On the size of the first factor of the class number of a cyclotomic field
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: On the size of the first factor of the class number of a cyclotomic field
zbMATH Open document ID: 0701.11051
DOI: 10.1007/BF01231189
published in: Inventiones Mathematicae
publication date: 1990-01-01T00:00:00Z
full work available at URL: https://eudml.org/doc/143787
review text: In 1850 Kummer claimed to have found an explicit ``law for the asymptotic growth'' of the first factor \(h_ 1(p)\) of the p-th cyclotomic field. This would take the form \[ h_ 1(p)\approx 2p(\frac{p}{4\pi^ 2})^{(p-1)/4}=G(p), \] say. The author starts with the observation that the above asymptotic relation would be equivalent to \[ \sum^{\infty}_{n=1}\epsilon_ n\frac{\Lambda (n)}{n \log n}=o(1/p), \] where \(\epsilon_ n=\pm 1\) for \(n\equiv \pm 1(mod p)\), and \(\epsilon_ n=0\) otherwise. The principal result of the paper is then that this is not compatible with two well conjectures in prime number theory - namely (i) there are \(\gg x/\log^ 2x\) primes \(p\leq x\) for which \(2p+1\) is also prime, and (ii) for any fixed \(\epsilon >0\), \(a\in {\mathbb{Z}}\setminus \{0\}\) and \(A>0\) we have \[ \sum_{q<x^{1- \epsilon}}| \psi (x;q,a)-\pi (x)/\phi (q)| \quad \ll \quad x(\log x)^{-A}. \] He also shows, subject to a generalization of the first conjecture, that \(h_ 1(p)/G(p)\) is dense in (0,\(\infty)\). To do this he proves a conjecture of \textit{P. Erdős} and \textit{J. L. Nicolas} [Number Theory and Applications, NATO ASI Ser., Ser. C 265, 381-391 (1989; Zbl 0687.10031)], concerning numbers \(r_ i\) for which \(r_ ip+1\) may be simultaneously prime. Finally it is suggested that the true range of variation of \(h_ 1(p)\) may be \[ (\log \log p)^{-1/2+o(1)}\leq h_ 1(p)/G(p)\quad \leq \quad (\log \log p)^{1/2+o(1)}. \]
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 11R18
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 11R29
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 11N13
zbMATH DE Number: 4148213
zbMATH Keywords: class number
zbMATH Keywords: first factor
zbMATH Keywords: cyclotomic field
zbMATH Keywords: asymptotic relation
author: Andrew Granville
reviewed by: D. R. Heath-Brown
MaRDI profile type: MaRDI publication profile
cites work: The Class Number of the Cyclotomic Field
cites work: Primes in arithmetic progressions to large moduli
cites work: Q4081355
cites work: Q3900124
cites work: Limitations to the equi-distribution of primes. I
cites work: Computation of the first factor of the class number of cyclotomic fields
cites work: Q4052222
cites work: Q5843509
cites work: Primes in intervals
cites work: Small differences between prime numbers
cites work: Q4101931
cites work: Topics in multiplicative number theory
cites work: The large sieve
cites work: Computations on the growth of the first factor for prime cyclotomic fields
Recommended article: Unit Fractions and the Class Number of a Cyclotomic Field
Recommended article: Computation of the first factor of the class number of cyclotomic fields
Recommended article: Irregular Behaviour of Class Numbers and Euler-Kronecker Constants of Cyclotomic Fields: The Log Log Log Devil at Play
Recommended article: On Kummer's conjecture
Recommended article: On the greatest prime factor of a certain product.
Recommended article: Q4750706
Recommended article: Eine einfache Summationsmethode in der Primzahltheorie und deren Anwendung auf die ``Brunsche Summe''.
Recommended article: Some Remarks on Prime Factors of Integers
Recommended article: On a New Method in Elementary Number Theory Which Leads to An Elementary Proof of the Prime Number Theorem
Recommended article: On the integers having exactly \(k\) prime factors
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 4148213