Volume 41 - Special Commemorative volume in honour of S. Srinivasan - 2018

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1. A Theorem of Fermat on Congruent Number Curves

Lorenz Halbeisen ; Norbert Hungerbühler.
A positive integer $A$ is called a \emph{congruent number} if $A$ is the area of a right-angled triangle with three rational sides. Equivalently, $A$ is a \emph{congruent number} if and only if the congruent number curve $y^2 = x^3 − A^2 x$ has a rational point $(x, y) \in {\mathbb{Q}}^2$ with $y \ne 0$. Using a theorem of Fermat, we give an elementary proof for the fact that congruent number curves do not contain rational points of finite order.

2. On Pillai's problem with Pell numbers and powers of 2

Mohand Ouamar Hernane ; Florian Luca ; Salah Rihane ; Alain Togbé.
In this paper, we find all integers c having at least two representations as a difference between a Pell number and a power of 2.

3. Fluctuation of the primitive of Hardy's function

Matti Jutila.
We consider oscillatory properties of the primitive of Hardy's function including a certain Gibbs phenomenon due to M. A. Korolev.

4. On the Wintner-Ingham-Segal summability method

S Kanemitsu ; T Kuzumaki ; Y Tanigawa.
The aim of this note is to establish a subclass of $\mathcal{F}$ considered by Segal if functions for which the Ingham-Wintner summability implies $\mathcal{F}$-summability as wide as possible. The subclass is subject to the estimate for the error term of the prime number theorem. We shall make good use of Stieltjes integration which elucidates previous results obtained by Segal.

5. On an identity of Ramanujan

Yoichi Motohashi.
Proofs published so far in articles and books, of the Ramanujan identity presented in this note, which depend on Euler products, are essentially the same as Ramanujan's original proof. In contrast, the proof given here is short and independent of the use of Euler products.

6. On-Regular Bipartitions Modulo $m$

D D Somashekara ; K N Vidya.
Let $b_l (n)$ denote the number of $l$-regular partitions of $n$ and $B_l (n)$ denote the number of $l$-regular bipartitions of $n$. In this paper, we establish several infinite families of congruences satisfied by $B_l (n)$ for $l \in {2, 4, 7}$. We also establish a relation between $b_9 (2n)$ and $B_3 (n)$.

7. When are Multiples of Polygonal Numbers again Polygonal Numbers?

Jasbir Chahal ; Michael Griffin ; Nathan Priddis.
Euler showed that there are infinitely many triangular numbers that are three times other triangular numbers. In general, it is an easy consequence of the Pell equation that for a given square-free m > 1, the relation ∆ = m∆' is satisfied by infinitely many pairs of triangular numbers ∆, ∆'. After recalling what is known about triangular numbers, we shall study this problem for higher polygonal numbers. Whereas there are always infinitely many triangular numbers which are fixed multiples of other triangular numbers, we give an example that this is false for higher polygonal numbers. However, as we will show, if there is one such solution, there are infinitely many. We will give conditions which conjecturally assure the existence of a solution. But due to the erratic behavior of the fundamental unit of Q(√ m), finding such a solution is exceedingly difficult. Finally, we also show in this paper that, given m > n > 1 with obvious exceptions, the system of simultaneous relations P = mP' , P = nP'' has only finitely many possibilities not just for triangular numbers, but for triplets P , P' , P'' of polygonal numbers, and give examples of such solutions.

8. An elementary property of correlations

Giovanni Coppola.
We study the "shift-Ramanujan expansion" to obtain a formulae for the shifted convolution sum $C_{f,g} (N,a)$ of general functions f, g satisfying Ramanujan Conjecture; here, the shift-Ramanujan expansion is with respect to a shift factor a > 0. Assuming Delange Hypothesis for the correlation, we get the "Ramanujan exact explicit formula", a kind of finite shift-Ramanujan expansion. A noteworthy case is when f = g = Λ, the von Mangoldt function; so $C_{\Lamda, \Lambda} (N, 2k)$, for natural k, corresponds to 2k-twin primes; under the assumption of Delange Hypothesis, we easily obtain the proof of Hardy-Littlewood Conjecture for this case.

9. The Zeta Mahler measure of $(z^n − 1)/(z − 1)$

Arunabha Biswas ; M Ram Murty.
We consider the k-higher Mahler measure $m_k (P) $ of a Laurent polynomial $P$ as the integral of ${\log}^k |P | $ over the complex unit circle and zeta Mahler measure as the generating function of the sequence ${m_k (P)}$. In this paper we derive a few properties of the zeta Mahler measure of the polynomial $P_n (z) := (z^N − 1)/(z − 1) $ and propose a conjecture.

10. On certain sums over ordinates of zeta-zeros II

Andriy Bondarenko ; Aleksandar Ivić ; Eero Saksman ; Kristian Seip.
Let γ denote the imaginary parts of complex zeros ρ = β + iγ of ζ(s). The problem of analytic continuation of the function $G(s) :=\sum_{\gamma >0} {\gamma}^{-s}$ to the left of the line $\Re{s} = −1 $ is investigated, and its Laurent expansion at the pole s = 1 is obtained. Estimates for the second moment on the critical line $\int_{1}^{T} {| G (\frac{1}{2} + it) |}^2 dt $ are revisited. This paper is a continuation of work begun by the second author in [Iv01].

11. Two applications of number theory to discrete tomography

Rob Tijdeman.
Tomography is the theory behind scans, e.g. MRI-scans. Most common is continuous tomography where an object is reconstructed from numerous projections. In some cases this is not applicable, because the object changes too quickly or is damaged by making hundreds of projections (by X-rays). In such cases discrete tomography may apply where only few projections are made. The present paper shows how number theory helps to provide insight in the application and structure of discrete tomography.

12. Hybrid level aspect subconvexity for GL(2) × GL(1) Rankin-Selberg L-Functions

Keshav Aggarwal ; Yeongseong Jo ; Kevin Nowland.
Let $M$ be a squarefree positive integer and $P$ a prime number coprime to $M$ such that $P \sim M^{\eta}$ with $0 < \eta < 2/5$. We simplify the proof of subconvexity bounds for $L(\frac{1]{2}, f \otimes \chi)$ when $f$ is a primitive holomorphic cusp form of level $P$ and $\chi$ is a primitive Dirichlet character modulo $M$. These bounds are attained through an unamplified second moment method using a modified version of the delta method due to R. Munshi. The technique is similar to that used by Duke-Friedlander-Iwaniec save for the modification of the delta method.

13. Set Equidistribution of subsets of (Z/nZ) *

Jaitra Chattopadhyay ; Veekesh Kumar ; R Thangadurai.
In 2010, Murty and Thangadurai [MuTh10] provided a criterion for the set equidistribution of residue classes of subgroups in (Z/nZ) *. In this article, using similar methods, we study set equidistribution for some class of subsets of (Z/nZ) *. In particular, we study the set equidistribution modulo 1 of cosets, complement of subgroups of the cyclic group (Z/nZ) * and the subset of elements of fixed order, whenever the size of the subset is sufficiently large.

14. A remark on cube-free numbers in Segal-Piatestki-Shapiro sequences

Jean-Marc Deshouillers.
Using a method due to G. J. Rieger, we show that for $1 < c < 2 $ one has, as $x$ tends to infinity $$\textrm{Card}{n \leq x : \lfloor{n^c}\rfloor} \ \textrm{ is cube-free} } = \frac{x}{\zeta(3)} + O (x^{ (c+1)/3} \log x)$$ , thus improving on a recent result by Zhang Min and Li Jinjiang.

15. A note on some congruences involving arithmetic functions

József Sándor.
We consider some congruences involving arithmetical functions. For example, we study the congruences nψ(n) ≡ 2 (mod ϕ(n)), nϕ(n) ≡ 2 (mod ψ(n)), ψ(n)d(n) − 2 ≡ 0 (mod n), where ϕ(n), ψ(n), d(n) denote Euler's totient, Dedekind's function, and the number of divisors of n, respectively. Two duals of the Lehmer congruence n − 1 ≡ 0 (mod ϕ(n)) are also considered.

16. Integral points on circles

A Schinzel ; M Skalba.
Sixty years ago the first named author gave an example \cite{sch} of a circle passing through an arbitrary number of integral points. Now we shall prove: {\it The number $N$ of integral points on the circle $(x-a)^2+(y-b)^2=r^2$ with radius $r=\frac{1}{n}\sqrt{m}$, where $m,n\in\mathbb Z$, $m,n>0$, $\gcd(m,n^2)$ squarefree and $a,b\in\mathbb Q$ does not exceed $r(m)/4$, where $r(m)$ is the number of representations of $m$ as the sum of two squares, unless $n|2$ and $n\cdot (a,b)\in\mathbb Z^2$; then $ N\leq r(m)$}.

17. Explicit abc-conjecture and its applications

Chi Chim Kwok ; Saranya G. Nair ; T. N. Shorey.
We state well-known abc-conjecture of Masser-Oesterlé and its explicit version, popularly known as the explicit abc-conjecture, due to Baker. Laishram and Shorey derived from the explicit abc-conjecture that (1.1) implies that $c < N^{1.75}$. We give a survey on improvements of this result and its consequences. Finally we prove that $c < N^{1.7}$ and apply this estimate on an equation related to a conjecture of Hickerson that a factorial is not a product of factorials non-trivially.

18. The Barban-Vehov Theorem in Arithmetic Progressions

V Kumar Murty.
A result of Barban-Vehov (and independently Motohashi) gives an estimate for the mean square of a sequence related to Selberg's sieve. This upper bound was refined to an asymptotic formula by S. Graham in 1978. In 1992, I made the observation that Graham's method can be used to obtain an asymptotic formula when the sum is restricted to an arithmetic progression. This formula immediately gives a version of the Brun-Titchmarsh theorem. I am taking the occasion of a volume in honour of my friend S. Srinivasan to revisit and publish this observation in the hope that it might still be of interest.