Parity conjecture for the Möbius function on shifted primes

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Let S=(q1,…,qt)S=(q_1,\dots,q_t) be a finite sequence of primes and define νS(n)=(νq1(n),…,νqt(n))\nu_S(n)=(\nu_{q_1}(n),\dots,\nu_{q_t}(n)). Say that nn is SS-squarefree if q2∤nq^2\nmid n for every prime q∉Sq\notin S, and define

μS(n)={(−1)∑q∣n, q∉S1if n is S-squarefree,0otherwise.\mu_S(n)=\begin{cases}(-1)^{\sum_{q\mid n,\ q\notin S}1}&\text{if $n$ is $S$-squarefree},\\0&\text{otherwise.}\end{cases}

The shifted-prime parity conjecture. For non-zero tt, S={q1,…,qt}S=\{q_1,\dots,q_t\}, and natural numbers e1,…,ete_1,\dots,e_t,

∑p≤xνS(p−1)=(e1,…,et)μS(p−1)=o(π(x)),\sum_{p\le x\atop \nu_S(p-1)=(e_1,\dots,e_t)}\mu_S(p-1)=o(\pi(x)),

where the oo-constant depends at most on S,e1,…,etS,e_1,\dots,e_t and HH. This generalizes the belief that p−1p-1 has no preference for an even or odd number of prime factors; the source describes it as deep and gives no resolution.

References

Primary source

Pieter Moree and Huib Hommersom, “Value distribution of Ramanujan sums and of cyclotomic polynomial coefficients”, arXiv:math/0307352 (2003).

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