Upper bound for sum of divisors function and the Riemann hypothesis (Q2472518)

Let \(\varphi(n)\) and \(\sigma(n)\) denote the Euler function and the sum of divisors function, respectively. A well-known criterion of \textit{G. Robin} [J. Math. Pures Appl. (9) 63, 187--213 (1984; Zbl 0516.10036)] states that the Riemann Hypothesis (that all complex zeros of \(\zeta(s)\) have real parts 1/2) is equivalent to the statement that \[ \sigma(n) < e^\gamma n\log\log n \quad(n\geq 5041),\tag{1} \] where \(\gamma = -\Gamma'(1)\) is Euler's constant. Starting from the elementary identity (\(n =\prod_{j=1}^k p_j^{\alpha_j}\) is the canonical decomposition of \(n\) into powers of primes) \[ {\sigma(n)\over n} = \prod_{j=1}^k \left(1 - {1\over p_j^{1+\alpha_j}}\right) {n\over\varphi(n)} \] and using the upper bound inequality for \(n/\varphi(n)\) of \textit{J. Rosser} and \textit{L. Schoenfeld} [Ill. J. Math. 6, 64--94 (1962; Zbl 0122.05001)] the author obtains some new inequalities for \(\sigma(n)\). For example, his Theorem 1 says that, if \(n = 2m\) and \(m\) is an odd number such that \(m > 3^9/2\), then \[ \sigma(2m) < {39\over40}\text{ e}^\gamma 2m\log\log 2m, \quad\sigma(m) < \text{ e}^\gamma m\log\log m.\tag{2} \] Naturally, the difficult part of establishing (1) (and hence proving the Riemann hypothesis) consists of the case not covered by (2). All the proofs given in the paper are elementary.