Average distribution of prime ideals in families of number fields (Q734067)

In this paper the distribution of prime ideals in families of number fields is studied. Let \(f(x,y)\) be an absolutely irreducible polynomial with integer coefficients. Let \(a\) be an integer such that \(f(a,y)\) is irreducible. The extension of \(\mathbb{Q}\) defined by \(f(a,y)\) is \(\mathbb{Q}[y]/(f(a,y))\), and is denoted as \(K_a\). Let \[ \theta(a,Y)=\sum_{\text{Norm}\,P\leq Y}\log\text{Norm}\,P, \] where the sum runs through prime ideals \(P\) in the ring of integers of \(K_a\). The paper studies the average \[ S(X,Y)={1\over X}\sum_{a\in A(X)}\theta(a,Y), \] where \(A(X)\) is the set of positive integers \(a\leq X\) such that \(f(a,y)\) is irreducible. Applying the prime ideal theorem and ignoring error terms, \(\theta(a,Y)\) is asymptotic to \(Y\) and so one expects \(S(X,Y)\) to be asymptotic to \(Y\) under certain conditions on \(X\) and \(Y\). The authors provide such estimates in a wider range and with a better error term than that provided by applying the prime ideal theorem for each \(K_a\) individually. Similar estimates for the Chebotarev density theorem are also discussed. The special case of the family of quadratic fields which admits stronger bounds is also treated.