An effective analytic recurrence for prime numbers
Abstract
The Golomb--Keller formula expresses the next prime as a recurrence relation in terms of the first primes using the Riemann zeta function and an Euler product, but requires taking a limit as , rendering it non-constructive. We transform this asymptotic formula into an effective recurrence by proving that a finite parameter suffices when combined with the ceiling function, establishing a constructive method valid for all . The minimal integer parameter (OEIS A389650) reveals deep connections to prime constellations. We prove unconditionally, where . The limit superior satisfies , where is the supergolden ratio. The lower bound is conditional on the twin prime conjecture; the upper bound is unconditional. The constant relates to the densest admissible prime constellation, connecting to the Hardy--Littlewood conjectures. The method extends to Dirichlet L-functions, yielding other effective formulas for calculating but also for predicting residues of modulo any integer with reduced precision requirements.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2508.02690,
title = {An effective analytic recurrence for prime numbers},
author = {Benoit Cloitre},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.02690},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
22 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Major revision: (1) Main conjecture now proven using Nagura's theorem; (2) Complete asymptotic analysis with bounds on limsup; (3) Connection to supergolden ratio via twin prime conjecture; (4) Extended data to n=200 with empirical analysis