Diophantine equations with products of consecutive values of a quadratic polynomial

Let a, b, c, d be given nonnegative integers with a,d?1. Using Chebyshev?s inequalities for the function π(x) and some results concerning arithmetic progressions of prime numbers, we study the Diophantine equation

     

Quadratic equations with five prime unknowns

Let b₁,?,b₅ be non-zero integers satisfying gcd(b_i,b_j,b_k)=1, for 1?i<j<k?5 and |b_j|?|b₅| for 1?j?5 and n an integer satisfying . In this paper we improve earlier work by M.C. Liu and Tsang and by the first author and J.Y. Liu. In particular, we prove that if b_j are not all of the same sign, then the quadratic equation

     

Quartic, octic residues and Lucas sequences

Let be a prime and a,b∈Z with a²+b²≠p. Suppose p=x²+(a²+b²)y² for some integers x and y. In the paper we develop the calculation technique of quartic Jacobi symbols and use it to determine . As applications we obtain the congruences for modulo p and the criteria for (if ), where {Un} is the Lucas sequence given by U₀=0, U₁=1 and Un+1=bUn+k²Un−1(n?1). We also pose many conjectures concerning , or .     

On the value distribution and moments of the Epstein zeta function to the right of the critical strip

We study the Epstein zeta function En(L,s) for and a random lattice L of large dimension n. For any fixed we determine the value distribution and moments of En(⋅,cn) (suitably normalized) as n→∞. We further discuss the random function c?En(⋅,cn) for c∈[A,B] with and determine its limit distribution as n→∞.     

On almost prime k-tuples

Let k?2 and ai,bi(1?i?k) be integers such that ai>0 and _∏1?i<j?k(aibj−ajbi)≠0. Let Ω(m) denote the total number of prime factors of m. Suppose has no fixed prime divisors. Results of the form where rk is asymptotic to klogk have been obtained by using sieve methods, in particular weighted sieves. In this paper, we use another kind of weighted sieve due to Selberg to obtain improved admissible values for rk.     

Cubic residues and binary quadratic forms

Let p>3 be a prime, u,v,d∈Z, gcd(u,v)=1, p?u²−dv² and , where is the Legendre symbol. In the paper we mainly determine the value of by expressing p in terms of appropriate binary quadratic forms. As applications, for we obtain a general criterion for and a criterion for εd to be a cubic residue of p, where εd is the fundamental unit of the quadratic field . We also give a general criterion for , where {Un} is the Lucas sequence defined by U₀=0, U₁=1 and Un+1=PUn−QUn−1 (n?1). Furthermore, we establish a general result to illustrate the connections between cubic congruences and binary quadratic forms.     

Growing perfect cubes

An (n,a,b)-perfect double cube is a b×b×b sized n-ary periodic array containing all possible a×a×a sized n-ary array exactly once as subarray. A growing cube is an array whose c_j×c_j×c_j sized prefix is an (n_j,a,c_j)-perfect double cube for , where and n₁<n₂<?. We construct the smallest possible perfect double cube (a 256×256×256 sized 8-ary array) and growing cubes for any a.     

Unprovability threshold for the planar graph minor theorem

This note is part of the implementation of a programme in foundations of mathematics to find exact threshold versions of all mathematical unprovability results known so far, a programme initiated by Weiermann. Here we find the exact versions of unprovability of the finite graph minor theorem with growth rate condition restricted to planar graphs, connected planar graphs and graphs embeddable into a given surface, assuming an unproved conjecture (*): ‘there is a number a>0 such that for all k≥3, and all n≥1, the proportion of connected graphs among unlabelled planar graphs of size n omitting the k-element circle as minor is greater than a’. Let γ be the unlabelled planar growth constant (27.2269≤γ<30.061). Let P(c) be the following first-order arithmetical statement with real parameter c: “for every K there is N such that whenever G₁,G₂,…,G_N are unlabelled planar graphs with |G_i|<K+c⋅log₂i then for some i<j≤N, G_i is isomorphic to a minor of G_j”. Then

1.

for every , P(c) is provable in IΔ₀+exp;

2.

for every , P(c) is unprovable in .

We also give proofs of some upper and lower bounds for unprovability thresholds in the general case of the finite graph minor theorem.     

Families of low dimensional determinantal schemes

A scheme X⊂Pⁿ of codimension c is called standard determinantal if its homogeneous saturated ideal can be generated by the t×t minors of a homogeneous t×(t+c−1) matrix (f_ij). Given integers a₀≤a₁≤?≤a_t+c−2 and b₁≤?≤b_t, we denote by the stratum of standard determinantal schemes where f_ij are homogeneous polynomials of degrees a_j−b_i and is the Hilbert scheme (if n−c>0, resp. the postulation Hilbert scheme if n−c=0).Focusing mainly on zero and one dimensional determinantal schemes we determine the codimension of in and we show that is generically smooth along under certain conditions. For zero dimensional schemes (only) we find a counterexample to the conjectured value of appearing in Kleppe and Miró-Roig (2005) [25].     

On the quadratic character of quadratic units

Let be a prime. Let a,b∈Z with p?a(a²+b²). In the paper we mainly determine by assuming p=c²+d² or p=Ax²+2Bxy+Cy² with AC−B²=a²+b². As an application we obtain simple criteria for εD to be a quadratic residue , where D>1 is a squarefree integer such that D is a quadratic residue of p, εD is the fundamental unit of the quadratic field with negative norm. We also establish the congruences for and obtain a general criterion for p|U(p−1)/4, where {Un} is the Lucas sequence defined by U₀=0, U₁=1 and Un+1=bUn+k²Un−1(n?1).     

A problem of D.H. Lehmer and its mean square value formula

Let q be an odd positive integer and let a be an integer coprime to q. For each integer b coprime to q with 1?b<q, there is a unique integer c coprime to q with 1?c<q such that . Let N(a,q) denote the number of solutions of the congruence equation with 1?b,c<q such that b,c are of opposite parity. The main purpose of this paper is to use the properties of Dedekind sums, the properties of Cochrane sums and the mean value theorem of Dirichlet L-functions to study the asymptotic property of the mean square value , and give a sharp asymptotic formula.     

Two S-unit equations with many solutions

We show that there exist arbitrarily large sets S of s prime numbers such that the equation a+b=c has more than solutions in coprime integers a, b, c all of whose prime factors lie in the set S. We also show that there exist sets S for which the equation a+1=c has more than solutions with all prime factors of a and c lying in S.     

Maps of several variables of finite total variation. II. E. Helly-type pointwise selection principles

Given a=(a₁,…,an), b=(b₁,…,bn)∈Rn with a<b componentwise and a map f from the rectangle into a metric semigroup M=(M,d,+), denote by the Hildebrandt-Leonov total variation of f on , which has been recently studied in [V.V. Chistyakov, Yu.V. Tretyachenko, Maps of several variables of finite total variation. I, J. Math. Anal. Appl. (2010), submitted for publication]. The following Helly-type pointwise selection principle is proved: If a sequence{fj}_j∈Nof maps frominto M is such that the closure in M of the set{fj(x)}_j∈Nis compact for eachandis finite, then there exists a subsequence of{fj}_j∈N, which converges pointwise onto a map f such that. A variant of this result is established concerning the weak pointwise convergence when values of maps lie in a reflexive Banach space (M,‖⋅‖) with separable dual M^∗.     

On consecutive happy numbers

Let e?1 and b?2 be integers. For a positive integer with 0?aj<b, define

     

Ω-results for Beurling's zeta function and lower bounds for the generalised Dirichlet divisor problem

In this paper we study generalised prime systems for which the integer counting function NP(x) is asymptotically well behaved, in the sense that NP(x)=ρx+O(xβ), where ρ is a positive constant and . For such systems, the associated zeta function ζP(s) is holomorphic for . We prove that for , for any ε>0, and also for ε=0 for all such σ except possibly one value. The Dirichlet divisor problem for generalised integers concerns the size of the error term in NkP(x)−Ress=1(ζPk(s)xs/s), which is O(xθ) for some θ<1. Letting αk denote the infimum of such θ, we show that .     

Cubic and quartic congruences modulo a prime

Let p>3 be a prime, and denote the number of solutions of the congruence . In this paper, using the third-order recurring sequences we determine the values of N_p(x³+a₁x²+a₂x+a₃) and N_p(x⁴+ax²+bx+c), and construct the solutions of the corresponding congruences, where a₁,a₂,a₃,a,b,c are integers.     

A singular measure on the Cantor group

Let Ω=N{−1,1} and {ωj} be independent random variables taking values in {−1,1} with equal probability. Endowed with the product topology and under the operation of pointwise product, Ω is a compact Abelian group, the so-called Cantor group. Let a,b,c be real numbers with 1+a+b+c>0, 1+a−b−c>0, 1−a+b−c>0 and 1−a−b+c>0. Finite products on Ω,

     

Class numbers of quadratic fields, Hasse invariants of elliptic curves, and the supersingular polynomial

Using the theory of elliptic curves, we show that the class number h(−p) of the field appears in the count of certain factors of the Legendre polynomials , where p is a prime >3 and m has the form (p−e)/k, with k=2,3 or 4 and . As part of the proof we explicitly compute the Hasse invariant of the Hessian curve y²+αxy+y=x³ and find an elementary expression for the supersingular polynomial ss_p(x) whose roots are the supersingular j-invariants of elliptic curves in characteristic p. As a corollary we show that the class number h(−p) also shows up in the factorization of certain Jacobi polynomials.     

Analysis of sharp polynomial upper estimate of number of positive integral points in a five-dimensional tetrahedra

Let a?b?c?d?e?1 be real numbers and P₅ be the number of positive integral solutions of . In this paper we show that 120P₅?(a-1)(b-1)(c-1)(d-1)(e-1). This confirms a conjecture of Durfee for the dimension 5 case. We show also that the upper estimate of P₅ given by Lin and Yau is strictly sharper than that suggested by Durfee conjecture if , but is not sharper than that suggested by Durfee conjecture if .