Heuristic least-nonresidue bound from a quadratic twist

About 13 years old · traced to

Let ξ\xi be an odd primitive Dirichlet character modulo kk with 3∤k3\nmid k, and define

χ(n):=ξ(n)(n3).\chi(n):=\xi(n)\left(\frac{n}{3}\right).

Let nξn_\xi denote the least positive integer nn with ξ(n)≠1\xi(n)\neq 1, and let M(χ)M(\chi) denote the maximum size of the partial sums of χ\chi. Heuristic conjecture. One expects that

log⁡nξ≤(πeγ+o(1))M(χ)k.\log n_\xi\leq\left(\frac{\pi}{e^\gamma}+o(1)\right)\frac{M(\chi)}{\sqrt{k}}.

This is presented as a heuristic consequence suggesting that the preceding bounds are not optimal; it would relate the least nonresidue directly to one specific quadratic twist and could sharpen estimates for least nonresidues if proved.

References

Primary source

Jonathan Bober and Leo Goldmakher, “Pólya-Vinogradov and the least quadratic nonresidue”, arXiv:1311.7556 (2015).

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