Arithmetic functions in short intervals and the symmetric group (Q1663076)

The purpose of the paper under review is to explore a connection between two well-known phenomena in number theory: that the zeros of a family of \(L\)-functions distribute like the eigenvalues of a random matrix and that the prime factors of a random integer distribute like the cycles of a random permutation. The author considers the variance of sums of arithmetic functions over random short intervals in the function field setting. Based on the analogy between factorizations of random elements of \(\mathbb{F}_q[T]\) into primes and the factorizations of random permutations into cycles, he gives a simple but general formula for these variances in the large \(q\) limit for arithmetic functions that depend only upon factorization structure. The author applies this general variance evaluation to recover several results that are already known and to derive new results that seem difficult by other means. New conjectures in the setting of the integers are put forward based on these results. As an interesting example, he considers sums of the function \(\omega(n)\), counting prime factors, and based on a function field model, he conjectures that for \(H=X^\delta\) with fixed \(\delta\in(0,1)\), as \(X\to\infty\) one has \[ \frac{1}{X}\int_X^{2X}\left(\sum_{x\leq n\leq x+H}\omega(n)\right)^2\,dx -\left(\frac{1}{X}\int_X^{2X}\sum_{x\leq n\leq x+H}\omega(n)\,dx\right)^2=O_\delta(H). \] Also, keeping similar notations, he conjectures that \[ \frac{1}{X}\int_X^{2X}\left(\sum_{x\leq n\leq x+H}\Lambda(n)-H\right)\left(\sum_{x\leq n\leq x+H}\mu(n)\right)\,dx\sim -H. \] The author makes the combinatorial observation that any function of this sort can be explicitly decomposed into a sum of functions \(u\) and \(v\), depending on the size of the short interval, with \(u\) making a negligible contribution to the variance, and \(v\) asymptotically contributing diagonal terms only.