Strong divisibility sequences and sieve methods
A sequence of positive integers \(\{x_n\}_{n\in \mathbb{N}}\) is called strong divisibility sequence (SDS) if \(\gcd(x_n,x_m)=x_{\gcd(n,m)}\) for all \(m,n\geq 1\). For a SDS \(\{x_n\}_{n\in \mathbb{N}}\) and \(d\in\mathbb{N}\), define \(m_d\) to be the smallest positive integer such that \(d\mid x_{m_d}\). If no such integer exists, we put \(m_d=\infty\). In the paper under review, the authors study distribution of prime factors of strong divisibility sequences. They prove that if \(\{x_n\}_{n\in \mathbb{N}}\) is a SDS with the property that there exists \(\alpha>0\) such that \(m_p<p^\alpha\) for all but finitely many primes \(p\), then\N\[\N\#\left\{n\leq N : p\mid x_n \text{ implies } p> \frac{1}{2}(\log N)(\log\log N) \right\}\gg \frac{N}{\log\log N}.\N\]\NIllustrating their most general results with the sequence \(\{F_n\}_{n\in \mathbb{N}}\) of Fibonacci numbers, they deduce from the above result that\N\[\N\#\left\{n\leq N: \Omega(F_n)\leq \frac{n}{\log \log n}\right\} \gg \frac{N}{\log\log N},\N\]\Nwhere \(\Omega(n)\) counts the total number of prime divisors of \(n\). To obtain an upper bound for the kind of set considered in the above result, they provide an additional condition; we say that the term \(x_n\) has a primitive prime divisor if there exists a prime \(q\) such that \(q\mid x_n\), but \(q\nmid x_k\) for \(k<n\). Accordingly, the authors prove that if \(\{x_n\}_{n\in \mathbb{N}}\) is a SDS with the property that \(x_n\) has a primitive prime divisor for all but finitely many terms, then there exists a strictly increasing continuous function \(f:\mathbb{R}_{\geq 1}\to \mathbb{R}\) such that \(n\leq f(z)\) implies \(x_{n}\leq z\) for all \(z\geq 1\). Moreover, for any such function \(f\) one has\N\[\N\#\left\{n\leq N :p\mid x_n \text{ implies } p> z \right\}\ll \frac{N}{\log f(z)}+f(z)^2,\N\]\Nfor any \(z\) such that \(f(z)>1\). Their next result is concerned with the density of prime terms appearing in a SDS. Precisely, they show that if \(\{x_n\}_{n\in \mathbb{N}}\) is a SDS and the set \(\mathcal{A}=\{n\in \mathbb{N}: x_n=1\}\) has density \(0\), then the set \(\{n\in \mathbb{N}: x_n \text{ is prime}\} \) also has density \(0\). As an application of their main results, they obtain upper and lower bounds for the cardinality of \(z\)-rough numbers in the Fibonacci sequence \(\{F_n\}_{n\in \mathbb{N}}\), by proving that\N\[\N\frac{N}{\log\log N}\ll \#\left\{n\leq N :p\mid F_n \text{ implies } p> \frac{1}{2}(\log N)(\log\log N) \right\}\ll \frac{N}{\log\log\log N}.\N\]\NFinally, the authors prove that if \(\{x_n\}_{n\in \mathbb{N}}\) is a SDS with the property that there exists \(\alpha>0\) such that \(m_p<p^\alpha\) for all but finitely many primes, then\N\[\N\sum_{d\mid \prod_{p<z} p}\frac{\mu(d)}{m_d}\gg \frac{1}{\log z}.\N\]
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