Optimal groups for the \(r\)-rank Artin conjecture (Q2631752)

This article completes and refines a previous work on the same topic, by the first-named author and \textit {F. Pappalardi} [J. Number Theory 75, 120--132 (1999; Zbl 0926.11086)], which left pending the search for subgroups \(\Gamma\) of \(\mathbb{Q}^*\) with maximal density \(\delta_\Gamma\), also called \textit {optimal} groups. We refer to the density of the primes \(p\) for which the reduction modulo \(p\) of a finitely generated subgroup \(\Gamma\) of \(\mathbb{Q}^*\) contains a primitive root modulo \(p\), that Cangelmi and Pappalardi were able to describe through an explicit formula based on the the \(r\)-rank Artin constant \(A_r\) and simplified as \(\delta_\Gamma = A_r b_\Gamma c_\Gamma\). Here, by maximizing the product \(b_\Gamma c_\Gamma\) (especially the factor \(c_\Gamma\), via similar sums over subgroups of \(\mathbb{Q}^* / \mathbb{Q}^{*2}\)), the authors characterize the optimal \textit {free} group, the optimal \textit {torsion} group, and the optimal \textit {positive} group among all the subgroups \(\Gamma\) of \(\mathbb{Q}^*\) with any given rank \(r\). Noteworthy is the induction as key-method of proving throughout the paper.