Chow–Rimanic function-field Lonely Runner Conjecture

Let qq be a prime power. In the Laurent-series field Fq((X))\mathbb{F}_q((X)), write α=[α]+α\alpha=[\alpha]+\|\alpha\| with [α]Fq[X][\alpha]\in\mathbb{F}_q[X] and fractional part αT\|\alpha\|\in\mathbb{T}, where

T={αFq((X)):ord(α)<1}.\mathbb{T}=\{\alpha\in\mathbb{F}_q((X)): \operatorname{ord}(\alpha)<1\}.

For FFq[X]{0}F\subset\mathbb{F}_q[X]\setminus\{0\}, define

κq(F)=supαTminfFαf.\kappa_q(F)=\sup_{\alpha\in\mathbb{T}}\min_{f\in F}|\alpha f|.

Function-field Lonely Runner Conjecture. For every prime power qq and every finite set FFq[X]{0}F\subset\mathbb{F}_q[X]\setminus\{0\} of polynomials satisfying

1F<qk+11q1for some kN,1\leq|F|<\frac{q^{k+1}-1}{q-1}\quad\text{for some }k\in\mathbb{N},

we have

κq(F)qk.\kappa_q(F)\geq q^{-k}.

This is the function-field analogue proposed by Chow and Rimanic. It is collected among the survey's open problems and remains open in the stated generality.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Guillem Perarnau and Oriol Serra, “The Lonely Runner Conjecture turns 60”, arXiv:2409.20160 (2025).

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