Unit Fractions and the Class Number of a Cyclotomic Field

For a prime number \(p\), let \(h(p)\) denote the class number of the \(p\)th cyclotomic field \({\mathbb Q}(e^{2\pi i/p})\) and \(h_2(p)\) denote the class number of its maximal real subfield \({\mathbb Q}(\cos(2\pi /p))\). Kummer showed that the ratio \(h_1(p)=h(p)/h_2(p)\) is an integer which he called the first factor of the class number. He claimed that \(h_1(p) \sim G(p):= 2p (p/4\pi^2)^{(p-1)/4}\). \textit{A. J. Granville} [Invent. Math. 100, No. 2, 321--338 (1990; Zbl 0701.11051)] showed that this conjecture is not compatible with other two well-known conjectures in number theory, namely the Hardy-Littlewood conjecture on the number of primes \(p\) with \(2p+1\) also being prime and the Elliott-Halberstam conjecture on the distribution of primes in arithmetic progressions `on average'. Recently \textit{M. Ram Murty} and \textit{Y. N. Petridis} [J. Number Theory 90, No. 2, 294--303 (2001; Zbl 0994.11036)] showed, assuming only the Elliott-Halberstam conjecture, that Kummer's conjecture in fact holds for almost all primes \(p\). The paper under review studies the set of exceptions to \(h_1(p) \sim G(p)\) assuming the Elliott-Halberstam conjecture and the Hardy-Littlewood conjecture on the number of values \(n\) such that the \(k\) linear polynomials \(a_in + b_i\) are simultaneously prime; here \(a_i>0\) and \(b_i\) are integers, \(1\leq i\leq k\). Then, for a positive real \(\alpha\), the authors show that if \(\log\alpha\) is rational then there exist positive constants \(a_\alpha\) and \(b_\alpha\) such that \(h_1(p)\sim\alpha\cdot G(p)\) for \(\sim a_\alpha x/(\log x)^{b_\alpha}\) primes \(p\leq x\). On the other hand, if \(\log\alpha\) is irational then for any \(A>0\) there are \(\ll x/(\log x)^{A}\) such primes. The paper also contains the following unconditional result: Suppose that there exists a set \(M\) of \(k\) distinct positive integers with \((\sum_{m\in M}1/m)>4\), such that there are \(\gg x/(\log x)^{k+1}\) primes \(p\leq x\) for which \(mp+1\) is also prime for every \(m\in M\). Then \(h_1(p)\sim G(p)\) fails for \(\gg x/(\log x)^{k+1}\) primes \(p\leq x\).

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