The refined distribution conjecture for Pratt-tree height

For a prime pp, let H(p)H(p) be the height of its Pratt tree, let log2p=loglogp\log_2 p=\log\log p and log3p=logloglogp\log_3 p=\log\log\log p, and write π(x)\pi(x) for the number of primes at most xx. Refined Pratt-tree height conjecture. There is a quantity E(p)E(p) and fixed constants c,c>0c,c'>0 such that

H(p)=elog2p32log3p+E(p),H(p)={\rm e}\log_2 p-\frac32\log_3 p+E(p),

with, for every z0z\geqslant 0, the number of primes pxp\leqslant x satisfying E(p)zE(p)\geqslant z bounded above and below by constant multiples of the indicated exponential tails, and with the lower tail satisfying

#{px:E(p)z}=O(exp{ecz}π(x)).\#\{p\leqslant x:E(p)\leqslant-z\}=O\left(\exp\{-{\rm e}^{cz}\}\pi(x)\right).

More precisely, the upper-tail bounds are eczπ(x)\gg {\rm e}^{-c'z}\pi(x) and eczπ(x)\ll {\rm e}^{-cz}\pi(x). The conjecture predicts a tight, asymmetric distribution for the centered Pratt-tree height; the paper states that the corresponding features are proved for its probabilistic model, but not for the arithmetic problem.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Kevin Ford, Sergei V. Konyagin and Florian Luca, “Prime chains and Pratt trees”, arXiv:0904.0473 (2010).

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