Helmut Maier | |
---|---|
Born | Geislingen an der Steige, Germany | 17 October 1953
Nationality | German |
Alma mater | University of Ulm University of Minnesota (PhD) |
Known for | Maier's matrix method Maier's theorem |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mathematics |
Institutions | University of Ulm University of Michigan Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton |
Doctoral advisor | J. Ian Richards |
Helmut Maier (born 17 October 1953) is a German mathematician and professor at the University of Ulm, Germany. He is known for his contributions in analytic number theory and mathematical analysis and particularly for the so-called Maier's matrix method as well as Maier's theorem for primes in short intervals. He has also done important work in exponential sums and trigonometric sums over special sets of integers and the Riemann zeta function. [1] [2]
Helmut Maier graduated with a Diploma in Mathematics from the University of Ulm in 1976, under the supervision of Hans-Egon Richert. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1981, under the supervision of J. Ian Richards.
Maier's PhD thesis was an extension of his paper Chains of large gaps between consecutive primes. [3] In this paper Maier applied for the first time what is now known as Maier's matrix method. This method later on led him and other mathematicians to the discovery of unexpected irregularities in the distribution of prime numbers. [2] There have been various other applications of Maier's Matrix Method, such as on irreducible polynomials and on strings of consecutive primes in the same residue class. [4] [5]
After postdoctoral positions at the University of Michigan and the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, Maier obtained a permanent position at the University of Georgia. While in Georgia he proved that the usual formulation of the Cramér model for the distribution of prime numbers is wrong. This was a completely unexpected result. [2] Jointly with Carl Pomerance he studied the values of Euler's φ(n)-function and large gaps between primes. During the same period Maier investigated as well the size of the coefficients of cyclotomic polynomials and later collaborated with Sergei Konyagin and Eduard Wirsing on this topic. He also collaborated with Hugh Lowell Montgomery on the size of the sum of the Möbius function under the assumption of the Riemann Hypothesis. Maier and Gérald Tenenbaum in joint work investigated the sequence of divisors of integers, solving the famous propinquity problem of Paul Erdős. [6] Since 1993, Maier has been a professor at the University of Ulm, Germany.
Collaborators of Helmut Maier include Paul Erdős, C. Feiler, John Friedlander, Andrew Granville, D. Haase, A. J. Hildebrand, Michel Laurent Lapidus , J. W. Neuberger, A. Sankaranarayanan, A. Sárközy, Wolfgang P. Schleich, Cameron Leigh Stewart.
Amicable numbers are two different natural numbers related in such a way that the sum of the proper divisors of each is equal to the other number. That is, s(a)=b and s(b)=a, where s(n)=σ(n)-n is equal to the sum of positive divisors of n except n itself (see also divisor function).
A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways of writing it as a product, 1 × 5 or 5 × 1, involve 5 itself. However, 4 is composite because it is a product (2 × 2) in which both numbers are smaller than 4. Primes are central in number theory because of the fundamental theorem of arithmetic: every natural number greater than 1 is either a prime itself or can be factorized as a product of primes that is unique up to their order.
In mathematics, the prime number theorem (PNT) describes the asymptotic distribution of the prime numbers among the positive integers. It formalizes the intuitive idea that primes become less common as they become larger by precisely quantifying the rate at which this occurs. The theorem was proved independently by Jacques Hadamard and Charles Jean de la Vallée Poussin in 1896 using ideas introduced by Bernhard Riemann.
The Riemann zeta function or Euler–Riemann zeta function, denoted by the Greek letter ζ (zeta), is a mathematical function of a complex variable defined as for , and its analytic continuation elsewhere.
In mathematics, a square-free integer (or squarefree integer) is an integer which is divisible by no square number other than 1. That is, its prime factorization has exactly one factor for each prime that appears in it. For example, 10 = 2 ⋅ 5 is square-free, but 18 = 2 ⋅ 3 ⋅ 3 is not, because 18 is divisible by 9 = 32. The smallest positive square-free numbers are
In mathematics, analytic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses methods from mathematical analysis to solve problems about the integers. It is often said to have begun with Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet's 1837 introduction of Dirichlet L-functions to give the first proof of Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressions. It is well known for its results on prime numbers and additive number theory.
In mathematics, and specifically in number theory, a divisor function is an arithmetic function related to the divisors of an integer. When referred to as the divisor function, it counts the number of divisors of an integer. It appears in a number of remarkable identities, including relationships on the Riemann zeta function and the Eisenstein series of modular forms. Divisor functions were studied by Ramanujan, who gave a number of important congruences and identities; these are treated separately in the article Ramanujan's sum.
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In mathematics, a superabundant number is a certain kind of natural number. A natural number n is called superabundant precisely when, for all m < n:
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In number theory, a polite number is a positive integer that can be written as the sum of two or more consecutive positive integers. A positive integer which is not polite is called impolite. The impolite numbers are exactly the powers of two, and the polite numbers are the natural numbers that are not powers of two.
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Kevin B. Ford is an American mathematician working in analytic number theory.
The Erdős–Tenenbaum–Ford constant is a mathematical constant that appears in number theory. Named after mathematicians Paul Erdős, Gérald Tenenbaum, and Kevin Ford, it is defined as
Aleksandar Ivić was a Serbian mathematician, specializing in analytic number theory. He gained an international reputation and gave lectures on the Riemann zeta function at universities around the world.