The sum-of-digits function on arithmetic progressions (Q2299252)

Let \(s_2(n)\) be the sum of digits of \(n\) in base \(2\). This paper investigates the behaviour of \((m+1)\)-tuples of the form \[(s_2(n),s_2(n+t),\ldots,s_2(n+mt))\] for fixed integer \(m \geq 1\). The main result states that all possible \((m+1)\)-tuples of integers can occur for suitable \(n\) and \(t\), up to a shift: specifically, given integers \(k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_m\), there exist integers \(n,t \geq 0\) such that \[k_j = s_2(n+j t) - s_2(n)\] for \(1 \leq j \leq m\). Based on the heuristic that the differences \(s_2(n+jt)\) should be almost independent for most \(t\), the authors propose the following generalisation of Cusick's conjecture (which is the special case \(m=1\)): let \(c_t^{(m)}\) be the density of nonnegative integers \(n\) for which \(s_2(n) \leq s_2(n+jt)\) holds for all \(1 \leq j \leq m\). It is conjectured that \[c_t^{(m)} > \frac{1}{2^m}\] for all \(t \geq 0\). Moreover, if \(C_t^{(m)}\) denotes the density of integers \(n\) with \[s_2(n) \leq s_2(n+t) \leq s_2(n+2t) \leq \cdots \leq s_2(n+mt),\] then it is conjectured that \[C_t^{(m)} > \frac{1}{2^m m!}\] for all \(t \geq 0\).