The Loneliness Spectrum Conjecture

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Let v1,…,vnv_1,\ldots,v_n be positive integers, and let

ML⁡(v1,…,vn)=max⁡t∈Rmin⁡1≤i≤n∥tvi∥,\operatorname{ML}(v_1,\ldots,v_n)=\max_{t\in\mathbb{R}}\min_{1\leq i\leq n}\lVert tv_i\rVert,

where ∥x∥\lVert x\rVert denotes the absolute distance from xx to the nearest integer. The Loneliness Spectrum Conjecture. One has either

∃s∈N,ML⁡(v1,…,vn)=sns+1,\exists s\in\mathbb{N},\quad \operatorname{ML}(v_1,\ldots,v_n)=\frac{s}{ns+1},

or

ML⁡(v1,…,vn)≥1n.\operatorname{ML}(v_1,\ldots,v_n)\geq\frac{1}{n}.

This conjecture refines the Lonely Runner Conjecture by describing the possible values below 1/n1/n. Kravitz proved it for n=3n=3, but the paper gives counterexamples for n=4n=4 and n=6n=6, so the conjecture is refuted.

References

Primary source

Ho Tin Fan and Alec Sun, “Amending the Lonely Runner Spectrum Conjecture”, arXiv:2306.10417 (2026).

Additional references

2 papers in this index state this conjecture (2019–2023). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:1912.06034.

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