The amended 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 amended Loneliness Spectrum Conjecture. One has either

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

or

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

This modification is proposed after the original spectrum conjecture is disproved by examples such as ML⁡(8,3,11,19)=7/30\operatorname{ML}(8,3,11,19)=7/30 and ML⁡(5,6,11,17,23,28)=8/51\operatorname{ML}(5,6,11,17,23,28)=8/51. The paper reports experimental support and proves special cases, but does not establish the amended conjecture in general.

References

Primary source

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

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