An arithmetic function arising from Carmichael’s conjecture
Journal de théorie des nombres de Bordeaux, Tome 23 (2011) no. 3, pp. 697-714.

Soit φ la fonction indicatrice d’Euler. Une conjecture de Carmichael qui a 100 ans affirme que pour chaque n, l’équation φ(n)=φ(m) a au moins une solution mn. Ceci suggère que l’on définisse F(n) comme le nombre de solutions m de l’équation φ(n)=φ(m). (Donc, la conjecture de Carmichael est équivalente à l’inégalité F(n)2 pour tout n.) Les résultats sur F sont répandus dans la littérature. Par exemple, Sierpiński a conjecturé, et Ford a démontré, que l’image de F contient tous les nombres k2. Aussi, l’ordre maximal de F a été recherché par Erdős et Pomerance. Dans notre article, nous étudions l’ordre normal de F. Soit

K(x):=(logx)(loglogx)(logloglogx).

On démontre que pour chaque ε>0, l’inégalité

K(n)1/2-ε<F(n)<K(n)3/2+ε

est vraie pour presque tous les entiers positifs n. Comme application, on montre que φ(n)+1 est sans facteur carré pour presque tous les n. On conclut avec quelques remarques sur les valeurs de n telles que F(n) est proche de sa valeur maximale conjecturée.

Let φ denote Euler’s totient function. A century-old conjecture of Carmichael asserts that for every n, the equation φ(n)=φ(m) has a solution mn. This suggests defining F(n) as the number of solutions m to the equation φ(n)=φ(m). (So Carmichael’s conjecture asserts that F(n)2 always.) Results on F are scattered throughout the literature. For example, Sierpiński conjectured, and Ford proved, that the range of F contains every natural number k2. Also, the maximal order of F has been investigated by Erdős and Pomerance. In this paper we study the normal behavior of F. Let

K(x):=(logx)(loglogx)(logloglogx).

We prove that for every fixed ϵ>0,

K(n)1/2-ϵ<F(n)<K(n)3/2+ϵ

for almost all natural numbers n. As an application, we show that φ(n)+1 is squarefree for almost all n. We conclude with some remarks concerning values of n for which F(n) is close to the conjectured maximum size.

DOI : 10.5802/jtnb.783
Florian Luca 1 ; Paul Pollack 2

1 Instituto de Matemáticas Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México C.P. 58089, Morelia, Michoacán, México
2 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Mathematics Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
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Florian Luca; Paul Pollack. An arithmetic function arising from Carmichael’s conjecture. Journal de théorie des nombres de Bordeaux, Tome 23 (2011) no. 3, pp. 697-714. doi : 10.5802/jtnb.783. https://jtnb.centre-mersenne.org/articles/10.5802/jtnb.783/

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