Upper bounds on n-dimensional Kloosterman sums

Let p^m be any prime power and K_n(a,p^m) be the Kloosterman sum , where the x_i are restricted to values not divisible by p. Let m,n be positive integers with m?2 and suppose that p^γ||(n+1). We obtain the upper bound , for odd p. For p=2 we obtain the same bound, with an extra factor of 2 inserted.     

Combinatorial sums and finite differences

We present a new approach to evaluating combinatorial sums by using finite differences. Let and be sequences with the property that Δb_k=a_k for k?0. Let , and let . We derive expressions for g_n in terms of h_n and for h_n in terms of g_n. We then extend our approach to handle binomial sums of the form , , and , as well as sums involving unsigned and signed Stirling numbers of the first kind, and . For each type of sum we illustrate our methods by deriving an expression for the power sum, with a_k=k^m, and the harmonic number sum, with a_k=H_k=1+1/2+?+1/k. Then we generalize our approach to a class of numbers satisfying a particular type of recurrence relation. This class includes the binomial coefficients and the unsigned Stirling numbers of the first kind.     

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.     

Universally bad integers and the 2-adics

In his 1964 paper, de Bruijn (Math. Comp. 18 (1964) 537) called a pair (a,b) of positive odd integers good, if , where is the set of nonnegative integers whose 4-adic expansion has only 0's and 1's, otherwise he called the pair (a,b) bad. Using the 2-adic integers we obtain a characterization of all bad pairs. A positive odd integer u is universally bad if (ua,b) is bad for all pairs of positive odd integers a and b. De Bruijn showed that all positive integers of the form u=2^k+1 are universally bad. We apply our characterization of bad pairs to give another proof of this result of de Bruijn, and to show that all integers of the form u=φ_p^k(4) are universally bad, where p is prime and φ_n(x) is the nth cyclotomic polynomial. We consider a new class of integers we call de Bruijn universally bad integers and obtain a characterization of such positive integers. We apply this characterization to show that the universally bad integers u=φ_p^k(4) are in fact de Bruijn universally bad for all primes p>2. Furthermore, we show that the universally bad integers φ_2^k(4), and more generally, those of the form 4^k+1, are not de Bruijn universally bad.     

On tame and wild kernels of special number fields

Special number fields are those number fields F for which the wild kernel properly contains the group of divisible elements of K₂(F). We examine the relationship between the wild kernel, the tame kernel and the group of divisible elements for such number fields. For a special number field F we show that WK₂(F)⊂K₂(F)^2b, but WK₂(F)⊄K₂(F)^2b+2 where . We examine analogous questions for instead of K₂(F). As an application, we determine those number fields for which there exist ‘exotic’ Steinberg symbols with values in a finite cyclic group and we show how to construct these exotic symbols.     

Similarity solutions for liquid metal systems near a sharply cornered conductive region

We study the boundary value problem (Pm,a): on (0,+∞), subject to the boundary conditions f(0)=a∈R, f^′(0)=−1 and f^′(+∞)=0. The problem arises in the study of similarity solutions for high frequency excitation of liquid metal systems in an antisymmetric magnetic field. We give a complete picture of solutions of (Pm,a) for the physical interesting case: m<−1 and a?0.     

Simple arguments on consecutive power residues

By some extremely simple arguments, we point out the following:

(i)

If n is the least positive kth power non-residue modulo a positive integer m, then the greatest number of consecutive kth power residues mod m is smaller than m/n.

(ii)

Let OK be the ring of algebraic integers in a quadratic field with d∈{−1,−2,−3,−7,−11}. Then, for any irreducible π∈OK and positive integer k not relatively prime to , there exists a kth power non-residue ω∈OK modulo π such that .

     

On a certain family of generalized Laguerre polynomials

Following the work of Schur and Coleman, we prove the generalized Laguerre polynomial is irreducible over the rationals for all n?1 and has Galois group A_n if n+1 is an odd square, and S_n otherwise. We also show that for certain negative integer values of α and certain congruence classes of n modulo 8, the splitting field of L_n^(α)(x) can be embedded in a double cover.     

The finiteness dimension of local cohomology modules and its dual notion

Let a be an ideal of a commutative Noetherian ring R and M a finitely generated R-module. We explore the behavior of the two notions f_a(M), the finiteness dimension of M with respect to a, and, its dual notion q_a(M), the Artinianness dimension of M with respect to a. When (R,m) is local and r?f_a(M) is less than , the m-finiteness dimension of M relative to a, we prove that is not Artinian, and so the filter depth of a on M does not exceed f_a(M). Also, we show that if M has finite dimension and is Artinian for all i>t, where t is a given positive integer, then is Artinian. This immediately implies that if q?q_a(M)>0, then is not finitely generated, and so f_a(M)≤q_a(M).     

The Cameron-Erd?s conjecture

A subset A of integers is said to be sum-free if a+b∉A for any a,b∈A. Let s(n) be the number of sum-free sets in interval [1,n] of integers. P. Cameron and P. Erd?s conjectured that s(n)=O(2^n/2). We show that for even n and for odd n, where are absolute constants, thereby proving the conjecture.     

Semi-regular relative difference sets with large forbidden subgroups

Motivated by a connection between semi-regular relative difference sets and mutually unbiased bases, we study relative difference sets with parameters (m,n,m,m/n) in groups of non-prime-power orders. Let p be an odd prime. We prove that there does not exist a (2p,p,2p,2) relative difference set in any group of order 2p², and an abelian (4p,p,4p,4) relative difference set can only exist in the group . On the other hand, we construct a family of non-abelian relative difference sets with parameters (4q,q,4q,4), where q is an odd prime power greater than 9 and . When q=p is a prime, p>9, and , the (4p,p,4p,4) non-abelian relative difference sets constructed here are genuinely non-abelian in the sense that there does not exist an abelian relative difference set with the same parameters.     

Stable extendibility of normal bundles over lens spaces

We study the stable extendibility of R-vector bundles over the (2n+1)-dimensional standard lens space Ln(p) with odd prime p, focusing on the normal bundle to an immersion of Ln(p) in the Euclidean space R2n+1+t. We show several concrete cases in which is stably extendible to Lk(p) for any k with k?n, and in several cases we determine the exact value m for which is stably extendible to Lm(p) but not stably extendible to Lm+1(p).     

Quadratic Gauss Sums

Letpbe a prime integer andmbe an integer, not divisible byp. LetKbe the splitting field ofX^m−1 over the prime field _p. Solving the Gauss sums problem of ordermin characteristicpmeans determining Gauss sums of all multiplicative characters ofKof order dividingm. Our aim is to solve this problem when the subgroup 〈p〉 is of index 2 in (/m)^*.