An extension of a result of Lehmer on numbers coprime to n

For squarefree \(N\) and \(x\in\mathbb R\), let \[ \Delta(x, N)= \sum_{\substack{ n\leq xN\\ (n,N)=1}} 1-x\varphi(N). \] When \(p\equiv -1\pmod q\) for every prime \(p\mid N\) where \(q> 1\), in [Can. J. Math. 7, 347--357 (1955; Zbl 0064.27902)], \textit{D. H. Lehmer} investigated \(\Delta({a\over q},N)\) for any \(a\) with \(1\leq a< q\) and \(q\) hence obtained a lower bound for \(\Delta_q(N)= \max_{1\leq a\leq q-1} |\Delta({a\over q},N)|\). The present authors continue their study of \(\Delta(x,N)\) with the aim here of generalizing Lehmer's result in the case when \(q\) is an odd prime, \(q\nmid N\), by allowing the prime divisors of squarefree \(N\) to lie in arbitrarily many reduced residue classes \(r_j\pmod q\), \(1\leq j\leq k\), each having an order \(o_j\pmod q\) satisfying \(o_j\equiv 2\pmod 4\). Let \(n_j\) denote the number of primes \(p\mid N\) belonging to the residue class \(r_j\pmod q\). For any \(a\) with \(1\leq a\leq q- 1\), the authors establish that \[ \Biggl|\Delta\Biggl({a\over q}, N\Biggr)\Biggr|\geq {2^{\omega(N)}\over \alpha}+ o(2^{\omega(N)}) \] as \(\min_j\,n_j\to\infty\), where \(\alpha\) is the l.c.m. of the orders \(o_j\) of the distinct residues \(r_j\) and \(\omega(N)\) is the number of primes dividing \(N\). The case \(\alpha= 2\) is covered by Lehmer's result. The proof uses an intricate combinatorial argument starting from the representation \[ \Delta\Biggl({a\over q}, N\Biggr)= -\mu(N) \sum_{d\mid N} \mu(d)\,P\Biggl({ad\over q}\Biggr), \] where \(P(t)\) denotes the first Bernoulli polynomial. The right side is expressed in terms of multiple sums involving certain characters \(\pmod q\). The dominant term is then identified and estimated from below whilst an upper bound for the remaining terms is found, giving the result stated above. Using a filtering process the authors go on to show that \(\Delta_q(N)\geq{2^{\omega(N)}\over \alpha}\) for any values of the \(n_j\).

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