The lonely runner conjecture in terms of the gap of loneliness

For tR/Zt\in\mathbf{R}/\mathbf{Z}, let tR/Z\|t\|_{\mathbf{R}/\mathbf{Z}} be the distance from any representative of tt to the nearest integer. For an nn-tuple of non-zero integers (v1,,vn)(v_1,\dots,v_n), define

δ(v1,,vn)=maxtR/Zmin(tv1R/Z,,tvnR/Z).\delta(v_1,\dots,v_n)=\max_{t\in\mathbf{R}/\mathbf{Z}}\min\bigl(\|tv_1\|_{\mathbf{R}/\mathbf{Z}},\dots,\|tv_n\|_{\mathbf{R}/\mathbf{Z}}\bigr).

Let δn\delta_n be the infimum of δ(v1,,vn)\delta(v_1,\dots,v_n) over all nn-tuples of distinct non-zero integers. Lonely runner conjecture. For every n1n\geq 1, one has

δn=1n+1.\delta_n=\frac{1}{n+1}.

The quantity δn\delta_n is called the gap of loneliness. Dirichlet approximation gives the upper bound δn1/(n+1)\delta_n\leq 1/(n+1), so the conjecture asserts that this elementary upper bound is sharp for every nn. It is equivalent to the runner formulation and remains open in general.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Terence Tao, “Some remarks on the lonely runner conjecture”, arXiv:1701.02048 (2017).

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