper considers the products FnF_n of all nonzero Farey fractions of order nn. It studies their growth measured by log(Fn)\log(F_n) and their divisibility properties by powers of a fixed prime, given by ordp(Fn)ord_p(F_n), as a function of nn. The growth of log(Fn)\log(F_n) is related to the Riemann hypothesis. This paper theoretically and empirically studies the functions ordp(Fn)ord_p(F_n) and formulates several unproved properties (P1)-(P4) they may have. It presents evidence raising the possibility that the Riemann hypothesis may also be encoded in ordp(Fn)ord_p(F_n) for a single prime pp. This encoding makes use of a relation of these products to the products GnG_n of all reduced and unreduced Farey fractions of order nn, which are connected by M\"obius inversion. It involves new arithmetic functions which mix the M\"obius function with functions of radix expansions to a fixed prime base pp.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1503.00199,
  title  = {Products of Farey Fractions},
  author = {Jeffery Lagarias and Harsh Mehta},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.00199},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

32 pages, 10 figures