English

Sign patterns of the Liouville and M\"obius functions

Number Theory 2015-09-24 v2

Abstract

Let λ\lambda and μ\mu denote the Liouville and M\"obius functions respectively. Hildebrand showed that all eight possible sign patterns for (λ(n),λ(n+1),λ(n+2))(\lambda(n), \lambda(n+1), \lambda(n+2)) occur infinitely often. By using the recent result of the first two authors on mean values of multiplicative functions in short intervals, we strengthen Hildebrand's result by proving that each of these eight sign patterns occur with positive lower natural density. We also obtain an analogous result for the nine possible sign patterns for (μ(n),μ(n+1))(\mu(n), \mu(n+1)). A new feature in the latter argument is the need to demonstrate that a certain random graph is almost surely connected.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1509.01545,
  title  = {Sign patterns of the Liouville and M\"obius functions},
  author = {Kaisa Matomäki and Maksym Radziwiłł and Terence Tao},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.01545},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

33 pages, minor typos correct, Proposition 2.9 added