On the values of the Euler function around shifted primes (Q2423466)

Let \(\varphi\) denote the Euler function. Given any positive integer \(\ell\), recently \textit{S. R. Garcia} and \textit{F. Luca} [``On the difference in values of the Euler totient function near prime arguments'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1706.00392}] proved that the set of primes \(p\) for which \(\varphi(p+\ell)/\varphi(p-\ell)>1\) has the natural density \(1/2\), same as the density of primes \(p\) for which \(\varphi(p+\ell)/\varphi(p-\ell)<1\). In the paper under review, the authors first give an alternative proof of the above result for the case \(\ell=1\), which has been studied also with more details by \textit{J.-M. Deshouillers} and \textit{M. Hassani} [J. Aust. Math. Soc. 93, 77--83 (2012; Zbl 1304.11115)] and by \textit{G. Tenenbaum} [Proc. Steklov Inst. Math. 276, 257--260 and Tr. Mat. Inst. Steklova 276, 262--265 (2012; Zbl 1297.11126)]. The authors obtain similar results for the \(k\)-fold iterate of the Euler function, and for the sum of divisor function. Finally, they give a two-sum convergent condition on the real valued additive function \(f\) guaranteeing the existence of the distribution function for the difference \(f(p+\ell)-f(p-\ell)\) for any fixed positive integer \(\ell\), for which they obtain its characteristic function, too.