Prime divisors of some shifted products (Q2368425)

Let \(N\) be a positive integer, and let \(A(n)\) be an integer-valued function for \(n\in\left\{1,2,...,N\right\}\). Consider sequences \({A(n)+1}\) for those functions, \(A(n)\), for which the ratios \(a(n)=\frac{A(n)}{A(n-1)}\) have some number-theoretic or combinatorial meaning. We are interested in prime divisors of \({A(n)+1}\). The authors follow recent works [cf. Publ. Math. 65, No. 3--4, 461--480 (2004; Zbl 1072.11028)], on the case \(a(n)={n}\), to investigate questions for other arithmetic functions such as; \(a(n)={\varphi(n)}\), the Euler function, \(a(n)={\sigma(n)}\), the sum of divisors, \(a(n)={\tau(n)}\) the number of divisors. Let \(\mathcal{P}\) be the set of all prime factors of \(\prod_{n=1}^{N}({A(n)+1})\). For \(p\in\mathcal{P}\) let \(s(p)= \max\{s:p^s {A(n)+1}\), for some \(n\}\), and for \(0\leq{s}\leq{s(p)}\) let \(t({p,s})=\#\{n:1\leq{n}\leq{N}, A(n)\equiv-1\pmod{p^s})\}\). The main idea of this paper is to find lower bounds for the largest prime factor of \({A(n)+1}\). For this reason, the authors prove a general inequality that gives an upper bound for \(t({p,s})\). From this inequality, the authors deduce a chain of inequalities that lead them to lower bounds of the largest prime factor of \({A(n)+1}\). Several examples at the end of the paper show the application of the authors' results to some of the specific arithmetic and combinatorical functions.