Remarks on a paper of Ballot and Luca concerning prime divisors of \(a^{f(n)}-1\) (Q416755)

Let \(a\) be an integer with \(|a|>1\) and \(f(x)\in {\mathbb Q}[x]\) be an integer valued polynomial which is irreducible. In [``Prime factors of \(a^{f(n)}-1\) with an irreducible polynomial \(f(x)\)'', New York J. Math. 12, 39--45 (2006; Zbl 1197.11127)], \textit{C. Ballot} and the reviewer studied the counting function of the set of primes \(p\leq x\) that do not divide \(a^{f(n)}-1\) for any positive integer \(n\). The bounds presented there are of the order of magnitude \(\pi(x)/(\log\log\log x)^{r_f+o(1)}\) and \(\pi(x)/(\log\log x)^{r_f+o(1)}\) as \(x\to\infty\), unconditionally and under the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis (GRH), respectively, where \(r_f>0\) is the relative density of the set \({\mathcal P}_f\) of primes \(q\) such that the congruence \(f(n)\equiv 0\pmod q\) has no integer solution \(n\). The proofs of Ballot and the reviewer used the Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion. By the same method but using a powerful sieve, in the paper under review, the author first improves the result of Ballot and the reviewer by showing that the above counting function is unconditionally of order \(\pi(x)/(\log\log x)^{r_f}\). By a different method, he also improves the conditional result to show that, under GRH, the counting function is of order \(\pi(x)/(\log x)^{r_f}\). Finally, he addresses the instance when \(f(x)\) is not necessarily irreducible and in particular when \({\mathcal P}_f\) is a finite set. The proofs use sieves, the Chebotarev density theorem as well as results of Wiertelak, Pappalardi and Moree concerning how often a positive integer \(d\) divides the order of \(a\) modulo \(p\).