An almost sharp quantitative version of the Duffin-Schaeffer conjecture (Q6947657)

The Duffin-Schaeffer conjecture, which is now a theorem due to \textit{D. Koukoulopoulos} and \textit{J. Maynard} [Ann. Math. (2) 192, No. 1, 251--307 (2020; Zbl 1459.11154)], states that the Lebesgue measure of the set of \(\alpha \in [0,1]\) for which the inequality, \N\[\N\left\vert \alpha -\frac{a}{q}\right\vert < \frac{\psi(q)}{q}\N\]\Nhas infinitely many solutions \(a/q\) on lowest terms, is \(1\) (resp. \(0\)) according to the divergence (resp. convergence) of the series \(\sum_{q=1}^{\infty} \phi(q)\psi(q)/q\). Here, \(\phi\) is the Euler totient function, and \(\psi\) is some function on the natural numbers taking values in \([0, 1/2]\).\N\NThe result leaves open the question of the almost sure asymptotic number of solutions to the inequality as \(q\) increases. Letting \(\Psi(Q) = \sum_{q=1}^{Q} 2\phi(q)\psi(q)/q\) and \(N(\alpha;Q)\) denote the number of solutions to the inequality with \(q \le Q\), an important step in this direction was taken by \textit{C. Aistleitner} et al. [Compos. Math. 159, No. 2, 207--231 (2023; Zbl 1528.11059)], who proved that for any \(C>0\), for Lebesgue almost all \(\alpha\), \N\[\NN(\alpha;Q) = \Psi(Q) + O_C\left( \frac{\Psi(Q)}{(\log \Psi(Q))^C}\right). \N\]\NThe best error term is however suspected to be \(\psi(Q)^{1/2}\) times an appropriate power of \(\log \Psi(Q)\). In the present paper, this is almost shown in the sense that for almost all \(\alpha\) and for every fixed \(\varepsilon > 0\), \N\[\NN(\alpha;Q) = \Psi(Q) + O_{\alpha, \varepsilon}\left(\Psi(Q)^{1/2 + \varepsilon}\right). \N\]\NThe authors prove this by proving an estimate on the variance of the random variable \(N(\alpha;Q)\), which in turn is reduced to a delicate study of GCD graphs, a tool invented by Koukoulopoulos and Maynard [loc. cit.] in their original proof of the Duffin-Schaeffer conjecture.