On -amicable pairs

Let denote Euler's totient function, i.e., the number of positive integers and prime to . We study pairs of positive integers with such that for some integer . We call these numbers -amicable pairs with multiplier , analogously to Carmichael's multiply amicable pairs for the -function (which sums all the divisors of ).

We have computed all the -amicable pairs with larger member and found pairs for which the greatest common divisor is squarefree. With any such pair infinitely many other -amicable pairs can be associated. Among these pairs there are so-called primitive -amicable pairs. We present a table of the primitive -amicable pairs for which the larger member does not exceed . Next, -amicable pairs with a given prime structure are studied. It is proved that a relatively prime -amicable pair has at least twelve distinct prime factors and that, with the exception of the pair , if one member of a -amicable pair has two distinct prime factors, then the other has at least four distinct prime factors. Finally, analogies with construction methods for the classical amicable numbers are shown; application of these methods yields another 79 primitive -amicable pairs with larger member , the largest pair consisting of two 46-digit numbers.

     

On divisibility of the class number

In this paper, criteria of divisibility of the class number of the real cyclotomic field of a prime conductor and of a prime degree by primes the order modulo of which is , are given. A corollary of these criteria is the possibility to make a computational proof that a given does not divide for any (conductor) such that both are primes. Note that on the basis of Schinzel's hypothesis there are infinitely many such primes .

     

Factors of generalized Fermat numbers

A search for prime factors of the generalized Fermat numbers has been carried out for all pairs with and GCD. The search limit on the factors, which all have the form , was for and for . Many larger primes of this form have also been tried as factors of . Several thousand new factors were found, which are given in our tables.-For the smaller of the numbers, i.e. for , or, if , for , the cofactors, after removal of the factors found, were subjected to primality tests, and if composite with , searched for larger factors by using the ECM, and in some cases the MPQS, PPMPQS, or SNFS. As a result all numbers with are now completely factored.

     

On the Diophantine equation

If and are positive integers with and , then the equation of the title possesses at most one solution in positive integers and , with the possible exceptions of satisfying , and . The proof of this result relies on a variety of diophantine approximation techniques including those of rational approximation to hypergeometric functions, the theory of linear forms in logarithms and recent computational methods related to lattice-basis reduction. Additionally, we compare and contrast a number of these last mentioned techniques.

     

A conjecture of Erdös on 3-powerful numbers

Erdös conjectured that the Diophantine equation has infinitely many solutions in pairwise coprime 3-powerful integers, i.e., positive integers for which implies . This was recently proved by Nitaj who, however, was unable to verify the further conjecture that this could be done infinitely often with integers , and none of which is a perfect cube. This is now demonstrated.

     

Factoring elementary groups of prime cube order into subsets

Let be a prime and let be the -fold direct product of the cyclic group of order . Rédei conjectured if is the direct product of subsets and , each of which contains the identity element of , then either or does not generate all of . The paper verifies Rédei's conjecture for .

     

Quadrature formulae using zeros of Bessel functions as nodes

A gaussian type quadrature formula, where the nodes are the zeros of Bessel functions of the first kind of order (), was recently proved for entire functions of exponential type. Here we relax the restriction on as well as on the function. Some applications are also given.

     

Evaluation of discrete logarithms in a group of

We show that to solve the discrete log problem in a subgroup of order of an elliptic curve over the finite field of characteristic one needs operations in this field.

     

Steiner systems

It is proved that there are precisely 4204 pairwise non-isomorphic Steiner systems invariant under the group and which can be constructed using only short orbits.

It is further proved that there are precisely 38717 pairwise non-isomorphic Steiner systems invariant under the group and which can be constructed using only short orbits.

     

Finding finite -sequences faster

A -sequence is a sequence of positive integers such that the sums , , are different. When is a power of a prime and is a primitive element in then there are -sequences of size with , which were discovered by R. C. Bose and S. Chowla.

In Theorem 2.1 I will give a faster alternative to the definition. In Theorem 2.2 I will prove that multiplying a sequence by integers relatively prime to the modulus is equivalent to varying . Theorem 3.1 is my main result. It contains a fast method to find primitive quadratic polynomials over when is an odd prime. For fields of characteristic 2 there is a similar, but different, criterion, which I will consider in ``Primitive quadratics reflected in -sequences', to appear in Portugaliae Mathematica (1999).