Estimates for Wieferich numbers (Q2479862)

Wieferich showed in 1909 that if \(q\) is an odd prime, and \(x^q+y^q+z^q=0\) has a solution in integers \(x,y,z\) with \(q\) not dividing the product \(xyz\), then \(q\) must be a Wieferich prime, that is satisfy \(2^{q-1}\equiv 1\pmod{q^2}\). To this day only the Wieferich primes \(q=1093\) and \(q=3511\) are known. Here the authors define Wieferich numbers to be those odd integers \(n\geq 3\) that satisfy the congruence \(2^{\varphi(n)}\equiv 1\pmod{n^2}\). The authors show that if \(m>1\) is of the form \(2^n\pm 1\), then \(m\) is non-Wieferich. Under various assumptions on say the sum of reciprocals of Wieferich primes, the authors derive estimates for the number of Wieferich and non-Wieferich numbers not exceeding \(x\). Finally, they consider several modifications of their Wieferich definition and demonstrate that their methods, involving some classical results of Wirsing on asymptotics for multiplicative functions and estimates for smooth numbers, apply to such sets of integers as well.