Matthews' conjectures for relatively prime generalized Collatz maps

Let d2d\geq2, let m0,,md1m_{0},\ldots,m_{d-1} be nonzero integers, and choose rjZr_j\in\mathbb{Z} with rjjmj(modd)r_j\equiv jm_j\pmod d. Define TMatthews:ZZT_{\mathrm{Matthews}}:\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z} by

TMatthews(x)=mjxrjdwhen xj(modd).T_{\mathrm{Matthews}}(x)=\frac{m_jx-r_j}{d}\quad\text{when }x\equiv j\pmod d.

Call the map relatively prime when gcd(mj,d)=1\gcd(m_j,d)=1 for every jj. Matthews' conjectures. In the relatively prime case: (I) every trajectory is eventually periodic if j=0d1mj<dd\prod_{j=0}^{d-1}|m_j|<d^d; (II) if j=0d1mj>dd\prod_{j=0}^{d-1}|m_j|>d^d, the union of divergent orbit classes has density 11 in Z\mathbb{Z}; (III) regardless of these inequalities, the map has a finite, nonzero number of cycles; and (IV) every point in a divergent orbit class has iterates uniformly distributed modulo dnd^n for every n1n\geq1, meaning

limN1N{k{0,,N1}:Tk(x)j(moddn)}=1dn.\lim_{N\to\infty}\frac{1}{N}\left|\left\{k\in\{0,\ldots,N-1\}:T^{\circ k}(x)\equiv j\pmod{d^n}\right\}\right|=\frac{1}{d^n}.

These are stated as a package of conjectures about the generalized map and remain open in the source.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Maxwell Charles Siegel, “(p,q)-adic Analysis and the Collatz Conjecture”, arXiv:2412.02902 (2024).

Progress summary

Never refreshed

Nothing recorded yet. Refresh searches the literature and the public web for attempts on this problem, and writes the first summary here.

Solutions 0

No solutions have been posted yet.