On a formula for almost-even arithmetical functions (Q1086614)

For an arithmetical function f denote by \(M(f)=\lim_{x\to \infty}(1/x)\sum_{n\leq x}f(n)\) the mean-value of f, if it exists, and let \(f'=f*\mu\) be the convolution of f with the Möbius function \(\mu\). The author proves a result, which is a substantial extension of a well- known theorem of A. Wintner, giving the author's assertion under the much stronger assumption \(\sum n(1/n)\cdot | f(n)| <\infty\). The author's result is as follows: Let \(q\geq 1\) be given, and suppose that (1) \(\sum_{n\leq x}| f(n)| =O(x),\) (2) for any \(d| q\) the limit \(\lim_{x\to \infty}(1/x)\sum_{n\leq x,\quad (q,n)=1}f(n)\) exists. Then the series \(\sum^{\infty}_{n=1}(nq)^{-1}\cdot f'(nq)\) converges with sum \(M(f\cdot c_ q)/\phi (q)\) (with the Ramanujan sum \(c_ q)\). This means that the coefficient \(a_ q\) of the Ramanujan expansion \(f\sim \sum_{r}a_ rc_ r\) exists and is given by the sum of the above-mentioned series. The proof makes use of the estimate \[ \sum_{n\leq x}n^{-1}\cdot \mu (n)\cdot \chi_ q(n) \ll \exp (-\beta \sqrt{\log x}). \]