Maximal oscillation conjecture for the Mertens product

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Let xx tend to infinity, and let γ\gamma denote Euler's constant. Define the Mertens product by

∏p≤x(1−1p)−1.\prod_{p\leq x}\left(1-\frac1p\right)^{-1}.

Maximal oscillation conjecture. As x→∞x\to\infty,

lim sup⁡x→∞x(log⁡log⁡log⁡x)2(∏p≤x(1−1p)−1−eγlog⁡x)=eγ2π,\limsup_{x\to\infty} \frac{\sqrt{x}}{(\log\log\log x)^2}\left(\prod_{p\leq x}\left(1-\frac1p\right)^{-1}-e^{\gamma}\log x\right)=\frac{e^{\gamma}}{2\pi},

and

lim inf⁡x→∞x(log⁡log⁡log⁡x)2(∏p≤x(1−1p)−1−eγlog⁡x)=−eγ2π.\liminf_{x\to\infty} \frac{\sqrt{x}}{(\log\log\log x)^2}\left(\prod_{p\leq x}\left(1-\frac1p\right)^{-1}-e^{\gamma}\log x\right)=-\frac{e^{\gamma}}{2\pi}.

This conjecture predicts the maximal order of the oscillations of the error in the Mertens product formula, refining the known lower bound of order log⁡log⁡log⁡x\log\log\log x after normalization by x\sqrt{x}. It follows the probabilistic approach used by Montgomery for the maximal size of π(x)−Li⁡(x)\pi(x)-\operatorname{Li}(x); the stated asymptotic extremal behavior remains unproved.

References

Primary source

Youness Lamzouri, “A bias in Mertens' product formula”, arXiv:1410.3777 (2015).

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