Dickson's conjecture for residue class patterns of consecutive primes

For q,mNq,m \in \mathbb{N}, let pnp_n denote the nn-th prime and define

π(x;q,a)=#{pnx:pn+i1ai(modq) for all i=1,2,,m},\pi(x;q,\mathbf{a})=\#\{p_n \leq x:p_{n+i-1} \equiv a_i \pmod{q} \text{ for all }i=1,2,\ldots,m\},

for ai=1m(Z/qZ)×\mathbf{a} \in \prod_{i=1}^m (\mathbb{Z}/q\mathbb{Z})^\times. Dickson's conjecture. For any q,mNq,m \in \mathbb{N} and ai=1m(Z/qZ)×\mathbf{a} \in \prod_{i=1}^m (\mathbb{Z}/q\mathbb{Z})^\times,

π(x;q,a)as x.\pi(x;q,\mathbf{a}) \to \infty \quad\text{as } x \to \infty.

Equivalently,

#{ai=1m(Z/qZ)×:π(x;q,a) as x}=φ(q)m.\#\left\{\mathbf{a} \in \prod_{i=1}^m (\mathbb{Z}/q\mathbb{Z})^\times: \pi(x;q,\mathbf{a}) \to \infty \text{ as } x \to \infty\right\}=\varphi(q)^m.

This is presented as a consequence of Dickson's conjecture and asserts that every admissible residue pattern occurs infinitely often among consecutive primes. The statement is not proved in the paper and is therefore open.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Cheuk Fung Lau, “Residue Class Patterns of Consecutive Primes”, arXiv:2409.12819 (2026).

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