In number theory, the Selberg sieve is a technique for estimating the size of "sifted sets" of positive integers which satisfy a set of conditions which are expressed by congruences. It was developed by Atle Selberg in the 1940s.
In number theory, the Selberg sieve is a technique for estimating the size of "sifted sets" of positive integers which satisfy a set of conditions which are expressed by congruences. It was developed by Atle Selberg in the 1940s.
In terms of sieve theory the Selberg sieve is of combinatorial type: that is, derives from a careful use of the inclusion–exclusion principle. Selberg replaced the values of the Möbius function which arise in this by a system of weights which are then optimised to fit the given problem. The result gives an upper bound for the size of the sifted set.
Let be a set of positive integers and let be a set of primes. Let denote the set of elements of divisible by when is a product of distinct primes from . Further let denote itself. Let be a positive real number and denote the product of the primes in which are . The object of the sieve is to estimate
We assume that |Ad| may be estimated by
where f is a multiplicative function and X = |A|. Let the function g be obtained from f by Möbius inversion, that is
where μ is the Möbius function. Put
Then
where denotes the least common multiple of and . It is often useful to estimate by the bound
In number theory, an arithmetic, arithmetical, or number-theoretic function is generally any function f(n) whose domain is the positive integers and whose range is a subset of the complex numbers. Hardy & Wright include in their definition the requirement that an arithmetical function "expresses some arithmetical property of n". There is a larger class of number-theoretic functions that do not fit this definition, for example, the prime-counting functions. This article provides links to functions of both classes.
The Möbius function μ(n) is a multiplicative function in number theory introduced by the German mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius (also transliterated Moebius) in 1832. It is ubiquitous in elementary and analytic number theory and most often appears as part of its namesake the Möbius inversion formula. Following work of Gian-Carlo Rota in the 1960s, generalizations of the Möbius function were introduced into combinatorics, and are similarly denoted μ(x).
In mathematics, the classic Möbius inversion formula is a relation between pairs of arithmetic functions, each defined from the other by sums over divisors. It was introduced into number theory in 1832 by August Ferdinand Möbius.
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.
In order theory, a field of mathematics, an incidence algebra is an associative algebra, defined for every locally finite partially ordered set and commutative ring with unity. Subalgebras called reduced incidence algebras give a natural construction of various types of generating functions used in combinatorics and number theory.
In mathematics, the Selberg trace formula, introduced by Selberg (1956), is an expression for the character of the unitary representation of a Lie group G on the space L2(Γ\G) of square-integrable functions, where Γ is a cofinite discrete group. The character is given by the trace of certain functions on G.
Sieve theory is a set of general techniques in number theory, designed to count, or more realistically to estimate the size of, sifted sets of integers. The prototypical example of a sifted set is the set of prime numbers up to some prescribed limit X. Correspondingly, the prototypical example of a sieve is the sieve of Eratosthenes, or the more general Legendre sieve. The direct attack on prime numbers using these methods soon reaches apparently insuperable obstacles, in the way of the accumulation of error terms. In one of the major strands of number theory in the twentieth century, ways were found of avoiding some of the difficulties of a frontal attack with a naive idea of what sieving should be.
In mathematics, the Legendre sieve, named after Adrien-Marie Legendre, is the simplest method in modern sieve theory. It applies the concept of the Sieve of Eratosthenes to find upper or lower bounds on the number of primes within a given set of integers. Because it is a simple extension of Eratosthenes' idea, it is sometimes called the Legendre–Eratosthenes sieve.
In mathematics, the von Mangoldt function is an arithmetic function named after German mathematician Hans von Mangoldt. It is an example of an important arithmetic function that is neither multiplicative nor additive.
In mathematics, the Selberg class is an axiomatic definition of a class of L-functions. The members of the class are Dirichlet series which obey four axioms that seem to capture the essential properties satisfied by most functions that are commonly called L-functions or zeta functions. Although the exact nature of the class is conjectural, the hope is that the definition of the class will lead to a classification of its contents and an elucidation of its properties, including insight into their relationship to automorphic forms and the Riemann hypothesis. The class was defined by Atle Selberg in, who preferred not to use the word "axiom" that later authors have employed.
In mathematics, the explicit formulae for L-functions are relations between sums over the complex number zeroes of an L-function and sums over prime powers, introduced by Riemann (1859) for the Riemann zeta function. Such explicit formulae have been applied also to questions on bounding the discriminant of an algebraic number field, and the conductor of a number field.
In mathematics, a Kloosterman sum is a particular kind of exponential sum. They are named for the Dutch mathematician Hendrik Kloosterman, who introduced them in 1926 when he adapted the Hardy–Littlewood circle method to tackle a problem involving positive definite diagonal quadratic forms in four variables, strengthening his 1924 dissertation research on five or more variables.
In mathematics, and more particularly in analytic number theory, Perron's formula is a formula due to Oskar Perron to calculate the sum of an arithmetic function, by means of an inverse Mellin transform.
In the field of number theory, the Brun sieve is a technique for estimating the size of "sifted sets" of positive integers which satisfy a set of conditions which are expressed by congruences. It was developed by Viggo Brun in 1915 and later generalized to the fundamental lemma of sieve theory by others.
In number theory, the Turán sieve is a technique for estimating the size of "sifted sets" of positive integers which satisfy a set of conditions which are expressed by congruences. It was developed by Pál Turán in 1934.
In number theory, an average order of an arithmetic function is some simpler or better-understood function which takes the same values "on average".
In number theory, the parity problem refers to a limitation in sieve theory that prevents sieves from giving good estimates in many kinds of prime-counting problems. The problem was identified and named by Atle Selberg in 1949. Beginning around 1996, John Friedlander and Henryk Iwaniec developed some parity-sensitive sieves that make the parity problem less of an obstacle.
In number theory, the fundamental lemma of sieve theory is any of several results that systematize the process of applying sieve methods to particular problems. Halberstam & Richert write:
A curious feature of sieve literature is that while there is frequent use of Brun's method there are only a few attempts to formulate a general Brun theorem ; as a result there are surprisingly many papers which repeat in considerable detail the steps of Brun's argument.
The Jurkat–Richert theorem is a mathematical theorem in sieve theory. It is a key ingredient in proofs of Chen's theorem on Goldbach's conjecture. It was proved in 1965 by Wolfgang B. Jurkat and Hans-Egon Richert.
In mathematics, van der Corput's method generates estimates for exponential sums. The method applies two processes, the van der Corput processes A and B which relate the sums into simpler sums which are easier to estimate.
