Smooth-support mean-value conjecture for completely multiplicative functions

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Let xx be sufficiently large. Consider a real-valued completely multiplicative function ff satisfying ∣f(n)∣≤1|f(n)|\leq 1 for every positive integer nn, and suppose that f(p)=0f(p)=0 for every prime p>xεp>x^\varepsilon, where ε>0\varepsilon>0 is an absolute constant. Smooth-support mean-value conjecture. There exists ε>0\varepsilon>0 such that, for every such function ff,

∑n≤xf(n)≪xlog⁡log⁡xexp⁡(∑p≤xf(p)p).\sum_{n\leq x}f(n)\ll \frac{x}{\log\log x}\exp\left(\sum_{p\leq x}\frac{f(p)}{p}\right).

This estimate would improve the theorem preceding the conjecture on the probability that ∑n≤xf(n)/n<0\sum_{n\leq x}f(n)/n<0. It concerns completely multiplicative functions supported on integers whose prime factors are at most xεx^\varepsilon, and its asserted uniformity is the key unresolved input.

References

Primary source

Petr Kucheriaviy, “Positivity of partial sums of a random multiplicative function and corresponding problems for the Legendre symbol”, arXiv:2510.25691 (2026).

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