Conjecture on the cycle counts of Mersenne numbers and their factors

Let Mp=2p1M_p=2^p-1 be the Mersenne number associated with a prime number pp. For a positive integer qq, let Gq/RqG_q/R_q denote the cycle decomposition of the multiplication-by-22 map modulo qq, and let the number of kk-cycles of qq mean the number of cycles of length kk in this decomposition. Mersenne-cycle-count conjecture. For each prime number pp, the number of kk-cycles of MpM_p is

(p1)!k!(pk)!.\frac{(p-1)!}{k!(p-k)!}.

Moreover, a positive integer dd other than 11 is a factor of MpM_p if and only if the number of kk-cycles of dd is equal to the number of (pk)(p-k)-cycles of dd. The conjecture is motivated by the displayed cycle decompositions and binomial expansion in the source; no proof or resolution is supplied there.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Shi Yongjin, “Two Symmetric Properties of Mersenne Numbers and Fermat Numbers”, arXiv:1304.7321 (2013).

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