Secondary terms in counting functions for cubic fields (Q383720): Difference between revisions

Let \(N^\pm_3(X)\) count the number of cubic fields \(K\) with positive and negative discriminants, respectively, whose absolute values are below \(X\). \textit{D. P. Roberts} [Math. Comput. 70, No. 236, 1699--1705 (2001; Zbl 0985.11068)] conjectured that \[ N^\pm_3(X) = C^\pm \frac1{12 \zeta(3)} X + K^\pm \frac{4 \zeta(1/3)}{5 \Gamma(2/3)^3 \zeta(5/3)} X^{5/6} + o(X^{5/6}), \] where \(C^+ = 1\), \(C^- = 3\), \(K^+ = 1\) and \(K^- = \sqrt{3}\). In this article, this conjecture is proved, even with an error term \(o(X^{7/9 + \varepsilon})\). The main term in this result is due to [\textit{H. Davenport} and \textit{H. Heilbronn}, Proc. R. Soc. Lond., Ser. A 322, 405--420 (1971; Zbl 0212.08101)], and the secondary term was also proved by \textit{K. Belabas} et al. [Duke Math. J. 153, No. 1, 173--210 (2010; Zbl 1227.11114)] with an error term of order \(X^{7/8 + \varepsilon}\); recently, \textit{M. Bhargava} et al. [Invent. Math. 193, No. 2, 439--499 (2013; Zbl 1294.11191)] have improved this to an error term of order \(X^{13/16 + \varepsilon}\). The authors also show how to incorporate local restrictions into their results, and compare them with data obtained by enumerating discriminants of a moderate size. The proof uses bounds on cubic Gauss sums to obtain bounds on partial Shintani zeta functions, which then are estimated using Landau's method.