On the Chowla and twin primes conjectures over \(\mathbb{F}_q[T]\) (Q2171416)

The main result of this paper is the resolution of two open problems in number theory in the case of positive characteristic: the twin primes conjecture and Chowla's conjecture. Let \({\mathbb F}_q[T]\) be the ring of polynomials of one variable over the finite field \({\mathbb F}_q\). For \(f\in{\mathbb F}_q[T]\), set \(|f|:=q^{\deg f}=\big| {\mathbb F}_q[T]/(f)\big|\). The principal theorem establishes the twin primes conjecture and also the analog of the Goldbach problem over function fields. Set \({\mathfrak S}_q(h)=\prod_P (1-|P|^{-1})^{-2}(1-|P|^{-1}-|P|^{-1} {\mathbf 1}_{P\nmid h})\), where \(P\) ranges over all monic irreducible primes of \({\mathbb F}_q[T]\), \(h\in{\mathbb F}_q[T]\) is nonzero and \({\mathbf 1}_{P\nmid h}\) equals \(1\) if \(h\) is not divisible by \(P\), and \(0\) otherwise. The main result is the following. Let \(q\) be a \(p\)--power with \(p\) an odd prime and such that \(q>685090 p^2\). Then \[ \#\{f\in{\mathbb F}_q[T]: |f|=X, f\text{\ and \(f+h\) are prime}\} \sim {\mathfrak S}_q(h)\frac{X}{\log_q^2 X} \] as \(X\to\infty\) through powers of \(q\). The key ingredient in the proof of the main result is the confirmation of the Chowla's \(k\)-point cancelation conjecture over \({\mathbb F}_q [T]\) for some prime powers \(q\), which reads as follows. The Möbius function \(\mu\) applied to a monic polynomial \(f\), is defined as \(0\) if \(f\) is not square free and otherwise is given by \[ \mu(f)=\begin{cases} 1, & \#\{P:P|f\}\equiv 0\bmod 2,\\ -1, & \#\{P:P|f\}\equiv 1\bmod 2. \end{cases} \] For an odd prime number \(p\), an integer \(k\geq 1\) and \(q> p^2k^2e^2\), we have for any fixed choice of \(k\) distinct polynomials \(h_1,\ldots, h_k\in{\mathbb F}_q[T]\), that \[ \sum_{\substack{f\in{\mathbb F}_q[T]^+\\ |f|\leq X}} \mu(f+h_1)\mu(f+h_2)\cdots \mu(f+h_k)=o(X), \quad X\to\infty, \] where \({\mathbb F}_q[T]^+\) denotes the set of monic polynomials in \({\mathbb F}_q[T]\) and \(e=\exp(1)=2.71828\ldots\) is Euler's number. Among several other results, the authors show that if \(q\) is a power of \(3\) and if we fix \(3/7< \eta< 1\), then for any \(f\in {\mathbb F}_q[T]^+\) of large enough norm, there exist \(g, h\in {\mathbb F}_q[T]\) with \(|g|, |h|<|f|^{\eta}\) such that \(\mu(f+g) =1\) and \(\mu(f+h)=-1\).