The number of primes is finite

For a positive integer let and let . The number of primes of the form is finite, because if , then is divisible by . The heuristic argument is given by which there exists a prime such that for all large ; a computer check however shows that this prime has to be greater than . The conjecture that the numbers are squarefree is not true because .

     

Zeta functions of a class of elliptic curves over a rational function field of characteristic two

We show how to calculate the zeta functions and the orders of Tate-Shafarevich groups of the elliptic curves with equation over the rational function field , where is a power of 2. In the range , , odd of degree , the largest values obtained for are (one case), (one case) and (three cases). We observe and discuss a remarkable pattern for the distributions of signs in the functional equation and of fudge factors at places of bad reduction. These imply strong restrictions on the precise form of the Langlands correspondence for GL over local or global fields of characteristic two.

     

Double roots of power series and related matters

For a given collection of distinct arguments , multiplicities and a real interval containing zero, we are interested in determining the smallest for which there is a power series with coefficients in , and roots of order respectively. We denote this by . We describe the usual form of the extremal series (we give a sufficient condition which is also necessary when the extremal series possesses at least non-dependent coefficients strictly inside , where is 1 or 2 as is real or complex). We focus particularly on , the size of the smallest double root of a power series lying on a given ray (of interest in connection with the complex analogue of work of Boris Solomyak on the distribution of the random series ). We computed the value of for the rationals in of denominator less than fifty. The smallest value we encountered was . For the one-sided intervals and the corresponding smallest values were and .

     

Nonexistence conditions of a solution for the congruence

We obtain nonexistence conditions of a solution for of the congruence , where , and are integers, and is a prime power. We give nonexistence conditions of the form for , , , , , and of the form for , , , . Furthermore, we complete some tables concerned with Waring's problem in -adic fields that were computed by Hardy and Littlewood.

     

Multigrid methods for the computation of singular solutions and stress intensity factors I: Corner singularities

We consider the Poisson equation with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition on a two-dimensional polygonal domain with re-entrant angles. A multigrid method for the computation of singular solutions and stress intensity factors using piecewise linear functions is analyzed. When , the rate of convergence to the singular solution in the energy norm is shown to be , and the rate of convergence to the stress intensity factors is shown to be , where is the largest re-entrant angle of the domain and can be arbitrarily small. The cost of the algorithm is . When , the algorithm can be modified so that the convergence rate to the stress intensity factors is . In this case the maximum error of the multigrid solution over the vertices of the triangulation is shown to be .

     

Solving polynomials by radicals with roots of unity in minimum depth

Let be an algebraic number field. Let be a root of a polynomial which is solvable by radicals. Let be the splitting field of over . Let be a natural number divisible by the discriminant of the maximal abelian subextension of , as well as the exponent of , the Galois group of over . We show that an optimal nested radical with roots of unity for can be effectively constructed from the derived series of the solvable Galois group of over .

     

New Fibonacci and Lucas primes

Extending previous searches for prime Fibonacci and Lucas numbers, all probable prime Fibonacci numbers have been determined for and all probable prime Lucas numbers have been determined for . A rigorous proof of primality is given for and for numbers with , , , , , , , , the prime having 3020 digits. Primitive parts and of composite numbers and have also been tested for probable primality. Actual primality has been established for many of them, including 22 with more than 1000 digits. In a Supplement to the paper, factorizations of numbers and are given for as far as they have been completed, adding information to existing factor tables covering .

     

Random Fibonacci sequences and the number

For the familiar Fibonacci sequence (defined by , and for ), increases exponentially with at a rate given by the golden ratio . But for a simple modification with both additions and subtractions - the random Fibonacci sequences defined by , and for , , where each sign is independent and either or - with probability - it is not even obvious if should increase with . Our main result is that

with probability . Finding the number involves the theory of random matrix products, Stern-Brocot division of the real line, a fractal measure, a computer calculation, and a rounding error analysis to validate the computer calculation.

     

Analysis of PSLQ, an integer relation finding algorithm

Let be either the real, complex, or quaternion number system and let be the corresponding integers. Let be a vector in . The vector has an integer relation if there exists a vector , , such that . In this paper we define the parameterized integer relation construction algorithm PSLQ, where the parameter can be freely chosen in a certain interval. Beginning with an arbitrary vector , iterations of PSLQ will produce lower bounds on the norm of any possible relation for . Thus PSLQ can be used to prove that there are no relations for of norm less than a given size. Let be the smallest norm of any relation for . For the real and complex case and each fixed parameter in a certain interval, we prove that PSLQ constructs a relation in less than iterations.

     

On the modular curves

Let denote an elliptic curve over and the modular curve classifying the elliptic curves over such that the representations of in the 7-torsion points of and of are symplectically isomorphic. In case is given by a Weierstraß equation such that the invariant is a square, we exhibit here nontrivial points of . From this we deduce an infinite family of curves for which has at least four nontrivial points.

     

The asymptotic efficiency of randomized nets for quadrature

An -type discrepancy arises in the average- and worst-case error analyses for multidimensional quadrature rules. This discrepancy is uniquely defined by , which serves as the covariance kernel for the space of random functions in the average-case analysis and a reproducing kernel for the space of functions in the worst-case analysis. This article investigates the asymptotic order of the root mean square discrepancy for randomized -nets in base . For moderately smooth the discrepancy is , and for with greater smoothness the discrepancy is , where is the number of points in the net. Numerical experiments indicate that the -nets of Faure, Niederreiter and Sobol' do not necessarily attain the higher order of decay for sufficiently smooth kernels. However, Niederreiter nets may attain the higher order for kernels corresponding to spaces of periodic functions.

     

A new bound for the smallest

Let denote the number of primes and let denote the usual integral logarithm of . We prove that there are at least integer values of in the vicinity of with . This improves earlier bounds of Skewes, Lehman, and te Riele. We also plot more than 10000 values of in four different regions, including the regions discovered by Lehman, te Riele, and the authors of this paper, and a more distant region in the vicinity of , where appears to exceed by more than . The plots strongly suggest, although upper bounds derived to date for are not sufficient for a proof, that exceeds for at least integers in the vicinity of . If it is possible to improve our bound for by finding a sign change before , our first plot clearly delineates the potential candidates. Finally, we compute the logarithmic density of and find that as departs from the region in the vicinity of , the density is , and that it varies from this by no more than over the next integers. This should be compared to Rubinstein and Sarnak.

     

On the discrete logarithm in the divisor class group of curves

Let be a curve which is defined over a finite field of characteristic . We show that one can evaluate the discrete logarithm in by operations in . This generalizes a result of Semaev for elliptic curves to curves of arbitrary genus.

     

A priori error estimates for Galerkin approximations to porous medium and fast diffusion equations

Galerkin approximations to solutions of a Cauchy-Dirichlet problem governed by the generalized porous medium equation

on bounded convex domains are considered. The range of the parameter includes the fast diffusion case . Using an Euler finite difference approximation in time, the semi-discrete solution is shown to converge to the exact solution in norm with an error controlled by for and for . For the fully discrete problem, a global convergence rate of in norm is shown for the range . For , a rate of is shown in norm.

     

Computation of relative class numbers of CM-fields by using Hecke -functions

We develop an efficient technique for computing values at of Hecke -functions. We apply this technique to the computation of relative class numbers of non-abelian CM-fields which are abelian extensions of some totally real subfield . We note that the smaller the degree of the more efficient our technique is. In particular, our technique is very efficient whenever instead of simply choosing (the maximal totally real subfield of ) we can choose real quadratic. We finally give examples of computations of relative class numbers of several dihedral CM-fields of large degrees and of several quaternion octic CM-fields with large discriminants.

     

The Postage Stamp Problem: An algorithm to determine the

Given an integral ``stamp" basis with and a positive integer , we define the -range as

. For given and , the extremal basis has the largest possible extremal -range

We give an algorithm to determine the -range. We prove some properties of the -range formula, and we conjecture its form for the extremal -range. We consider parameter bases , where the basis elements are given functions of . For we conjecture the extremal parameter bases for .

     

Computing automorphisms of abelian number fields

Let be an abelian number field of degree . Most algorithms for computing the lattice of subfields of require the computation of all the conjugates of . This is usually achieved by factoring the minimal polynomial of over . In practice, the existing algorithms for factoring polynomials over algebraic number fields can handle only problems of moderate size. In this paper we describe a fast probabilistic algorithm for computing the conjugates of , which is based on -adic techniques. Given and a rational prime which does not divide the discriminant of , the algorithm computes the Frobenius automorphism of in time polynomial in the size of and in the size of . By repeatedly applying the algorithm to randomly chosen primes it is possible to compute all the conjugates of .

     

Largest known twin primes and Sophie Germain primes

The numbers are twin primes. The number is a Sophie Germain prime, i.e. and are both primes. For , the numbers , and are all primes.

     

Normal bases via general Gauss periods

Gauss periods have been used successfully as a tool for constructing normal bases in finite fields. Starting from a primitive th root of unity, one obtains under certain conditions a normal basis for over , where is a prime and for some integer . We generalize this construction by allowing arbitrary integers with , and find in many cases smaller values of than is possible with the previously known approach.

     

Tame and wild kernels of quadratic imaginary number fields

For all quadratic imaginary number fields of discriminant
we give the conjectural value of the order of Milnor's group (the tame kernel) where is the ring of integers of Assuming that the order is correct, we determine the structure of the group and of its subgroup (the wild kernel). It turns out that the odd part of the tame kernel is cyclic (with one exception, ).