Some mean values related to average multiplicative orders of elements in finite fields (Q2574042): Difference between revisions

For any positive integer \(n\) let \(\alpha(n)\) denote the average order of elements in the cyclic group \(\mathbb Z_n\). In this note, we investigate the functions \(\alpha(n)/n\) and \(\alpha(n)/ \varphi(n)\) when \(n\) ranges through numbers of the form \(p-1\) with \(p\) prime, and when \(n\) ranges through numbers of the form \(2^m-1\) with \(m\) a positive integer. In particular, we show that such functions have limiting distributions, and we compute their average values, and their minimal and maximal orders. The following theorems are proved: Theorem 1. For any constant \(A > 0\) the following estimates are valid: \[ \frac 1{\pi(x)}\sum_{1<p<x}\frac{\alpha(p-1)}{p-1} =\prod_{p\geq 2}\biggl(1-\frac{p}{p^3-1}\biggr)+O\biggl(\frac 1{\log^A x}\biggr), \] and \[ \frac 1{\pi(x)}\sum_{1<p<x}\frac{\beta(p-1)}{p-1} =\prod_{p\geq 2}\biggl(1-\frac{p+1}{(p-1)(p^3-1)}\biggr)+O\biggl(\frac 1{\log^A x}\biggr). \] Theorem 2. The following estimates are valid: \[ \frac 1x \sum_{1\leq n<x}\frac{\alpha(2^n-1)}{2^n-1} = \sum_{n\geq 1, n\;\text{odd}}\frac{\gamma(n)}{t(n)} + O\biggl(\frac {\log x}x\biggr), \] and \[ \frac 1x \sum_{1\leq n<x}\frac{\beta(2^n-1)}{2^n-1} = \sum_{n\geq 1, n\;\text{odd}}\frac{\delta(n)}{t(n)} + O\biggl(\frac {\log x}x\biggr). \] Here for any odd positive integer \(k\), \(t(k)\) denotes the rank of apparition of \(k\) in the sequence of general term \(2n-1\), that is, \(t(k)\) is the smallest positive integer \(n\) such that \(2n-1\) is a multiple of \(k\). And finally, the result concerning limiting distributions for the above functions: For a positive integer \(k > 1\) write \(\zeta(k)\) for the Riemann zeta-function evaluated in \(k\). Theorem 3. Let \(Z := \zeta(2)\zeta(3)/\zeta(6).\) 1. Both functions \(\alpha(p-1)/p-1\) and \(\beta(p-1)\) have continuous limiting distributions in the intervals \([0, 1]\) and \([1, Z]\), respectively. 2. Both functions \(\alpha(2n-1)/(2n-1)\) and \(\beta(2n-1)\) have continuous limiting distributions in \([0, 1]\) and \([1, Z]\), respectively. Finally some generalizations (replacing the cyclic group \(\mathbb Z_n\) by any finite abelian group) are mentioned.