Related papers: On the critical exponent for $k$-primitive sets

It is an open question of Erd\H{o}s as to whether the alternating series $\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{(-1)^n n}{p_n}$ is (conditionally) convergent, where $p_n$ denotes the $n^{\mathrm{th}}$ prime. By using a random sifted model of the primes…

The Goldbach conjecture states that every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers. This conjecture was first proposed by German mathematician Christian Goldbach in 1742 and, despite being obviously true,…

Let $f(z)=\sum_{n=1}^\infty a(n)q^n\in S^{\text{new}}_ k (\Gamma_0(N))$ be a newform with squarefree level $N$ that does not have complex multiplication. For a prime $p$, define $\theta_p\in[0,\pi]$ to be the angle for which $a(p)=2p^{( k…

Lehmer conjectured that Ramanujan's tau-function never vanishes. In a related direction, a folklore conjecture asserts that infinitely many primes arise as absolute values of Ramanujan's tau-function. Recently, Xiong showed that these prime…

We give a quintet of proofs resulting from questions posed by Erd\H{o}s. These questions concern ordinary lines in planar point sets, sequences with uniformly small exponential sums, $K_4$-free $4$-critical graphs with few chords in any…

The strong probable primality test is an important practical tool for discovering prime numbers. Its effectiveness derives from the following fact: for any odd composite number $n$, if a base $a$ is chosen at random, the algorithm is…

The twin prime conjecture asserts that there are infinitely many pairs of primes that differ by two. While recent advances have improved our understanding of bounded prime gaps, the conjecture remains unresolved. This paper refines the…

Let $n$ be a primitive non-deficient number where $n=p_1^{a_1}p_2^{a_2} \cdots p_k^{a_k}$ where $p_1, p_2 \cdots p_k$ are distinct primes. We prove that there exists an $i$ such that $$p_i^{a_i+1} < 2k(p_1p_2p_3\cdots p_k).$$ We conjecture…

In 1927, Artin conjectured that any integer other than -1 or a perfect square generates the multiplicative group $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}^\times$ for infinitely many $p$. In \cite{MoSt}, Moree and Stevenhagen considered a two-variable…

Let $x\geq 1$ be a large number, and let $1 \leq a <q $ be integers such that $\gcd(a,q)=1$ and $q=O(\log^c)$ with $c>0$ constant. This note proves that the counting function for the number of primes $p \in \{p=qn+a: n \geq1 \}$ with a…

A famous conjecture of Erd\H os and Straus is that for every integer $n\ge2$, $4/n$ can be represented as $1/x+1/y+1/z$, where $x,y,z$ are positive integers. This conjecture was generalized to $5/n$ by Sierpi\'nski, and then Schinzel…

Let $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ be a finite field with $q^n$ elements. An element $\alpha \in \mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ is called $k$-normal over $\mathbb{F}_q$ if $\alpha$ and its conjugates generate a vector subspace of $\mathbb{F}_{q^n}$ of dimension…

In this paper we study sum-free subsets of the set $\{1,...,n\}$, that is, subsets of the first $n$ positive integers which contain no solution to the equation $x + y = z$. Cameron and Erd\H{o}s conjectured in 1990 that the number of such…

In 1876, Edouard Lucas showed that if an integer $b$ exists such that $b^{n-1} \equiv 1 (\mathrm{mod} \ n)$ and $b^{(n-1)/p} \not\equiv 1( \mathrm{mod} \ n)$ for all prime divisors $p$ of $n-1$ , then $n$ is prime, a result known as Lucas's…

The celebrated Artin conjecture on primitive roots asserts that given any integer $g$ which is neither $-1$ nor a perfect square, there is an explicit constant $A(g)>0$ such that the number $\Pi(x;g)$ of primes $p\le x$ for which $g$ is a…

Given an integer $t\ge 1$, a rational number $g$ and a prime $p\equiv 1({\rm mod} t)$ we say that $g$ is a near-primitive root of index $t$ if $\nu_p(g)=0$, and $g$ is of order $(p-1)/t$ modulo $p$. In the case $g$ is not minus a square we…

A folklore conjecture asserts the existence of a constant $c_n > 0$ such that $\#\mathcal{F}_n(X) \sim c_n X$ as $X\to \infty$, where $\mathcal{F}_n(X)$ is the set of degree $n$ extensions $K/\mathbb{Q}$ with discriminant bounded by $X$.…

We study the primitive divisors of the terms of $(\Delta_n)_{n \geq 1}$, where $\Delta_n=N_{K/ \mathbb{Q}}(u^n-1)$ for $K$ a real quadratic field, and $u>1$ a unit element of its ring of integers. The methods used allow us to find the terms…

If p is a prime and n a positive integer, let v(n) denote the exponent of p in n, and u(n)=n/p^{v(n)} the unit part of n. If k is a positive integer not divisible by p, we show that the p-adic limit of (-1)^{pke} u((kp^e)!) as e goes to…

Let a and b be non-zero rational numbers that are multiplicatively independent. We study the natural density of the set of primes p for which the subgroup of the multiplicative group of the finite field with p elements generated by (a\mod…