English

Simple Proof of the Primitive Root Conjecture

Number Theory 2026-02-17 v14

Abstract

Let u±1,v2u\neq \pm 1,v^2 be a fixed integer, let p2p\geq 2 be a prime, and let ordp(u)p1\text{ord}_p(u) \mid p-1 be the multiplicative order of u mod pu \text{ mod } p. Define a prime counting function by π(u,x)=#{px:ordp(u)=p1}\pi(u,x)=\# \{ p\leq x:\text{ord}_p(u)=p-1 \}. In 1967 Hooley proved a conditional asymptotic formula π(u,x)=δ(u)x(logx)1+O(loglogx(logx)2\pi(u,x)=\delta(u)x(\log x)^{-1}+O(\log\log x(\log x)^{-2} for the primitive root conjecture. This note proves an unconditional asymptotic formula π(u,x)=δ(u)x(logx)1+O(x(logx)2\pi(u,x)=\delta(u)x(\log x)^{-1}+O(x(\log x)^{-2} of the same result, where δ(u)>0\delta(u)>0 is the density constant.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1707.06517,
  title  = {Simple Proof of the Primitive Root Conjecture},
  author = {N. A. Carella},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1707.06517},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Seventeen Pages. Refined analysis of the error term. Keywords: Repeated Decimal; Primitive root; Distribution of Prime; Artin Primitive Root Conjecture

R2 v1 2026-06-22T20:52:56.870Z