Four Faces of Number Theory

Series of Lectures in Mathematics
Four Faces of Number Theory
Kathrin Bringmann gives an introduction to the theory of modular forms and, in

particular, so-called Mock theta-functions, a topic which had been untouched
for decades but has obtained much attention in the last years. Yann Bugeaud
is concerned with expansions of algebraic numbers. Here combinatorics on
words and transcendence theory are combined to derive new information on
the sequence of decimals of algebraic numbers and on their continued fraction
expansions. Titus Hilberdink reports on a recent and rather unexpected approach
to extreme values of the Riemann zeta-function by use of (multiplicative)
Toeplitz matrices and functional analysis. Finally, Jrgen Sander gives an
introduction to algebraic graph theory and the impact of number theoretical
methods on fundamental questions about the spectra of graphs and the
analogue of the Riemann hypothesis.
ISBN 978-3-03719-142-2
www.ems-ph.org
Bringman | FONT: Rotis Sans | Farben: Pantone 287, Pantone 116 | 170 x 240 mm | RB: 10.4 mm
This book arises from courses given at the International Summer School
organized in August 2012 by the number theory group of the Department of
Mathematics at the University of Wrzburg. It consists of four essentially selfcontained chapters and presents recent research results highlighting the strong
interplay between number theory and other fields of mathematics, such as
combinatorics, functional analysis and graph theory. The book is addressed to
(under)graduate students who wish to discover various aspects of number theory.
Remarkably, it demonstrates how easily one can approach frontiers of current
research in number theory by elementary and basic analytic methods.
Kathrin Bringmann, Yann Bugeaud,

Titus Hilberdink and Jrgen Sander
Kathrin Bringmann
Yann Bugeaud
Titus Hilberdink
Jrgen Sander
Kathrin Bringmann
Yann Bugeaud
Titus Hilberdink
Jrgen Sander
Four Faces of
Number Theory
EMS Series of Lectures in Mathematics

Edited by Andrew Ranicki (University of Edinburgh, U.K.)
EMS Series of Lectures in Mathematics is a book series aimed at students, professional
mathematicians and scientists. It publishes polished notes arising from seminars or lecture series
in all fields of pure and applied mathematics, including the reissue of classic texts of continuing
interest. The individual volumes are intended to give a rapid and accessible introduction into
their particular subject, guiding the audience to topics of current research and the more
advanced and specialized literature.
Previously published in this series:

Katrin Wehrheim, Uhlenbeck Compactness
Torsten Ekedahl, One Semester of Elliptic Curves
Sergey V. Matveev, Lectures on Algebraic Topology
Joseph C. Vrilly, An Introduction to Noncommutative Geometry
Reto Mller, Differential Harnack Inequalities and the Ricci Flow
Eustasio del Barrio, Paul Deheuvels and Sara van de Geer, Lectures on Empirical Processes
Iskander A. Taimanov, Lectures on Differential Geometry
Martin J. Mohlenkamp and Mara Cristina Pereyra, Wavelets, Their Friends, and What They
Can Do for You
Stanley E. Payne and Joseph A. Thas, Finite Generalized Quadrangles
Masoud Khalkhali, Basic Noncommutative Geometry
Helge Holden, Kenneth H. Karlsen, Knut-Andreas Lie and Nils Henrik Risebro, Splitting Methods
for Partial Differential Equations with Rough Solutions
Koichiro Harada, Moonshine of Finite Groups
Yurii A. Neretin, Lectures on Gaussian Integral Operators and Classical Groups
Damien Calaque and Carlo A. Rossi, Lectures on Duflo Isomorphisms in Lie Algebra and
Complex Geometry
Claudio Carmeli, Lauren Caston and Rita Fioresi, Mathematical Foundations of Supersymmetry
Hans Triebel, Faber Systems and Their Use in Sampling, Discrepancy, Numerical Integration
Koen Thas, A Course on Elation Quadrangles
Benot Grbert and Thomas Kappeler, The Defocusing NLS Equation and Its Normal Form
Armen Sergeev, Lectures on Universal Teichmller Space
Matthias Aschenbrenner, Stefan Friedl and Henry Wilton, 3-Manifold Groups
Hans Triebel, Tempered Homogeneous Function Spaces
Kathrin Bringmann
Yann Bugeaud
Titus Hilberdink
Jrgen Sander
Four Faces of
Number Theory
Authors:
Kathrin Bringmann
Mathematisches Institut
Universitt zu Kln
Gyrhofstr. 8b
50931 Kln
Germany
Yann Bugeaud
Institut de Recherche Mathmatique Avance, UMR 7501
Universit de Strasbourg et CNRS
7, rue Ren Descartes
67084 Strasbourg
France
E-mail: kbringma@math.uni-koeln.de
E-mail: yann.bugeaud@math.unistra.fr
Titus Hilberdink
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Reading
Whiteknights P.O. Box 220
Reading RG6 6AX
UK
Jrgen Sander
Institut fr Mathematik und Angewandte Informatik
Universitt Hildesheim
Samelsonplatz 1
31141 Hildesheim
Germany
E-mail: t.w.hilberdink@reading.ac.uk
E-mail: sander@imai.uni-hildesheim.de
2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary: 11-02, 11J81; Secondary 11A63, 11J04, 11J13, 11J68, 11J70,
11J87, 68R15
Key words: Transcendence, algebraic number, Schmidt Subspace Theorem, continued fraction, digital
expansion, Diophantine approximation
ISBN 978-3-03719-142-2
The Swiss National Library lists this publication in The Swiss Book, the Swiss national bibliography, and the
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://www.helveticat.ch.
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is
concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting,
reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in data banks. For any kind of use permission
of the copyright owner must be obtained.
European Mathematical Society 2015

Contact address:

European Mathematical Society Publishing House

Seminar for Applied Mathematics

ETH-Zentrum SEW A27

CH-8092 Zrich
Switzerland

Phone: +41 (0)44 632 34 36

Email: info@ems-ph.org
Homepage: www.ems-ph.org
Typeset using the authors TEX files: le-tex publishing services GmbH, Leipzig, Germany
Printing and binding: Beltz Bad Langensalza GmbH, Bad Langensalza, Germany
Printed on acid free paper
987654321
Foreword
Number theory is a fascinating branch of mathematics. There are many examples of
number theoretical problems that are easy to understand but difficult to solve, often
enough only by use of advanced methods from other mathematical disciplines. This
might be one of the reasons why number theory is considered to be such an attractive
field with many connections to other areas of mathematical research.
In August 2012 the number theory group of the Department of Mathematics at
Wurzburg University, under the aegis of Jorn Steuding, organized an international
summer school entitled Four Faces of Number Theory. In the frame of this event
about fifty participants, mostly PhD students from all over the world, but also a few local participants, even undergraduate students, learned in four courses about different
aspects of modern number theory. These courses highlight a strong interplay between
number theory and other fields like combinatorics, functional analysis and graph theory. They will be of interest to (under)graduate students aiming to discover various
aspects of number theory and their relationship with other areas of mathematics.
Kathrin Bringmann from Cologne gave an introduction to the theory of modular forms and, in particular, so-called Mock theta-functions, a topic which had been
untouched for decades but has obtained much attention during the last five years.
Yann Bugeaud from Strasbourg lectured about expansions of algebraic numbers.
Despite some recent progress, presented in his essay, questions like does the digit 7
occur infinitely often in the decimal expansion of square root of two? remain very
far from being answered. Here combinatorics on words and transcendence theory
are combined to derive new information on the sequence of decimals of algebraic
numbers and on their continued fraction expansions.
Titus Hilberdink from Reading lectured about a recent and rather unexpected approach to extreme values of the Riemann zeta-function by use of (multiplicative)
Toeplitz matrices and functional analysis.
Finally, Jurgen Sander from Hildesheim gave an introduction to algebraic graph
theory and the impact of number theoretical methods on fundamental questions about
the spectra of graphs and the analogue of the Riemann hypothesis.
In this volume the reader can find the course notes from this summer school and
in some places further additional material. Each of these courses is essentially selfcontained (although a background in number theory and analysis might be useful).
In all four courses recent research results are included indicating how easily one can
approach frontiers of current research in number theory by elementary and basic analytic methods.
The picture on the front page shows the poster created by Nicola Oswald from
Wurzburg University for the summer school. The editing of the course notes had been
vi
done by Rasa Steuding from Wurzburg University. The authors are most grateful to
both of them for their help. Last but not least, we sincerely thank Jorn Steuding from
Wurzburg University for initiating the summer school and the publication of these
notes as well as for his editorial work.
The authors, March 2014
Contents
1 Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and related functions

Kathrin Bringmann
1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
Classical modular forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
Weakly holomorphic modular forms . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
Mock modular forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
Mixed mock modular forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
2 Expansions of algebraic numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Yann Bugeaud
1
Representation of real numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
Combinatorics on words and complexity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
Complexity of algebraic numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
Combinatorial transcendence criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
Continued fractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6
Diophantine approximation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7
Sketch of proof and historical comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
A combinatorial lemma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9
Proof of Theorem 4.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10 Proof of Theorem 4.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11 A transcendence criterion for quasi-palindromic continued fractions
12 Complements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13 Further notions of complexity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
3 Multiplicative Toeplitz matrices and the Riemann zeta function

Titus Hilberdink
1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
Toeplitz matrices and operators a brief overview . . . . . .
3
Bounded multiplicative Toeplitz matrices and operators . . .
4
Unbounded multiplicative Toeplitz operators and matrices . .
5
Connections to matrices of the form .f .ij =.i; j /2 //i;j N . .
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
1
1
2
11
17
25
29
. 31
31
34
37
38
40
45
47
50
52
55
63
66
69
72
. . . . . 77
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
77
80
85
99
118
120
viii
4
Contents
Arithmetical topics in algebraic graph theory . .

Jurgen Sander
1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
Some (algebraic) graph theory . . . . . . . .
3
The prime number theorem for graphs . . . .
4
Spectral properties of integral circulant graphs
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
123
124
136
159
183
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Chapter 1
Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and

related functions
Kathrin Bringmann
Contents
1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
Classical modular forms . . . . . . .
3
Weakly holomorphic modular forms
4
Mock modular forms . . . . . . . .
5
Mixed mock modular forms . . . . .
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
1
2
11
17
25
29
1 Introduction
In this paper1 , we aim to describe how modularity can be useful for studying the
asymptotic behavior of arithmetically interesting functions. We do not attempt to
present all that is known, but rather work with examples to give an idea about basic
concepts.
Let us recall the objects of interest. In the words of Barry Mazur,
Modular forms are functions on the complex plane that are inordinately symmetric.
They satisfy so many symmetries that their mere existence seem like accidents. But
they do exist.
The modular forms alluded to in this quote are meromorphic functions on the complex
upper half-plane H WD f 2 CI Im. / > 0g that satisfy (if f is modular of weight
k 2 Z for SL2 .Z/)

a C b
f
D .c C d /k f . /
c C d

a b
a b
8
2 SL2 .Z/ WD
2 Mat2 .Z/I ad bc D 1 :
(1.1)
c d
c d
Moreover, as a technical growth condition, one requires the function to be meromorphic at the cusps. Note that the transformation law can be generalized to subgroups,
to include multipliers or half-integral weight. We do not state the specific form of
1 The research of the author was supported by the Alfried Krupp Prize for Young University Teachers of the
Krupp Foundation.
Kathrin Bringmann
these transformations here, but we will later treat special cases, for example in Theorem 3.1.
An important P
property of modular forms is that they have Fourier expansions of
the form f ./ D n2Z a.n/e2i n . This follows from the transformation law (1.1),
the fact that 10 11 2 SL2 .Z/, and the meromorphicity on H. Meromorphicity at the
cusps now says that a.n/ 0 for only finitely many n < 0. The coefficients a.n/ often encode interesting arithmetic information, such as the number of representations
of n by a (positive definite) quadratic form, just to give one of the numerous examples.
Modular forms play an important role in many areas like physics, representation
theory, the theory of elliptic curves (in particular the proof of Fermats Last Theorem), quadratic forms, and partitions, just to mention a few. Establishing modularity
is of importance because it provides powerful machineries which can be employed
to prove important results. For example, identities may be reduced to a finite calculation of Fourier coefficients (Sturms Theorem), asymptotic formulas for Fourier
coefficients can be obtained by Tauberian Theorems or the Circle Method, and congruences may be proven by employing Serres theory of p-adic modular forms. In
this note we are particularly interested in asymptotic and exact formulas for Fourier
coefficients of various modular q-series. In Section 2 we consider holomorphic modular forms, then in Section 3 allow growth in the cusps, in Section 4 turn to mock
modular forms, and finally treat mixed mock modular forms in Section 5.
2 Classical modular forms

In this section we restrict, for simplicity, to forms of even integral weight k for
SL2 .Z/. For basic facts on modular forms and most of the details skipped in this
section, we refer the reader to [31].
We call a modular form a holomorphic modular form if it is holomorphic on the
upper half-plane and bounded at 1. The space of holomorphic modular forms of
weight k is denoted by Mk . If a holomorphic modular form exponentially decays
towards 1 it is called a cusp form. The associated space is denoted by Sk . Special holomorphic modular forms that are not cusp forms are given by the classical
Eisenstein series and they have very simple explicit Fourier coefficients.
Definition. Formally define for k 2 N the Eisenstein series
X0
Gk . / WD
.m C n/k ;
m;n2Z
where the sum runs through all .m; n/ 2 Z2 n f.0; 0/g. We note that
G2kC1 . / 0:
Theorem 2.1. For k 4 even, we have that Gk 2 Mk .
Proof. (sketch)
Step 1: Prove compact convergence.
Step 2: Apply modular transformations and reorder.
Remark.We also
require
a normalized version
of the Eisenstein series. For this, set
1 WD 10 n1 I n 2 Z and for M D ac db 2 SL2 .R/; k 2 Z, and f W H ! C we
define the Petersson slash operator by

a C b
k
:
f jk M. / WD .c C d / f
c C d
Define for k 4 an even integer
Ek . / WD
1
2
1jk M. /;
M 21 nSL2 .Z/
where the sum runs through a complete set of representatives of right cosets of 1 in
SL2 .Z/. We have that
1
Ek . / D
Gk . /;
2.k/
P
where .s/ WD n1 n1s (Re.s/ > 1) denotes the Riemann zeta function. Indeed, it
is not hard to see that a set of representatives of 1 n SL2 .Z/ may be given by

? ?
2 SL2 .Z/I .c; d / D 1 :
c d
Thus
Ek . / D
1 X
1 X k X
.c C d /k D
r
.c C d /k
2
2.k/ r1
.c;d /D1
X
1
D
.cr C dr/k :
2.k/ .c;d /D1
.c;d /D1
r2N
Now .cr; dr/ runs through Z2 n f.0; 0/g if r runs through N and .c; d / through Z2
under the restriction that .c; d / D 1. This gives the claim.
We next turn to computing the Fourier expansion of the Eisenstein series.
Theorem 2.2. We have the Fourier expansion for k 4 even
2k X
k1 .n/e2i n ;
Ek . / D 1
Bk n1
where ` .n/ WD
function
P
d jn
d ` and Bk is the kth Bernoulli number, given by the generating

X xn
x
Bn :
D
ex 1
n
n0
Kathrin Bringmann
Proof. We instead compute the Fourier expansion of Gk and then use that for k even
k
.k/ D .1/ 2 C1
.2/k Bk
:
2k
Due to the absolute convergence of the Eisenstein series we may reorder

Gk . / D
X0
.m C n/k D
m;n2Z
nk C
n0
XX
D 2.k/ C 2
.m C n/k :
XX
.m C n/k
m0 n2Z
(1.2)
m>0 n2Z
Now it is well-known by the Lipschitz summation formula (cf. pp. 6572 of [30])
that
X
.2 i /k X k1 2i n
. C n/k D
n e
:
.k 1/ n1
n2Z
This gives that the second term in (1.2) equals

2.2 i /k X X k1 2i m
2.2 i /k X X k1 2i md
d
e
D
d
e
;
.k 1/ m1
.k 1/ m1
d 1
d jm
which gives the claim.

Examples. We have the following special cases:
X
E4 . / D 1 C 240
3 .n/e2i n ;
n1
E6 . / D 1 504
5 .n/e2i n ;
n1
E8 . / D 1 C 480
7 .n/e2i n :
n1
We next turn to bounding Fourier coefficients of holomorphic modular forms. For

this we split the space Mk into an Eisenstein series part and a cuspidal part.
Theorem 2.3. Assume that k 4 is even. Then
Mk D CEk Sk :
Proof. Assume f . / D
P
n0
a.n/e2i n 2 Mk . Then
f a.0/Ek 2 Sk :
Since the coefficients of the Eisenstein series part were given explicitly in Theorem 2.2, we next turn to bounding coefficients of cups forms.
P
Theorem 2.4 (Hecke bound). For f . / D n1 a.n/e2i n 2 Sk with k > 0, we
have
k
a.n/ D O n 2 :
Proof. It is not hard to see that the function
e. / WD Im. / k2 jf . /j
f
e is invariant under SL2 .Z/ and one
is bounded on H. Indeed, one can show that f
e for sufficiently large imaginary part. Using Cauchys Theorem,
may then bound f
we can write for n 1
Z 1
2 ny
f .x C iy/e2i nx dx;
a.n/ D e
0
where y > 0 can be chosen arbitrary. This yields that

k
ja.n/j y 2 e2 ny
e.x C iy/dx cy k2 e2 ny

f
for some constant c > 0 (independent of y). Picking y D

k
k
ja.n/j cn 2 e2 D O n 2 :
1
n
gives
Remark. The Ramanujan-Petersson Conjecture predicts that for f 2 Sk we have for

any " > 0 the (optimal) estimate
a.n/ ";f n
k1
2 C"
For integral weight k 2 this conjecture was proven by Deligne using highly advanced techniques from algebraic geometry. His method begins with the fact that the
vector space of cusp forms has a basis of common eigenfunctions of the so-called
Hecke algebra and that the Fourier coefficients of these forms coincide with the
eigenvalues.
Corollary 2.5. Assume k 4 is even and f . / D
a.n/ D a.0/
n0 a.n/e
2i n
2 Mk . Then
2k
k1 .n/ C O n 2 :
Bk
Proof. The claim follows directly by combining Theorem 2.3 and Theorem 2.4.
Kathrin Bringmann
Remark. We have that

nr r .n/ D
X
d jn
d r D nr
d r nr
d jn
d r D .r/nr :
d 1
In particular, we have for k 4 that for f 2 Mk

a.n/ D O nk1
and if f 62 Sk , this bound cannot be improved.
We next turn to defining explicit cusp forms whose construction generalizes that
of Eisenstein series.
Definition. For k 2 N and n 2 N0 , formally define the Poincare series
X
e2i n k M:
Pk;n . / WD
M 21 nSL2 .Z/
Note that
Pk;0 . / D 2Ek . /:
A calculation similar to the proof of Theorem 2.1 establishes the modularity of these
functions.
Theorem 2.6. For k 3 the Poincare series Pk;n converges uniformly on every
vertical strip in H. In particular, Pk;n 2 Mk , and for n > 0 we have Pk;n 2 Sk .
Poincare series turn out to be useful, as they have explicitly computable Fourier
expansions and integrating cusp forms against them recovers the Fourier coefficients
of these forms.
To precisely state this result, we need the Petersson inner product. To define this,
note that for f; g 2 Mk
dxdy
d WD
;
y2
f . /g. /y k
are invariant under SL2 .Z/:
Definition. A subset F H is called a fundamental domain of SL2 .Z/ if the following hold:
(i) F is closed.
(ii) For every 2 H there exists M 2 SL2 .Z/ such that M 2 F .

(iii) If and M (M 2 SL2 .Z/) are in the interior of F , then M D 10 01 .
We also require the following explicit fundamental domain.
Theorem 2.7. The following is a fundamental domain of SL2 .Z/:

1
:
F WD 2 HI j j 1; jRe. /j
2
Remark. Note that if D x C iy 2 F , then y
3
.
2
Definition. For f 2 Mk and g 2 Sk , formally define the Petersson inner product by

Z
f . /g. /y k d:
(1.3)
hf; gi WD
F
Later we also require a regularized version of this inner product. To introduce it,
denote for T > 0

1
FT WD 2 HI jxj ; j j 1; y T :
2
Following [7], we define the regularized inner product hf; gireg of forms f; g which
transform like modular forms of weight k, but may grow at the cusps. To be more
precise, we let hf; gireg be the constant term in the Laurent expansion at s D 0 of the
meromorphic continuation in s of
Z
lim
g. /f . /y ks d;
T !1 FT
if it exists. Note that if f 2 Mk and g has vanishing constant term, then we have
Z
g. /f . /y k d:
(1.4)
hf; gireg D lim
T !1 FT
The following theorem may be easily verified.

Theorem 2.8. The integral (1.3) is absolutely convergent and the following conditions hold:
(i) hf; gi D hg; f i;
(ii) hf; gi is C-linear in f ;
(iii) hf; f i 0 and moreover hf; f i D 0 , f 0.
In particular, integrating against Poincare series yields the Fourier coefficients of
cusp forms.
P
Theorem 2.9 (Petersson coefficient formula). For f . / D m1 a.m/e2i m 2 Sk ,
we have
(
0
for n D 0;
f; Pk;n D
.k2/
a.n/
for n 1:
.4 n/k1
In particular, Ek ?Sk with respect to the Petersson scalar product.
Kathrin Bringmann
Proof. We only argue formally and ignore questions of convergence. We have

Z
X
f . /
e2i n jk M y k d
f; Pk;n D
F
M 21 nSL2 .Z/
M 21 nSL2 .Z/
Z
D
Note that
f k M. /e2i n jk M y k d
f . /e2i n y k d:
(1.5)
M 21 nSL2 .Z/ M F
S
M 21 nSL2 .Z/
2i n k
M F is a fundamental domain for the action of 1 on H
y is invariant under the action of 1 . Thus we may change

and
S that f . /e
M
F
into
M 21 n
f D x C iyI 0 x 1; y > 0g :
This gives that (1.5) equals
Z 1Z 1
f . /e2i n y k2 dxdy
0
0
Z 1
Z
X
2.nCm/y k2
D
a.m/
e
y
dy
0
m1
e2i.mn/x dx:
Now the claim follows by using that

Z 1
1 if ` D 0,
e2i `x dx D
0
otherwise,
Z 10
et t k2 dt D .k 2/:
To show that the Poincare series constitute a basis of Sk , we first require the
Valence formula (see [31] for a proof).
Theorem 2.10. If f 6 0 is a meromorphic modular form of weight k 2 Z, we have
2 i
with WD e 3
1
1
ord.f I 1/ C ord.f I i / C ord.f I / C
2
3
where ord.f I 1/ D n0 if f . / D
P1
nDn0
ord.f I z/ D
z2nH
z6i; .mod /
k
;
12
a.n/q n with a .n0 / 0.
One can conclude from Theorem 2.10 the following dimension formulas, the
proof of which is omitted here.
Corollary 2.11. For k 2 N0 ,

8j k
< k C1
6
dim M2k D j k
: k
6
8j k
k
<j 6 k
k
dim Sk D
6 1
:
0
if k 6 1
.mod 6/;
if k 1
.mod 6/;
if k 6 1
.mod 6/;
if k 1
.mod 6/; k 7;
if k D 1:
This easily gives the basis property of the Poincare series.

Corollary 2.12 (Completeness theorem). Let k 4 even and dk WD dim.Sk /. Then
a basis of Sk is given by

Pk;n I n D 1; : : : ; dk :
In particular, Mk has a basis consisting of Eisenstein series and Poincare series.

Proof. Set S WD span Pk;1 ; : : : ; Pk;dk Sk and let f 2 Sk be such that f ?S
with respect to P
the Petersson inner product. Then f has a Fourier expansion of the
2i m
form f . / D
. From Corollary 2.11 we know the precise
mdk C1 a.m/e
values of dk , yielding a contradiction to Theorem 2.10. To be more precise, we have
for k 6 2 .mod 12/

X
k
k
dk C 1 D
ord.f I z/ dk C 1:
C1>
D ord.f I 1/ C
12
12
z2nH
For k 2 .mod 12/, we get

k
1
D dk C 1 C :
12
6
Thus ord.f I 1/ D dk C 1 and
ord.f I z/ D
z2nH
1
;
6
which is impossible.
We next compute the Fourier coefficients an .m/ of the Poincare series Pk;n . For
this, we require some special functions. Define the Kloosterman sums by
X
S .m; nI c/ WD
a
e2i
amCan
c
.mod c/?
where the sum runs over all a .mod c/ that are coprime to c and a denotes the
10
Kathrin Bringmann
multiplicative inverse of a .mod c/. Moreover, we let Jr be the J -Bessel function

of order r, defined by
x
rC2`
X
.1/`
Jr .x/ WD
;
` .` C 1 C r/ 2
`0
where .x/ denotes the usual gamma-function.

Theorem 2.13. We have for n 2 N
0
1
p

m
k1
X
mn
4
2
@m;n C 2 i k
A ; (1.6)
an .m/ D
c 1 S .n; mI c/ Jk1
n
c
c1
where
m;n WD
1 if m D n,
0 otherwise.
Proof. We again use that a set of representatives of 1 nSL2 .Z/ is given by

? ?
2 SL2 .Z/I .c; d / D 1 :
c d
The contribution for c D 0 is easily seen to give the first summand in (1.6). For c 0
we use the identity
a C b
a
1
D
c C d
c c2 C d
c
and change d 7! d C mc; where d runs .mod c/ and m 2 Z. This gives

X
X
d
2 i na
Pk;n . / D e2i n C 2
c k
e c F C
;
c
?
c1
?
d .mod c/
where a is defined by ad 1 .mod c/ and

X
F . / WD
2 i n
c 2 .Cm/
. C m/k :
m2Z
Now the classical Poisson summation formula yields

X
F . / D
a.m/e2i m ;
m2Z
where
k e
a.m/ D
Im. /DC
22i n 2i m
c
d
11
with C > 0 arbitrary. For m 0 we can deform the path of integration up to infinity
yielding that a.m/ D 0 in this case. For m > 0 we make the substitution D
1
i c 1.n=m/ 2 w to get
a.m/ D i
k1 k1
m
k2 12 Z
n
CCi 1
w k e
2
c
p
mn.ww 1 /
dw:
Ci 1
The claim follows using the fact that for , > 0 the functions
p
1
t 7! .t= / 2 J1 2 t ; .t > 0/;
and
w 7! w e w ;
.Re.w/ > 0/;
are inverses of each other with respect to the usual Laplace transform (8.412.2 of
[23]).
3 Weakly holomorphic modular forms

We next turn to weakly holomorphic modular forms, which are still holomorphic
on H, but admit poles at the cusps. The Fourier coefficients of such forms grow
much faster than those of holomorphic forms. Let us in particular describe this in the
situation of the partition function.
Recall that a partition of a positive integer n is a nondecreasing sequence of positive integers (the parts of the partition) whose sum is n. Let p.n/ denote the number
of partitions of n. For example, the partitions of 4 are
4;
3 C 1;
2 C 2;
2 C 1 C 1;
1 C 1 C 1 C 1;
so that p.4/ D 5. The partition function is very rapidly increasing. For example,
p.3/ D 3;
p.4/ D 5;
p.10/ D 42;
p.20/ D 627;
p.100/ D 190569292:
A key observation by Euler is the product identity
P .q/ WD 1 C
X
n1
p.n/q n D
1
:
1 qn
n1
12
Kathrin Bringmann
One can show that for jqj < 1, the function P is holomorphic. Using Eulers identity
one can embed the partition function into the modular world using the Dedekind
-function .q D e2i /
1 Y
. / WD q 24
.1 q n / :
n1
This function is a modular form of weight 1=2. To be more precise, we have the
following transformation laws (see e.g. [31]).
Theorem 3.1. We have
i
. C 1/ D e 12
. /;

p
1

D i
. /:

Theorem 3.1 in particular gives the asymptotic behavior of
as ! 0. To be
more precise, it implies that
p
i
P .q/ i e 12
. ! 0/:
We moreover note that the coefficients p.n/ are easily seen to be positive and monotonic. From this, we may conclude the growth behavior of p.n/ using a Tauberian
Theorem due to Ingham [27].
P
Theorem 3.2. Assume that f . / WD q n0 n0 a.n/q n is a holomorphic function on
H, satisfying the following conditions:
(i) For all n 2 N0 , we have
0 < a.n/ a.n C 1/:
(ii) There exist c 2 C, d 2 R, and N > 0 such that
f . / c.i /d e
Then
a.n/ p
c
1
2N 2 .d 2 /
2 iN

n 2 .d 2 / e4
. ! 0/:
Nn
.n ! 1/:
From this we immediately conclude the growth behavior of the partition function.
Theorem 3.3. We have
p.n/
1
p e
4n 3
2n
3
.n ! 1/:
(1.7)
We note that the partition function also has the q-hypergeometric series representation
X q n2
P .q/ D
;
(1.8)
.qI q/2n
n0
13
Q
j
where .aI q/n WD n1
j D0 .1 aq /. Showing modularity by just using this representation is still an open problem [3].
Rademacher [36], building on work of Hardy and Ramanujan [22], used the Circle
Method to obtain an exact formula for p.n/. To state his result, we let
x
2mC
X
1
(1.9)
Is .x/ WD i s Js .ix/ D
m.m C C 1/ 2
m0
/, we define the
be the I -Bessel function of order s. Moreover, with 12 .x/ WD . 12
x
Kloosterman sum
p
X
k
2 ix
12 .x/e 12k :
Ak .n/ WD p
4 3
x .mod 24k/
x 2 124n .mod 24k/
Note that for k > 0, .h; k/ D 1, and Re.z/ > 0 we may rewrite the transformation
law of the partition generating function as

p 1
i
2 i
2 i
P exp
.h C iz/
D !h;k ze 12k .z z / P exp
h0 C
;
k
k
z
(1.10)
where hh0 1 .mod k/. Here
!h;k WD exp . i s .h; k// ;
(1.11)
X
h
k
k
with
s .h; k/ WD
.mod k/
and
..x// WD
1
2
x bxc
0
if x 2 RnZ;
if x 2 Z:
Sometimes it is also useful to rewrite !h;k as [33]

8
1
.kk 1 /.2hh0 Ch2 h0 //
< k ei . 14 .2hkh/C 12
h
!h;k D h
1
1
1
0
2 0
:
ei . 4 .k1/C 12 .kk /.2hh Ch h //
k
if h is odd;
if k is odd:

Here ab denotes the Jacobi symbol.
Note that we may also write
X
Ak .n/ D
!h;k e
2 i nh
k
h .mod k ? /
Theorem 3.4. For n 1, we have

p.n/ D
X Ak .n/
2
3
.24n 1/ 4
k1
I3
2
!
p
24n 1
:
6k
(1.12)
14
Kathrin Bringmann
We note that this is a very astonishing identity expressing the integer p.n/ as
an infinite sum of transcendental numbers. Recently Bruinier and Ono [16] found
a formula expressing p.n/ as a finite sum of algebraic numbers.
Proof. Here we only give some details of the proof, for more see [4]. By Cauchys
Theorem,
Z
1
P .q/
p.n/ D
dq;
2 i C q nC1
where C is any path inside the unit circle surrounding 0 counterclockwise. We may
2
choose for C the circle centered at 0 with radius D exp. N
2 /, with N > 0 fixed
(later we let N ! 1). Then
Z 1
n
P . exp .2 i t// exp .2 i nt/ dt:
p.n/ D
0
Define
1
k .k1 C k/
0
#h;k
WD
and
00
#h;k
WD
1
;
k .k2 C k/
where hk11 < kh < hk22 are adjacent Farey fractions in the Farey sequence of order N
(for example, see p. 72 of [4]). From the theory of Farey fractions it is known that
(j D 1; 2)
1
1

:
k C kj
N C1
0

We decompose the path of integration in paths along the Farey arcs #h;k
00
#h;k
, where D t kh . Setting z D k.N 2 i / then yields
X

2 i nh
2 n
exp

p.n/ D exp
N2
k
1kN
0h<k
.h;k/D1

2 i
P exp
.h C iz/
exp .2 i n/ d:
0
k
#h;k

2ih
. We thus
.h
C
iz//
!
exp
For N ! 1 we have that z ! 0, i.e., exp. 2i
k
k

. To find it, we apply (1.10)
need to know the behavior of P .q/ as q ! exp 2ih
k
to obtain
X

2 i nh
2 n
p.n/ D exp
exp
!h;k
N2
k
Z
00
#h;k
1kN
0h<k
.h;k/D1
00
#h;k
z 2 exp
0
#h;k

2 i
i
h0 C
exp .2 i n/ d:
.z 1 z/ P exp
12k
k
z
15
Now exp. 2i

.h0 C zi // ! 0 as z ! 0C . Thus all the terms in P .q/ 1 are
k
small. We therefore write
X
X
p.n/ D
C
;
1
with
X
1
WD exp
Z
2 n
N2
X
1kN
0h<k
.h;k/D1

2 i nh
exp
!h;k
k

z 1 z exp .2 i n/ d;
0
12k
#h;k
!

X

Z # 00
X
h;k
z 1 z
2 i nh
1
2 n
WD exp
exp
z 2 exp
!h;k
2
0
N2
k
12k
#h;k
00
#h;k
z 2 exp
1kN
0h<k
.h;k/D1
2 i
exp
k
i
h C
z

1 exp .2 i n/ d:
P
P
Here we only focus on the main term 1 and only note that 2 contributes to the
error terms, giving

X
2 n
21
!0
DO N
exp
2
N2
for N ! 1. The proof is given in [4].
Turning to the main term, setting w WD N 2 i yields
X

X
2 i nh
2 n
D exp
exp
!h;k Ih;k ;
1
N2
k
1kN
0h<k
.h;k/D1
with
Here

1
Ih;k WD i k 2 exp 2 nN 2
0
N 2 Ci #h;k
00
N 2 i #h;k
g.w/dw:

1
wC
:
g.w/ WD w exp 2 n
24
12k 2 w
1
2
Using the Residue Theorem, we can write

2 n
1
exp
Ih;k D k 2 i .Lk I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 / ;
2
N
16
with
Kathrin Bringmann

1

Lk WD
z exp 2 n
zC
dz;
24
12k 2 z
L

Z
1

1
z 2 exp 2 n
Ij WD
zC
dz;
24
12k 2 z
Ij
Z
1
2
where L and Ij denote the paths of integration in the picture
We note without a proof that I2 , I3 , I4 , and I5 contribute to the error and vanish
as N ! 1. Moreover, as " ! 0

Z 1
1

1
t 2 exp 2 n
I1 C I6 D 2i
t
dt DW 2i L?k
2t
24
12k
0
This gives that
p.n/ D
Ak .n/
k .n/;
k1
where Ak .n/ is defined as in (1.12) and

k .n/
p
p
WD i kLk C 2 kL?k :
17
To finish the proof, we have to show that

2
1
I3
k .n/ D
3
.24n 1/ 4 k 2
!
p
24n 1
:
6k
Inserting the power series expansion for the exponential function, interchanging summation and integration, and then making a change of variables gives that

s

s 32
Z
X 12k 2
1
1
1
i Lk D 2
ez z sC 2 dz;
2 n
s
24
2 i L
s0
where the loop L is as in the above picture.
Using the Hankel loop integral formula
1
1

D
1
2 i
s2
then yields that
ez z sC 2 dz
L
1
2 .n 24
/
2
6k
s
X
1
1

:
i Lk D p
3

2 n 1 2 s0 s s 12
24
Treating L?k similarly, the claim follows using the series representation of the Bessel
function (1.9).

Corollary 3.5. The asymptotic estimate (1.7) is true.
Proof. The claim follows immediately from Theorem 3.4 using that
ex
I` .x/ p
2x
.x ! 1/:
4 Mock modular forms

Next we aim to study coefficients of mock modular forms, which are holomorphic
parts of harmonic .weak/ Maass forms. These are a generalization of modular forms
which satisfy a transformation law like (1.1) and (weak) growth conditions at the
cusps, but, instead of being meromorphic, they are annihilated by the weight-k hyperbolic Laplacian . D x C iy/
2

@2
@
@
@
k WD y 2
C
i
ky
C
C
i
:
@x 2
@y 2
@x
@y
18
Kathrin Bringmann
We let Hk denote the space of harmonic Maass forms of weight k. A theory of harmonic Maass forms was built by Bruinier and Funke [15]. Previously, Niebur [34, 35]
and Hejhal [24] constructed certain non-holomorphic Poincare series which turn out
to be examples of harmonic weak Maass forms. Since functions that are holomorphic
on H are annihilated by k , weakly holomorphic modular forms are harmonic Maass
forms. The simplest (non-weakly holomorphic) harmonic weak Maass form is given
by the non-holomorphic Eisenstein series of weight 2. To be more precise, define
E2 . / WD 1 24
1 .n/q n :
n1
Then E2 is translation invariant, but introduces an error term under modular inversion:

1
6
D 2 E2 . / C
E2
:

i
This gives that
b 2 . / WD E2 . / 3
E
y
is a harmonic weak Maass form of weight 2.
A further example of a mock modular form of weight 32 is given by the generating
function of Hurwitz class numbers [25]. To be more precise, the function
b
h. / WD
X
n0
n0;3 .mod 4/
i
H.n/q n C p
8 2
i1
.w/
3
dw
(1.13)
.i . C w// 2
is a harmonic Maass forms of weight 32 on 0 .4/. Here H.n/ is the nth Hurwitz class number, i.e., the number of equivalence classes of quadratic forms of
discriminant n, where each class C is counted with multiplicity 1=Aut.C / and
P
2i n2 w
is the usual weight- 12 theta function. We note that these
.w/ WD
n2Z e
class numbers may also be related to so-called over partitions [9].
In this paper, we are in particular interested in those harmonic Maass forms F for
which there exist a polynomial PF and ` > 0 such that as y ! 1

F . / PF q 1 D O e`y :
The function PF .q 1 / is called the principal part of F . We denote the associated
space of Maass forms of weight k by Hk .
Using the differential equation satisfied by harmonic Maass forms, it is not hard
to see that forms in Hk naturally split into a holomorphic and a non-holomorphic
part:
F . / D F C . / C F . /;
where
F C . / WD
19
aC .n/q n ;
n1
F . / WD
a .n/.1 kI 4jnjy/q n :
n<0
Here
et t 1 dt
.I x/ WD
x
is the incomplete gamma function. The function F C is called a mock modular form
and its coefficients often encode interesting arithmetic information. Each mock modular form has a hidden companion, its shadow, which is necessary to fully understand
the mock modular form. The shadow, which is a classical cusp form of weight 2 k,
may be obtained from the associated harmonic weak Maass form of weight k by
@
applying the differential operator k WD 2iy k @
. A direct calculation gives
X
a .n/n1k q n :
k .F / D .4/1k
n1
A space orthogonal to Hk can be charaterized in terms of the holomorphic

differential operator

1 @ k1
D k1 WD
:
2 i @z
Bruinier, Ono, and Rhoades [17] showed the following
Theorem 4.1. If k 2 N; k 2, then the image of the map
D k1 W H2k ! Mk
consists of those h 2 Mk which are orthogonal to cusp forms with respect to the
regularized inner product (1.4), and which also have constant term 0.
Further examples of mock modular forms are given by the so-called mock theta
functions, a collection of 22 q-series including
f .q/ WD
X
qn
D
.n/q n ;
2
.qI
q/
n
n0
n0
X
which were defined by the visionary Ramanujan in his last letter to Hardy [37]. Note
that this function agrees with the representation (1.8) of P .q/ as a q-hypergeometric
function up to a simple change of sign. Ramanujans last letter to Hardy includes the
claim that
.1/nC1 p n
6
.n/
p e
(as n ! 1):
2 n
20
Kathrin Bringmann
As typical for his writing, Ramanujan left no proof of this claim. Dragonette, a Ph.D.
student of Rademacher, then solved this claim in her thesis [19]. Andrews [1] improved upon her work and together they made the following conjecture.
Conjecture (Andrews, Dragonette). For n 2 N, we have

j
k
kC1
k .1C.1/k /
!
2
p
A2k n
4
X .1/

24n 1
:
.n/ D
I1
1
2
k
12n
.24n 1/ 4 k1
Note that not even convergence of this exact formula is obvious. In joint work
with K. Ono, we proved this conjecture [12].
Theorem 4.2. The Andrews-Dragonette Conjecture is true.
We note that S. Garthwaite [21] showed in her thesis a similar result for the coefficients of Ramanujans mock theta function !.q/ defined in (1.14). Later we [13]
proved exact formulas for coefficients of a generic harmonic weak Maass form.
The coefficients .n/ also have some combinatorial interpretations. To describe
this, recall that the rank of a partition is its largest part minus the number of its parts.
Dyson [20] introduced this statistic to explain the famous Ramanujan congruences
p.5n C 4/ 0
p.7n C 5/ 0
p.11n C 6/ 0
.mod 5/;
.mod 7/;
.mod 11/:
More precisely, Dyson conjectured that the partitions of 5n C 4 (resp. 7n C 5) form

5 (resp. 7) groups of equal size when sorted by their ranks modulo 5 (resp. 7). As an
example, the following table gives the ranks for the partitions of 4.
partition
rank
rank .mod 5/
4
3C1
2C2
2C1C1
1C1C1C1
41=3
32=1
22=0
2 3 = 1
1 4 = 3
3
1
0
4
2
Since a direct calculation confirms that such a splitting in residue classes cannot
hold modulo 11, Dyson postulated the existence of another statistic, which should
be called the crank and which should explain all of the Ramanujan congruences.
Dysons rank conjecture was solved by Atkin and Swinnerton-Dyer [6]; the crank was
found by Andrews and Garvan [5]. To study ranks it is natural to consider a generating
21
function. Denoting by N.m; n/ the number of partitions of n of rank m, it is wellknown that

XX
qn
1C
N .m; n/ z q D 1 C
:
.zqI q/n .z 1 qI q/n
n1 m2Z
n1
m n
In particular, letting z D 1, we obtain

1C
.Ne .n/ No .n// q n D 1 C
n1
qn
n1
.qI q/2n
D f .q/;
where Ne .n/ (resp. No .n/) denotes the number of partitions of n of even (resp. odd)
rank. This yields the combinatorial interpretation of the coefficients .n/ of the mock
theta function f .q/.
Proof of Theorem 4.2. The idea in [12] is to realize f .q/ as the holomorphic part of
a Maass-Poincare series. Such Poincare series generate the space of harmonic Maass
forms and have the form

X
a C b
.c C d /k
;
c C d

M D a b 21 n
c d
where is an appropriate subgroup of SL2 .Z/ and is a translation-invariant function that satisfies the differential equation of a Maass form. Fourier coefficients of
such Maass-Poincare series are then easily computed using Poisson summation.
To be more precise, we need to recall work of Zwegers [39] which completes
f .q/ to a (vector-valued) harmonic weak Maass form. Watson [38] had previously
obtained (mock) transformations for f .q/ and related functions. To state Zwegerss
result we require a further mock theta function
!.q/ WD
X q 2n2 C2n
n0
.qI q 2 /2nC1
(1.14)
to build the vector-valued function

1
1
T
1
1
:
F . / WD .F0 . /; F1. /; F2. //T D q 24 f .q/; 2q 3 ! q 2 ; 2q 3 ! q 2
We moreover require its non-holomorphic companion, a certain period integral,
p Z
G. / WD 2i 3
i1
.g1 .z/; g0 .z/; g2 .z//T

dz;
p
i.z C /
22
Kathrin Bringmann
where the following cuspidal theta functions of weight 32 are defined as

X
1 3i .nC 1 /2 z
n
3
.1/ n C
;
e
g0 .z/ WD
3
n2Z

X
1 3i .nC 1 /2 z
6
nC
;
e
g1 .z/ WD
6
n2Z

X
1 3i .nC 1 /2 z
3
e
nC
:
g2 .z/ WD
3
n2Z
Then define the completion of F by

b . / WD F . / G. /:
F
Theorem 4.3. We have the following transformation laws for the generators of
SL2 .Z/:
1
0 1
24 0 0
b . /;
b . C 1/ D @ 0
0 3 A F
F
0 3 0
0
1

0 1 0
p
1
b
b . /;
D i @ 1 0 0 A F
F

0 0 1
where n WD e
2 i
n
. Moreover,
b D 0:
1 F
2
From Theorem 4.3 it is then not hard to conclude that

b 0 . / WD F0 .24 / G0 .24 /
F
is a harmonic weak Maass form of weight 12 on 0 .144/ with Nebentypus character

12 .n/ WD 12
. Here 0 .N / WD ac db 2 SL2 .Z/I c 0 .mod N / .
n
Let us next define the
Maass-Poincare series. For this, we require further
precise

notation. For matrices ac db 2 0 .2/ with c 0, define the multiplier
( b

24
if c D 0,
a b

1

WD
aCd
a
3dc
21
.cCad C1/
1
2
c d
e 24c 4 C 8 !d;c if c > 0,
i .1/
where !h;k was given in (1.11). Here e.x/ WD e2ix . Note that this multiplier is
b 0 when restricted to 0 .2/.
defined to agree with the automorphy factor of F
A key function for building the Maass-Poincare series is the special function (s 2
C, u 2 Rnf0g)
1
Ms .u/ WD juj 4 M 1 sgn.u/;s 1 .juj/ :
4
23
Here M; is the standard M -Whittaker function, which satisfies the differential
equation
!
1
2

1
@2

F D 0:
FC C C 4 2
@u2
4
u
u
y
x
's . / WD Ms
e
:
6
24
A direct calculation shows that

1
3
s 's :
1 .'s / D s
2
4
4
Then set
(1.15)
From the function 's we then build the Poincare series

2
P 1 .sI / WD p
2

.M /1 .c C d / 2 's .M / ;
M 21 n0 .2/
where we always choose representations with non-negative lower-left

For

entry.
Re.s/ > 1, this series converges absolutely and satisfies for M D ac db 2 0 .2/
the correct transformation law

a C b
1
D .M /.c C d / 2 P 1 .sI / :
P 1 sI
2
2
c C d
Specializing to s D 34 then formally yields, by (1.15), a function that is annihilated
by 1 . Convergence is however not guaranteed. To overcome this problem, we
2
analytically continue the function via its Fourier expansion.
Proposition 4.4. We have

1
1 y
3
1
I D 1 p
I
q 24
P1
2
4
2 6

X
X
1
1
1 j24n 1j y
n 24
C
.n/q
C
.n/
I
q n 24 :
2
6
n1
n0
Here
.n/ D
X .1/

1
.24n 1/ 4
p
.n/ D

A2k n
k .1C.1/k /
4
k

k .1C.1/k /
b kC1
2 cA
n

.1/
2k
4
X
I1
2
k1
j24n 1j 4
b kC1
2 c
k1
J1
2
!
p
24n 1
;
12k

!
j24n 1j
:
12k
24
Kathrin Bringmann
Proof. Using Poisson summation, the proof proceeds similarly to the proof of Theorem 2.13. In particular we require the following integral evaluations (see page 357 of
[24]):

k
1 iu 2
4B
2 iBu
exp
M k ;s 1
C
2
iAu
du
2
2
1 C u2
1 C u2
1 1 C i u
8 q
2 j B
Aj
W
.4jAj/
J
jABj
if A > 0;
4
k
1
2s1
2 ;s 2
.s k
2/
<
4 1Cs
s
if A D 0;
D .2s/ .2s1/ .sC k / .s k / B
2
2
p
B
2 j A j W k 1 .4jAj/ I
:
if A < 0:
2s1 4 jABj
k
;s
.sC 2 /
2
2
Here W; is the usual W -Whittaker function. The claim then follows from the special values of Whittaker functions .y > 0/
y
W 3 .y/ D e 2 ;

1
W 3 .y/ D e
Iy ;
4
2

y
1 p
1

M 3 .y/ D
Iy
e2
4
2
2
4
y
2
once convergence is established. Here for s 2 C and u 2 Rnf0g

1
Ws .u/ WD juj 4 W 1 sgn.u/;s 1 .juj/ :

4
Proving convergence is quite involved and requires modifying a classical argument of Hooley [26]. To use his method, we rewrite the Kloosterman sums as Salie
sums, which are sums over quadratic congruences. To be more precise, one can show
that

8
1 .nI k/
k .1C.1/k /
A2k n
if k is odd;
< p
4
24k
n
D
i1 .nI k/ 2i e 2k 2 .nI k/
: p
p

if k is even;
24k
24k
where
1 .nI k/ WD
12 .x/e
x .mod 48k/
x 2 124n .mod 48k/
2 .nI k/ WD
x .mod 12k/
x 2 124n .mod 12k/
12 .x/i
;
24k
x 2 1
12k
:
24k
25
Using the fact that

I1
2
!
p
24n 1
J1
2
12k
j24n 1j
12k
j24n 1j 4
p
6k
.k ! 1/
it is not hard to complete the proof once we establish the following estimates ..j; `/ 2
f.0; 1/; .0; 2/; .1; 1/g/:
X .nI k/
1
j24n 1j 2 :
k1
k
kj .mod 2/
The proof of this estimate follows similarly as in Hooley.
As the Poincare series was constructed such that .n/ agrees with the formula
conjectured, we are left to show that
.n/ D .n/:
For this we prove that the associated Maass forms coincide. The argument is somewhat lenghty and has been later simplified [13].
5 Mixed mock modular forms

We next turn to the Fourier coefficients of mixed mock modular forms, which are
linear combinations of mock modular forms multiplied by modular forms. We note
that there is no theory of such functions, the reason being that the space of harmonic
Maass forms is not closed under multiplication (the eigenfunction property is violated). In particular, there are no corresponding Poincare series known, and those
were key ingredients for proving an exact formula for the Fourier coefficients of
f .q/. To overcome these problems, we [10] developed an amplied version of the
Hardy-Ramanujan Circle Method. Before describing the main modifications necessary, we want to give some examples.
The first example comes from combinatorics.
Definition. A partition without sequences [2, 32] is a partition without two consecutive numbers. We denote by s.n/ the number of partitions of n without sequences.
For example the partitions without sequences of 5 are given by
5;
Thus s.5/ D 4.
4 C 1;
3 C 1 C 1;
1 C 1 C 1 C 1 C 1:
26
Kathrin Bringmann
We have the generating function [2]

G.q/ WD

n
s.n/q D
n0
q 3 I q 3

1
.q 2 I q 2 /1
.q/;
where the product in front is a quotient of

-functions (and thus modular) and
.q/ WD
X .qI q/n
2
qn
3
3
.q I q /n
n0
is one of Ramanujans third-order mock theta functions.

A further example comes from the generating function for Euler numbers of certain moduli spaces [11]. The functions that are of relevance here are (j 2 f0; 1g)
fj . / WD
X
j C1
1 X
nC 3j
4 DW
H.4n
C
3j
/q
j .n/q n 4 :
6
. / n0
n0
(1.16)
The modularity of
and (1.13) yields that we have a mixed mock modular form.
A third example comes from Lie superalgebras. Recently, Kac and Wakimoto
[28] found a character formula for certain s`.mj1/^ -modules. In terms of q-series
this can be written in the following way (s 2 Z):
Pm1
2 2 2
1
X
q Iq 1
q 2 i D1 ki .ki C1/
2s
2q
:
Pm1
.qI q/mC2
1
1 C q i D1 ki s
kD.k1 ;k2 ;:::;km1 /2Zm1
From this representation it is not clear at all that one has mixed mock modular forms,
but the author proved this in joint work with Ken Ono [14].
One can also consider specialized character formulas for irreducible highest
weight s`.mjn/^ modules. Here an even more complicated class of functions plays
a role [8], the so-called almost harmonic Maass forms. Loosely speaking, these are
@
C yk
sums of harmonic Maass forms under iterates of the raising operator Rk WD 2i @
(thus themselves non-harmonic weak Maass forms) multiplied by almost holomorphic modular forms [29], which are functions that transform like modular forms and
are polynomials in y1 with (weakly) holomorphic coefficients. We call the associated
holomorphic parts almost mock modular forms.
There are many more interesting mixed mock modular forms, for example coming
from certain generating function arising in the theory of black holes [18] or Joyce
invariants.
As a special case, we treat the coefficients j .n/ of fj defined in (1.16). For this,
we require some more notation. We let for k 2 N; g 2 Z, and u 2 R
8
2
if g 6 0 .mod 2k/;
< 2 u
ig
sinh
k 2k
fk;g .u/ WD
2
: 2
ku2
if g 0 .mod 2k/:
sinh2 . u
/
k
27
Furthermore, we define the Kloosterman sums

Kj;` .n; mI k/ WD
0
j ` .h; h ; k/e
0
i
2
hnC h 4m
k
0h<k
.h;k/D1
where h0 is defined by hh0 1 .mod k/ and where the

multipliers. Finally, we let
Z
Ik;g .n/ WD
fk;g
1
I7
2
p
k
j`
are certain explicit

7
.4n .j C 1// .1 u2 / 1 u2 4 du:
Theorem 5.1. For n 1, the Fourier coefficients j .n/ of fj are given by the
following exact formula:
p
5 X Kj;0 .n; 0I k/

4n .j C 1/
.4n .j C 1// 4
I5
2
6
k
k
k1
p
3 X Kj;0 .n; 0I k/
1
I3
C p .4n .j C 1// 2
p
4n .j C 1/
k
2
k
j .n/ D
k1
7
1
.4n .j C 1// 4
8
k1
`2f0;1g
k<gk
g` .mod 2/
Kj;` .n; g 2 I k/
Ik;g .n/:
k2
The above formula is useful as it allows one to determine asymptotic expansions.

To be more precise, one can show (see [10, 11]) the following.
Corollary 5.2. The leading asymptotic terms of j .n/ for n ! 1 are

2 2 pn
1 7
1 3
:
n 2
n 4 CO n
e
j .n/ D
96
32
We note that in contrast to mock modular forms, the shadows of the mixed mock
modular forms do contribute to the leading asymptotic terms. One could determine
further polynomial lower order main terms.
Proof of Theorem 5.1. We only give a sketch of a proof. Details can be found in [11].
From (1.13) and the transformation law of the theta function it follows that

X
C1/h
3
ih0
1
0
i.j2k
fj
.h C iz/ D z 2
j ` .h; h ; k/e 2k
k
`2f0;1g

i
i
1
1
1
1
f`
h0 C
C p
6
h0 C
I`
;
k
z
k
z
kz
4 2
28
Kathrin Bringmann
where
Ij .x/ WD

j iw
h0
k
3
dw:
.w C x/ 2
Using partial fraction decomposition, we obtain

2 0

Z 1
X
1
g h
20;g
2xu2
Ij .x/ D
e
p p
e
fk;g .u/du ;
4k
x
2k 2 x 1
g .mod 2k/
gj .mod 2/
where 0;g D 0 unless g 0 .mod 2k/ in which case it equals 1.

Now the main difference compared to the use of the classical Circle Method is the
contribution of integrals of the form
Z 1
2b 5
2u2
2
kz
z
e kz fk;g .u/du:
Ik;g;b .z/ WD e
1
Similarly to the case of Fourier expansions, we are now interested in their principal
parts. To be more precise, we let for b > 0 and g 2 Z
Jk;g;b .z/ WD e
2b
kz
5
2
p
b
e
2u2
kz
fk;g .u/du:
One may show the following asymptotic bounds for k < g k:

Lemma 5.3.
(i) If b 0, then
Ik;g;b .z/ jzj 52

(ii) If b > 0, then
k2
g2
if g 0;
if g D 0:
Ik;g;b .z/ D Jk;g;b .z/ C Ek;g;b .z/
with Ek;g;b satisfying the bound in (i).

With this data one may then use the classical Circle Method.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Ben Kane and Rene Olivetto for useful comments on an earlier
version.
Bibliography
29
Bibliography
[1] G. Andrews, On the theorems of Watson and Dragonette for Ramanujans mock theta functions. Am. J. Math. 88 (1966), 454490.
[2] G. Andrews, Partitions with short sequences and mock theta functions. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
USA 102 (2005), 46664671.
[3] G. Andrews, Partitions: At the interface of q-series and modular forms. Ramanujan J. 7
(2003), 385400.
[4] G. Andrews, The theory of partitions. The Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications
series, Cambridge University Press (1998).
[5] G. Andrews and F. Garvan, Dysons crank of a partition. Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 18 (1988),
167171.
[6] A. Atkin and H. Swinnerton-Dyer, Some properties of partitions. Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 4
(1954), 84106.
[7] R. Borcherds, Automorphic forms with singularities on Grassmannians. Invent. Math. 132
(1998), 491562.
[8] K. Bringmann and A. Folsom, Almost harmonic Maass forms and KacWakimoto characters.
J. Reine Angew. Math. (2014), 179202.
[9] K. Bringmann and J. Lovejoy, Overpartitions and class numbers of binary quadratic forms.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106 (2009), 55135516.
[10] K. Bringmann and K. Mahlburg, An extension of the Hardy-Ramanujan Circle Method and
applications to partitions without sequences. Am. J. Math. 133 (2011), 11511178.
[11] K. Bringmann and J. Manschot, From sheaves on P2 to generalisations of the Rademacher
expansion. Am. J. Math. 135 (2013), 10391065.
[12] K. Bringmann and K. Ono, The f .q/ mock theta function conjecture and partition ranks.
Invent. Math. 165 (2006), 243266.
[13] K. Bringmann and K. Ono, Coefficients of harmonic weak Maass forms. Proc. Conf. Part.
Q-ser. Mod. Forms (Univ. Florida), 2008.
[14] K. Bringmann and K. Ono, Some characters of Kac and Wakimoto and nonholomorphic modular functions. Math. Ann. 345 (2009), 547558.
[15] J. Bruinier and J. Funke, On two geometric theta lifts. Duke Math. J. 125 (2004), 4590.
[16] J. Bruinier and K. Ono, Algebraic formulas for the coefficients of half-integral weight harmonic weak Maass forms. Advances in Mathematics 246 (2013), 198219.
[17] J. Bruinier, K. Ono and R. Rhoades, Differential operators and harmonic weak Maass forms.
Math. Ann. 342 (2008), 673693.
[18] A. Dabholkar, S. Murthy and D. Zagier, Quantum black holes, wall crossing, and mock modular forms. Preprint.
[19] L. Dragonette, Some asymptotic formulae for the mock theta series of Ramanujan. Trans. Am.
Math. Soc. 72 (1952), 474500.
[20] F. Dyson, Some guesses in the theory of partitions. Eureka (Cambridge) 8 (1944), 1015.
[21] S. Garthwaite, Vector-valued Maass Poincare series. Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 136 (2008), 427
436.
30
Kathrin Bringmann
[22] G. Hardy and S. Ramanujan, Asymptotic formulae in combinatory analysis. Proc. Lond. Math.
Soc., 2, 17 (1918), 75115.
[23] I. Gradshteyn and I. Ryzhik, Tables of Integrals, Series, and Products. Elsevier, Amsterdam
2007.
[24] D. Hejhal, The Selberg trace formula for PSL.2; R/, part 2. Springer Lect. Notes in Math.
1001, Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1983.
[25] F. Hirzebruch and D. Zagier, Intersection numbers on curves on Hilbert modular surfaces and
modular forms of Nebentypus. Invent. Math. 36 (1976), 57113.
[26] C. Hooley, On the number of divisors of a quadratic polynomial. Acta Math. 110 (1963),
97114.
[27] A. Ingham, A Tauberian theorem for partitions. Ann. of Math. 42 (1941), 10751090.
[28] V. Kac and M. Wakimoto, Integrable highest weight modules over affine superalgebras and
Appells function. Comm. Math. Phys. 215 (2011), 631682.
[29] M. Kaneko and D. Zagier, A generalized Jacobi theta function and quasimodular forms. The
moduli space of curves, Progr. Math. 129, Birkhauser Boston, Massachusetts 1995, 165172.
[30] M. Knopp, Modular Functions in Analytic Number Theory. Lectures in Advanced Mathematics, Markham Publishing Company, Chicago 1970.
[31] M. Kocher and A. Krieg, Elliptische Funktionen und Modulformen. Springer-Verlag, Berlin,
2007.
[32] P. MacMahon, Combinatory Analysis, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, U.K., Vol II, 49
58, 1915.
[33] M. Newman, Construction and application of a class of modular functions (II). Proc. Lond.
Math. Soc. 9 (1959), 373397.
[34] D. Niebur, A class of nonanalytic automorphic functions. Nagoya Math. J. 52 (1973), 133
145.
[35] D. Niebur, Construction of automorphic forms and integrals. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 191
(1974), 373385.
[36] H. Rademacher, On the expansion of the partition function in a series. Ann. of Math. 44 (1943),
416422.
[37] S. Ramanujan, The lost notebook and other unpublished papers. Narosa, New Delhi 1988.
[38] G. Watson, The final problem: An account of the mock theta functions. J. Lond. Math. Soc.
11 (1936), 5588.
[39] S. Zwegers, Mock #-functions and real analytic modular forms. In q-Ser. Appl. Comb. Number
Theory Phys. (ed. B. Berndt and K. Ono), Contemp. Math. 291, AMS (2001), 269277.
Chapter 2
Expansions of algebraic numbers

Yann Bugeaud
Contents
1
Representation of real numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
Combinatorics on words and complexity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
Complexity of algebraic numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
Combinatorial transcendence criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
Continued fractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6
Diophantine approximation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7
Sketch of proof and historical comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
A combinatorial lemma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9
Proof of Theorem 4.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10 Proof of Theorem 4.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11 A transcendence criterion for quasi-palindromic continued fractions
12 Complements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13 Further notions of complexity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
31
34
37
38
40
45
47
50
52
55
63
66
69
72
1 Representation of real numbers

The most classical ways to represent real numbers are by means of their continued
fraction expansion or their expansion in some integer base, in particular in base two
or ten. In this text, we consider only these expansions and deliberately ignore expansions, Luroth expansions, Q-Cantor series, etc., as well as the many variations
of the continued fraction algorithm.
The first example of a transcendental number (recall that a real number is algebraic if it is a root of a nonzero polynomial with integer coefficients and it is transcendental otherwise) was given by Liouville [51, 52] in 1844. He showed that if the
sequence of partial quotients of an irrational real number grows sufficiently rapidly,
then this number is transcendental. He mentioned only at the very end of his note the
now classical example of the series (keeping his notation)
1
1
1
1
C 12 C 123 C C 123m C ;
a
a
a
a
where a 2 is an integer.
32
Yann Bugeaud
Let b denote an integer at least equal to 2. Any real number has a unique b-ary
expansion, that is, it can be uniquely written as
X a`
D bc C
D bc C 0 a1 a2 : : : ;
(2.1)
b`
`1
where b c denotes the integer part function, the digits a1 ; a2 ; : : : are integers from the
set f0; 1; : : : ; b 1g and a` differs from b 1 for infinitely many indices `. This
notation will be kept throughout this text.
In a seminal paper published in 1909, Emile

Borel [21] introduced the notion of
normal number.
Definition 1.1. Let b 2 be an integer. Let be a real number whose b-ary expansion is given by (2.1). We say that is normal to base b if, for every k 1, every
finite block of k digits in f0; 1; : : : ; b 1g occurs with the same frequency 1=b k , that
is, if for every k 1 and every d1 ; : : : ; dk 2 f0; 1; : : : ; b 1g we have
lim
N !C1
1
#f` W 0 ` < N; a`C1 D d1 ; : : : ; a`Ck D dk g
D k:
N
b
The above definition differs from that given by Borel, but is equivalent to it; see
Chapter 4 of [27] for a proof and further equivalent definitions.
We reproduce the fundamental theorem proved by Borel in [21]. Throughout
this text, almost all always refers to the Lebesgue measure, unless otherwise specified.
Theorem 1.2. Almost all real numbers are normal to every integer base b 2.
Despite the fact that normality is a property shared by almost all numbers, we
do not know a single explicit example of a number normal to every integer base, let
alone of a number normal to base 2 and to base 3. However, Martin [54] gave in 2001
a nice and simple explicit construction of a real number normal to no integer base.
The first explicit example of a real number normal to a given base was given by
Champernowne [34] in 1933.
Theorem 1.3. The real number
0 12345678910111213 : : :;
(2.2)
whose sequence of decimals is the increasing sequence of all positive integers, is

normal to base ten.
Further examples also obtained by concatenation of sequences of integers have
been given subsequently in [35, 37]. In particular, the real number
0 235711131719232931 : : :;
(2.3)
33
2 Expansions of algebraic numbers
whose sequence of decimals is the increasing sequence of all prime numbers, is normal to base ten. This is due to the fact that the sequence of prime numbers does not
increase too rapidly. However, we still do not know whether the real numbers (2.2)
and (2.3) are normal to base two.
Constructions of a completely different type were found by Stoneham [66] and
Korobov [49]; see Bailey and Crandall [18] for a more general statement which includes the next theorem.
Theorem 1.4. Let b and c be coprime integers, both at least equal to 2. Let d 2
be an integer. Then, the real numbers
X 1
X
1
and
j
j
d j b cd
cj bc
j 1
j 1 c
are normal to base b.
Regarding continued fraction expansions, we can as well define a notion of normal continued fraction expansion using the Gauss measure (see Section 5) and prove
that the continued fraction expansion
1
D bc C 0I a1 ; a2 ; : : : D bc C
a1 C
1
a2 C
1
:::
of almost every real number is a normal continued fraction expansion. Here, the
positive integers a1 ; a2 ; : : : are called the partial quotients of (throughout this text,
a` denotes either a b-ary digit or a partial quotient, but this should be clear from
the context; furthermore, we write for a real number when we consider its b-ary
expansion and when we study its continued fraction expansion). In 1981, Adler,
Keane, and Smorodinsky [13] have constructed a normal
continued fraction in a similar way as Champernowne did for a normal number.
Theorem 1.5. Let 1=2; 1=3; 2=3; 1=4; 2=4; 3=4; : : : be the infinite sequence obtained
in writing the rational numbers in .0; 1/ with denominator 2, then with denominator
3, denominator 4, etc., ordered with numerators increasing. Let x1 x2 x3 : : : be the
sequence of positive integers constructed by concatenating the partial quotients .we
choose the continued fraction expansion which does not end with the digit 1/ of this
sequence of rational numbers. Then, the real number
0I x1 ; x2 ; : : : D 0I 2; 3; 1; 2; 4; 2; 1; 3; 5; : : :
has a normal continued fraction expansion.
All this shows that the b-ary expansion and the continued fraction expansion of
a real numberp
taken at random are well understood. But what can be said for a specific
3
number, like 2; log 2; , etc.?
34
Yann Bugeaud
Actually, not much! We focus our attention on algebraic numbers. Clearly, a real
number is rational if, and only if, its b-ary expansion is ultimately periodic. Analogously, a real number is quadratic if, and only if, its continued fraction expansion is
ultimately periodic; see Section 5. The purpose of the present text is to gather what is
known on the b-ary expansion of an irrational algebraic number and on the continued
fraction expansion of an algebraic number of degree at least three. It is generally
believed that all these expansions are normal, and some numerical computation tend
to support this guess, but we are very, very far from proving such a strong assertion.
We still do not know whether there is an integer b 3 suchpthat at least three different digits occur infinitely often in the b-ary expansion of 2. And whether there
exist algebraic numbers of degree at least three whose sequence of partial quotients
is bounded. Actually, it is widely believed that algebraic numbers should share most
of the properties of almost all real numbers. This is indeed the case from the point
of view of rational approximation, since Roths theorem (see Section 6) asserts that
algebraic irrational numbers do behave like almost all numbers, in the sense that they
cannot be approximated by rational numbers at an order greater than 2.
The present text is organized as follows. Section 2 contains basic results from
combinatorics on words. The main results on the complexity of algebraic numbers
are stated in Section 3. They are proved by combining combinatorial transcendence
criteria given in Section 4 and established in Sections 9 and 10 with a combinatorial
lemma proved in Section 8. In Sections 5 and 6 we present various auxiliary results
from the theory of continued fractions and from Diophantine approximation, respectively. Section 7 is devoted to a sketch of the proof of Theorem 4.1 and to a short
historical discussion. We present in Section 11 another combinatorial transcendence
criterion for continued fraction expansions, along with its proof. Section 12 briefly
surveys some refined results which complement Theorem 3.1. Finally, in Section 13,
we discuss other points of view for measuring the complexity of the b-ary expansion
of a number.
A proof of Theorem 4.1 can already be found in the surveys [20, 8] and in the
monograph [27]. Here, we provide two different proofs. Historical remarks and
discussion on the various results which have ultimately led to Theorem 4.2 are given
in [30].
2 Combinatorics on words and complexity

In the sequel, we often identify a real number with the infinite sequence of its bary digits or of its partial quotients. It appears to be convenient to use the point of
view from combinatorics on words. Throughout, we denote by A a finite or infinite
set. A finite word over the alphabet A is either the empty word, or a finite string
(or block) of elements from A. An infinite word over A is an infinite sequence of
elements from A.
35
For an infinite word w D w1 w2 : : : over the alphabet A and for any positive
integer n, we let
p.n; w; A/ WD #fwj C1 : : : wj Cn W j 0g
denote the number of distinct strings (or blocks) of length n occurring in w. Obviously, putting #A D C1 if A is infinite, we have
1 p.n; w; A/ .#A/n;
and both inequalities are sharp. Furthermore, the function n 7! p.n; w; A/ is nondecreasing.
Definition 2.1. An infinite word w D w1 w2 : : : is ultimately periodic if there exist
positive integers n0 and T such that
wnCT D wn ;
for every n n0 :
The word wn0 wn0 C1 : : : wn0 CT 1 is a period of w. If n0 can be chosen equal to 1,

then w is (purely) periodic, otherwise, w1 : : : wn0 1 is a preperiod of w.
We establish a seminal result from Morse and Hedlund [55, 56].
Theorem 2.2. Let w be an infinite word over a finite or infinite alphabet A. If w is
ultimately periodic, then there exists a positive constant C such that p.n; w; A/ C
for every positive integer n. Otherwise, we have
p.n C 1; w; A/ p.n; w; A/ C 1
thus,
for every n 1;
p.n; w; A/ n C 1 for every n 1:
Proof. Throughout the proof, we write p. ; w/ instead of p. ; w; A/.

Let w be an ultimately periodic infinite word, and assume that it has a preperiod
of length r and a period of length s. Fix h D 1; : : : ; s and let n be a positive integer.
For every j 1, the block of length n starting at wrCjsCh is the same as the one
starting at wrCh . Consequently, there cannot be more than r C s distinct blocks of
length n, thus, p.n; w/ r C s.
Write w D w1 w2 : : : and assume that there is a positive integer n0 such
that p.n0 ; w/ D p.n0 C 1; w/. This means that every block of length n0 extends
uniquely to a block of length n0 C 1. It implies that p.n0 ; w/ D p.n0 C j; w/ holds
for every positive integer j . By the definition of p.n0 ; w/, two among the words
wj : : : wn0 Cj 1 , j D 1; : : : ; p.n0 ; w/ C 1, are the same. Consequently, there are
integers k and ` with 0 k < ` p.n0 ; w/ and wkCm D w`Cm for m D 1; : : : ; n0 .
Since every block of length n0 extends uniquely to a block of length n0 C 1, this
gives wkCm D w`Cm for every positive integer m. This proves that the word w is
ultimately periodic.
36
Yann Bugeaud
Consequently, if w is not ultimately periodic, then p.n C 1; w/ p.n; w/ C 1

holds for every positive integer n. Then, p.1; w/ 2 and an immediate induction
show that p.n; w/ n C 1 for every n. The proof of the theorem is complete.

We complement Theorem 2.2 by pointing out that there exist uncountably many
infinite words w over A D f0; 1g such that
p.n; w; A/ D n C 1;
for n 1.
These words are called Sturmian words; see e.g. [16].

To prove that a real number is normal to some given integer base, or has a normal
continued fraction expansion, is in most cases a far too difficult problem. So we are
led to consider weaker questions on the sequence of digits (resp. partial quotients),
including the following ones:
Does every digit occur infinitely many times in the b-ary expansion of ?
Are there many non-zero digits in the b-ary expansion of ?
Is the sequence of partial quotients of bounded from above?
Does the sequence of partial quotients of tend to infinity?
We may even consider weaker questions, namely, and this is the point of view
we adopt until the very last sections, we wish to bound from below the number of
different blocks in the infinite word composed of the digits of (resp. partial quotients
of ).
Let b 2 be an integer. A natural way to measure the complexity of a real number
whose b-ary expansion is given by (2.1) is to count the number of distinct blocks of
given length in the infinite word a D a1 a2 a3 : : : We set p.n; ; b/ D p.n; a; b/, with
a as above. Clearly, we have
p.n; ; b/ D #faj C1 aj C2 : : : aj Cn W j 0g D p.n; a; f0; 1; : : : ; b 1g/
and
1 p.n; ; b/ b n ;
where both inequalities are sharp.

Since the b-ary expansion of a real number is ultimately periodic if, and only if,
this number is rational, Theorem 2.2 can be restated as follows.
Theorem 2.3. Let b 2 be an integer. If the real number is irrational, then
p.n; ; b/ n C 1;
for n 1:
Otherwise, the sequence .p.n; ; b//n1 is bounded.

Let be an irrational real number and write
D bc C 0I a1 ; a2 ; : : ::
37
Let a denote the infinite word a1 a2 : : : over the alphabet Z1 . A natural way to
measure the intrinsic complexity of is to count the number p.n; / WD p.n; a; Z1 /
of distinct blocks of given length n in the word a.
Since the continued fraction expansion of a real number is ultimately periodic if,
and only if, this number is quadratic (see Theorem 5.7), Theorem 2.2 can be restated
as follows.
Theorem 2.4. Let b 2 be an integer. If the real number is irrational and not
quadratic, then
p.n; / n C 1; for n 1:
If the real number is quadratic, then the sequence .p.n; //n1 is bounded.
We show in the next section that Theorem 2.3 (resp. 2.4) can be improved when
(resp. ) is assumed to be algebraic.
3 Complexity of algebraic numbers

As already mentioned, we focus on the digital expansions and on the continued fraction expansion of algebraic numbers. Until the end of the 20th century, it was only
known that the sequence of partial quotients of an algebraic number cannot grow too
rapidly; see Section 12. Regarding b-ary expansions, Ferenczi and Mauduit [43] were
the first to improve the (trivial) lower bound given by Theorem 2.3 for the complexity
function of the b-ary expansion of an irrational
algebraic number . They showed in 1997 that p.n; ; b/ strictly exceeds n C 1
for every sufficiently large integer n. Actually, as pointed out a few years later by
Allouche [14], their approach combined with a combinatorial result of Cassaigne
[32] yields a slightly stronger result, namely that

lim p.n; ; b/ n D C1;
(2.4)
n!C1
for any algebraic irrational number .

The estimate (2.4) follows from a good understanding of the combinatorial structure of Sturmian sequences combined with a combinatorial translation of Ridouts
theorem 6.6. The transcendence criterion given in Theorem 4.1, established in [10, 3],
yields an improvement of (2.4).
Theorem 3.1. For any irrational algebraic number and any integer b 2, we have
lim
n!C1
p.n; ; b/
D C1:
n
(2.5)
Although (2.5) considerably strengthens (2.4), it is still very far from what is
commonly expected, that is, from confirming that p.n; ; b/ D b n holds for every
positive n when is algebraic irrational.
38
Yann Bugeaud
Regarding continued fraction expansions, it was proved in [15] that

lim p.n; / n D C1;
n!C1
for any algebraic number of degree at least three. This is the continued fraction
analogue of (2.4).
Using ideas from [1], the continued fraction analogue of Theorem 3.1 was established in [29].
Theorem 3.2. For any algebraic number of degree at least three, we have
lim
n!C1
p.n; /
D C1:
n
(2.6)
The main purpose of the present text is to give complete (if one admits Theorem 6.7, whose proof is much too long and involved to be included here) proofs of
Theorems 3.1 and 3.2. They are established by combining combinatorial transcendence criteria (Theorems 4.1 and 4.2) and a combinatorial lemma (Lemma 8.1). This
is explained in details at the end of Section 8.
4 Combinatorial transcendence criteria

In this section, we state the combinatorial transcendence criteria which, combined
with the combinatorial lemma from Section 8, yield Theorems 3.1 and 3.2.
Throughout, the length of a finite word W over the alphabet A, that is, the number
of letters composing W , is denoted by jW j.
Let a D .a` /`1 be a sequence of elements from A. We say that a satisfies
Condition ./ if a is not
ultimately periodic and if there exist three sequences of finite words, .Un /n1 ,
.Vn /n1 , and .Wn /n1 , such that:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
For every n 1, the word Wn Un Vn Un is a prefix of the word a.

The sequence .jVn j=jUn j/n1 is bounded from above.
The sequence .jWn j=jUn j/n1 is bounded from above.
The sequence .jUn j/n1 is increasing.
Theorem 4.1. Let b 2 be an integer. Let a D .a` /`1 be a sequence of elements

from f0; 1; : : : ; b 1g. If a satisfies Condition ./, then the real number
WD
C1
X
`D1
is transcendental.
a`
b`
39
Theorem 4.2. Let a D .a` /`1 be a sequence of positive integers. Let .p` =q` /`1
denote the sequence of convergents to the real number
WD 0I a1 ; a2 ; : : : ; a` ; : : ::
1=`
Assume that the sequence .q` /`1 is bounded. If a satisfies Condition ./, then
is transcendental.
The common tool for the proofs of Theorems 4.1 and 4.2 is a powerful theorem
from Diophantine approximation theory, the Subspace Theorem; see Section 6.
Let us comment on Condition ./ when, for simplicity, the alphabet A is finite
and has b 2 elements. Take an arbitrary infinite word a1 a2 : : : on f0; 1; : : : ; b 1g.
Then, by the Schubfachprinzip, for every positive integer m, there exists (at least) one
finite word Um of length m having (at least) two (possibly overlapping) occurrences in
the prefix a1 a2 : : : ab m Cm . If, for simplicity, we suppose that these two occurrences
do not overlap, then there exist finite (or empty) words Vm ; Wm ; Xm such that
a1 a2 : : : ab m Cm D Wm Um Vm Um Xm :
This simple argument gives no additional information on the lengths of Wm and Vm ,
which a priori can be as large as b m m. In particular, they can be larger than some
constant greater than 1 raised to the power the length of Um .
We demand much more for a sequence a to satisfy Condition ./, namely we
impose that there exists an integer C such that, for infinitely many m, the lengths of
Vm and Wm do not exceed C times the length of Um . Such a condition occurs quite
rarely.
We end this section with a few comments on de Bruijn words.
Definition 4.3. Let b 2 and n 1 be integers. A de Bruijn word of order n over
an alphabet of cardinality b is a word of length b n C n 1 in which every block of
length n occurs exactly once.
A recent result of Becher and Heiber [19] shows that we can extend de Bruijn
words.
Theorem 4.4. Every de Bruijn word of order n over an alphabet with at least three
letters can be extended to a de Bruijn word of order n C 1. Every de Bruijn word
of order n over an alphabet with two letters can be extended to a de Bruijn word of
order n C 2.
Theorem 4.4 shows that there exist infinite de Bruijn words obtained as the inductive limit of extended de Bruijn sequences of order n, for each n (when the alphabet
has at least three letters; for each even n, otherwise). Let b 2 be an integer. By
construction, for every m 1, the shortest prefix of an infinite de Bruijn word having
two occurrences of a same word of length m has at least b m C m letters if b 3 and
at least 2m1 C m 1 letters if b D 2.
40
Yann Bugeaud
5 Continued fractions
In this section, we briefly present classical results on continued fractions which will
be used in the proofs of Theorems 4.2 and 11.1. We omit most of the proofs and
refer the reader to a text of van der Poorten [58] and to the books of Bugeaud [22],
Cassels [33], Hardy and Wright [44], Khintchine [47], Perron [57], and Schmidt [64],
among many others.
Let x0 ; x1 ; : : : be real numbers with x1 ; x2 ; : : : positive. A finite continued fraction denotes any expression of the form
1
x0 I x1 ; x2 ; : : : ; xn D x0 C
x1 C
x2 C
1
xn
We call any expression of the above form or of the form

1
x0 I x1 ; x2 ; : : : D x0 C
D lim x0 I x1 ; x2 ; : : : ; xn
x1 C
x2 C
n!C1
1
:::
a continued fraction, provided that the limit exists.

Any rational number r has exactly two different continued fraction expansions.
These are r and r 1I 1 if r is an integer and, otherwise, one of them reads
a0 I a1 ; : : : ; an1; an with an 2, and the other one is a0 I a1 ; : : : ; an1 ; an 1; 1.
Any irrational number has a unique expansion in continued fraction.
Theorem 5.1. Let D a0 I a1 ; a2 ; : : : be an irrational number. For ` 1, set
p` =q` WD a0 I a1 ; a2 ; : : : ; a` . Let n be a positive integer. Putting
p1 D 1;
q1 D 0;
p0 D a0 ;
and q0 D 1;
we have
pn D an pn1 C pn2 ;
and
qn D an qn1 C qn2 ;
pn1 qn pn qn1 D .1/n:
(2.7)
(2.8)
Furthermore, setting nC1 D anC1 I anC2 ; anC3 ; : : :, we have

D a0 I a1 ; : : : ; an ; nC1 D
thus
qn pn D
pn nC1 C pn1
;
qn nC1 C qn1
.1/n
;
qn nC1 C qn1
(2.9)
41
and
1
1
1
1
p
1
n
<
<
<
2 : (2.10)
<
2
2
.anC1 C 2/qn
qn .qn C qnC1 /
qn
qn qnC1
anC1 qn
qn
It follows from (2.9) that any real number whose first partial quotients are
a0 ; a1 ; : : : ; an belongs to the interval with endpoints .pn C pn1 /=.qn C qn1 / and
pn =qn . Consequently, we get from (2.8) an upper bound for the distance between two
real numbers having the same first partial quotients.
Corollary 5.2. Let D a0 I a1 ; a2 ; : : : be an irrational number. For ` 0, let q` be
the denominator of the rational number a0 I a1 ; a2 ; : : : ; a` . Let n be a positive integer and be a real number such that the first partial quotients of are a0 ; a1 ; : : : ; an .
Then,
1
1
< 2:
j j
qn .qn C qn1 /
qn
Under the assumption of Theorem 5.1, the rational number p` =q` is called the
`-th convergent to . It follows from (2.7) that the sequence of denominators of
convergents grows at least exponentially fast.
Theorem 5.3. Let D a0 I a1 ; a2 ; : : : be an irrational number. For ` 0, let q` be
the denominator of the rational number a0 I a1 ; a2 ; : : : ; a` . For any positive integers
`, h, we have
p
q`Ch q` . 2/h1
and
q` .1 C maxfa1 ; : : : ; a` g/` :
Proof. The first assertion follows via induction on h, since qnC2 qnC1 C qn 2qn
for every n 0. The second assertion is an immediate consequence of (2.7).

The next result is sometimes called the mirror formula.
Theorem 5.4. Let n 2 be an integer and a1 ; : : : ; an be positive integers. For
` D 1; : : : ; n, set p` =q` D 0I a1 ; : : : ; a` . Then,
qn1
D 0I an ; an1; : : : ; a1 :
qn
Proof. We get from (2.7) that
qn2
qn
D an C
;
qn1
qn1
for n 1. The theorem then follows by induction.
42
Yann Bugeaud
An alternative proof of Theorem 5.4 goes as follows. Observe that, if a0 D 0 and

n 1, then, by (2.7),

0 1
0 1
0 1
pn1 pn
Mn WD
D

:
qn1 qn
1 a1
1 a2
1 an
Taking the transpose, we immediately get that

t
0 1
0 1
0 1
t

Mn D
1 a1
1 a2
1 an

t 0
t
t
1
0
1
0 1
D

1 an
1 an1
1 a1

0 1
0
1
0 1
pn1
D

D
pn
1 an
1 an1
1 a1

qn1
;
qn
which gives Theorem 5.4.

Theorem 5.4 is a particular case of a more general result, which we state below
after introducing the notion of continuant.
Definition 5.5. Let m 1 and a1 ; : : : ; am be positive integers. The denominator
of the rational number 0I a1 ; : : : ; am is called the continuant of a1 ; : : : ; am and is
usually denoted by Km .a1 ; : : : ; am /.
Theorem 5.6. For any positive integers a1 ; : : : ; am and any integer k with 1 k
m 1, we have
Km .a1 ; : : : ; am / D Km .am ; : : : ; a1 /;
(2.11)
and
Kk .a1 ; : : : ; ak / Kmk .akC1 ; : : : ; am /
Km .a1 ; : : : ; am /
2 Kk .a1 ; : : : ; ak / Kmk .akC1 ; : : : ; am /:
(2.12)
Proof. The first statement is an immediate consequence of Theorem 5.4. Combining

Km .a1 ; : : : ; am / D am Km1 .a1 ; : : : ; am1 / C Km2 .a1 ; : : : ; am2 /
with (2.11), we get
Km .a1 ; : : : ; am / D a1 Km1 .a2 ; : : : ; am / C Km2 .a3 ; : : : ; am /;
which implies (2.12) for k D 1. Let k 2 f1; 2; : : : ; m 2g be such that
Km WD Km .a1 ; : : : ; am /
D Kk .a1 ; : : : ; ak / Kmk .akC1 ; : : : ; am /
C Kk1 .a1 ; : : : ; ak1 / Kmk1 .akC2 ; : : : ; am /;
(2.13)
43
where we have set K0 D 1. We then have

Km D Kk .a1 ; : : : ; ak / akC1 Kmk1 .akC2 ; : : : ; am / C Kmk2 .akC3 ; : : : ; am /
C Kk1 .a1 ; : : : ; ak1 / Kmk1 .akC2 ; : : : ; am /

D akC1 Kk .a1 ; : : : ; ak / C Kk1 .a1 ; : : : ; ak1 / Kmk1 .akC2 ; : : : ; am /
C Kk .a1 ; : : : ; ak / Kmk2 .akC3 ; : : : ; am /;
giving (2.13) for the index k C 1. This shows that (2.13) and, a fortiori, (2.12) hold
for k D 1; : : : ; m 1.

The only if part of the next theorem is due to Euler [39], and the if part was
established by Lagrange [50] in 1770.
Theorem 5.7. The real irrational number D a0 I a1 ; a2 ; : : : has a periodic continued fraction expansion .that is, there exist integers r 0 and s 1 such that
anCs D an for all integers n r C 1/ if, and only if, is a quadratic irrationality.
We display an elementary result on ultimately periodic continued fraction expansions.
Lemma 5.8. Let be a quadratic real number with ultimately periodic continued
fraction expansion
D 0I a1; : : : ; ar ; arC1 ; : : : ; arCs ;
and denote by .p` =q` /`1 the sequence of its convergents. Then, is a root of the
polynomial
.qr1 qrCs qr qrCs1 /X 2 .qr1 prCs qr prCs1 C pr1 qrCs pr qrCs1 /X
C .pr1 prCs pr prCs1 /:
(2.14)
Proof. It follows from (2.9) that
D 0I a1 ; : : : ; ar ; rC1 D
pr 0 C pr1
prCs 0 C prCs1
D
;
qr 0 C qr1
qrCs 0 C qrCs1
where 0 D arC1 I arC2 ; : : : ; arCs ; arC1 . Consequently, we get

0 D
pr1 qr1
prCs1 qrCs1
D
;
qr pr
qrCs prCs
from which we obtain

.pr1 qr1 /.qrCs prCs / D .prCs1 qrCs1 /.qr pr /:
This shows that is a root of (2.14).
44
Yann Bugeaud
We do not claim that the polynomial in (2.14) is the minimal polynomial of over
the integers. This is indeed not always true, since its coefficients may have common
prime factors.
The sequence of partial quotients of an irrational real number in .0; 1/ can be
obtained by iterations of the Gauss map TG defined by TG .0/ D 0 and TG .x/ D f1=xg
for x 2 .0; 1/. Namely, if 0I a1 ; a2 ; : : : denotes the continued fraction expansion of
, then TGn ./ D 0I anC1 ; anC2 ; : : : and an D b1=TGn1 ./c for n 1.
In the sequel, it is understood that is a real number in .0; 1/, whose partial quotients a1 ./; a2 ./; : : : and convergents p1 ./=q1 ./; p2 ./=q2 ./; : : : are written
a1 ; a2 ; : : : and p1 =q1 ; p2 =q2 ; : : :, respectively, when there is no danger of confusion.
The map TG possesses an invariant ergodic probability measure, namely the Gauss
measure G , which is absolutely continuous with respect to the Lebesgue measure,
with density
dx
G .dx/ D
:
.1 C x/ log 2
For every function f in L1 .G / and almost every in .0; 1/, we have (Theorem 3.5.1
in [36])
Z 1
n1
1
1 X
f .x/
lim
f .TGk / D
dx:
(2.15)
n!C1 n
log 2 0 1 C x
kD0
For subsequent results in the metric theory of continued fractions, we refer the reader
to [47] and to [36].
Definition 5.9. We say that 0I a1 ; a2 ; : : : is a normal continued fraction, if, for every
integer k 1 and every positive integers d1 ; : : : ; dk , we have
lim
N !C1
#fj W 0 j N k; aj C1 D d1 ; : : : ; aj Ck D dk g
N
r 0 =s 0
D
r=s
(2.16)
G .dx/ D G . d1 ;:::;dk /;
where r=s and r 0 =s 0 denote the rational numbers 0I d1 ; : : : ; dk1 ; dk and 0I d1 ; : : : ;

dk1 ; dk C 1, ordered so that r=s < r 0 =s 0 , and d1 ;:::;dk D r=s; r 0 =s 0 .
Let d1 ; : : : ; dk be positive integers. It follows from Theorem 5.1 that the set
d1 ;:::;dk of real numbers in .0; 1/ whose first k partial quotients are d1 ; : : : ; dk
is an interval of length 1=.qk .qk C qk1 //. Applying (2.15) to the function f D
1d1 ;:::;dk , we get that for almost every D 0I a1 ; a2 ; : : : in .0; 1/ the limit defined
in (2.16) exists and is equal to G . d1 ;:::;dk /. Thus, we have established the following
statement.
Theorem 5.10. Almost every in .0; 1/ has a normal continued fraction expansion.
The construction of [13], reproduced in [27], is flexible enough to produce many
examples of real numbers with a normal continued fraction expansion.
45
6 Diophantine approximation
In this section, we survey classical results on approximation of real (algebraic) numbers by rational numbers.
We emphasize one of the consequences of Theorem 5.1.
Theorem 6.1. For every real irrational number , there exist infinitely many rational
numbers p=q with q 1 and
p < 1 :
q q2
Theorem 6.1 is often, and wrongly, attributed to Dirichlet, who proved in 1842
a stronger result, namely that, under the assumption of Theorem 6.1 and for every
integer Q 1, there exist integers p; q with 1 q Q and j p=qj < 1=.qQ/.
Theorem 6.1 was proved long before 1842.
An easy covering argument shows that, for almost all numbers, the exponent of q
in Theorem 6.1 cannot be improved.
Theorem 6.2. For every " > 0 and almost all real numbers , there exist only finitely
many rational numbers p=q with q 1 and
p < 1 :
(2.17)
q q 2C"
Proof. Without loss of generality, we may assume that is in .0; 1/. If there are
infinitely many rational numbers p=q with q 1 satisfying (2.17), then belongs to
the limsup set

q
\ [ [
1 p
1
p
2C" ; C 2C" \ .0; 1/:
q
q
q
q
pD0
Q1 qQ
The Lebesgue measure of the latter set is, for every Q 1, at most equal to
X
2
q 2C" ;
q
qQ
which is the tail of a convergent series and thus tends to 0 as Q tends to infinity. This
proves the theorem.

The case of algebraic numbers is of special interest and has a long history. First,
we define the (nave) height of an algebraic number.
Definition 6.3. Let be an irrational, real algebraic number of degree d and let
ad X d C C a1 X C a0 denotes its minimal polynomial over Z .that is, the integer
polynomial of lowest positive degree, with coprime coefficients and positive leading
coefficient, which vanishes at /. Then, the height H. / of is defined by
H. / WD maxfja0 j; ja1 j; : : : ; jad jg:
46
Yann Bugeaud
We begin by a result of Liouville [51, 52] proved in 1844, and alluded to in Section 1.
Theorem 6.4. Let be an irrational, real algebraic number of degree d and height
at most H . Then,
1
p
(2.18)
2
q
d H.1 C j j/d 1 q d
for all rational numbers p=q with q 1.
Proof. Inequality (2.18) is true when j p=qj 1. Let p=q be a rational number
satisfying j p=qj < 1. Denoting by P .X / the minimal defining polynomial of
over Z, we have P .p=q/ 6D 0 and jq d P .p=q/j 1. By Rolles Theorem, there
exists a real number t lying between and p=q such that
jP .p=q/j D jP . / P .p=q/j D j p=qj
jP 0 .t/j:
Since jt j 1 and
jP 0 .t/j d 2 H.1 C j j/d 1 ;
the combination of these inequalities gives the theorem.
Thue [67] established in 1909 the first significant improvement of Liouvilles result. There was subsequent progress by Siegel, Dyson and Gelfond, until Roth [61]
proved in 1955 that, as far as approximation by rational numbers is concerned, the
irrational, real algebraic numbers do behave like almost all real numbers.
Theorem 6.5. For every " > 0 and every irrational real algebraic number , there
exist at most finitely many rational numbers p=q with q 1 and
p
< 1 :
(2.19)
q q 2C"
For a prime number ` and a non-zero rational number x, we set jxj` WD ù ,
where u 2 Z is the exponent of ` in the prime decomposition of x. Furthermore, we
set j0j` D 0. The next theorem, proved by Ridout [59], extends Theorem 6.5.
Theorem 6.6. Let S be a finite set of prime numbers. Let be a real algebraic
number. Let " be a positive real number. The inequality

Y
1
p
jpqj` min 1; < 2C"

q
q
`2S
has only finitely many solutions in non-zero integers p; q.

Theorem 6.5 is ineffective, in the sense that its proofs do not allow us to compute
explicitly an integer q0 such that (2.19) has no solution with q greater than q0 . Nevertheless, we are able to bound explicitly the number of primitive solutions (that is,
47
of solutions in coprime integers p and q) to inequality (2.19). The first result in this
direction was proved in 1955 by Davenport and Roth [38]; see the proof of Theorem
12.1 for a recent estimate.
The Schmidt Subspace Theorem [62, 63, 64] is a powerful multidimensional extension of the Roth Theorem, with many outstanding applications [20, 26, 69]. We
quote below a version of it which is suitable for our purpose, but the reader should
keep in mind that there are more general formulations.
Theorem 6.7. Let m 2 be an integer. Let S be a finite set of prime numbers. Let
L1;1 ; : : : ; Lm;1 be m linearly independent linear forms with real algebraic coefficients. For any prime ` in S , let L1;` ; : : : ; Lm;` be m linearly independent linear
forms with integer coefficients. Let " be a positive real number. Then, there exist
an integer T and proper subspaces S1 ; : : : ; ST of Qm such that all the solutions
x D .x1 ; : : : ; xm / in Zm to the inequality
m
Y Y
`2S i D1
jLi;` .x/j`
m
Y
jLi;1.x/j .maxf1; jx1 j; : : : ; jxm jg/"
(2.20)
i D1
are contained in the union S1 [ : : : [ ST .

Let us briefly show how Roths theorem can be deduced from Theorem 6.7. Let
be a real algebraic number and " be a positive real number. Consider the two
independent linear forms X Y and X . Theorem 6.7 implies that there are integers
T 1, x1 ; : : : ; xT , y1 ; : : : ; yT with .xi ; yi / 6D .0; 0/ for i D 1; : : : ; T , such that, for
every integer solution .p; q/ to
jqj jq pj < jqj" ;
there exists an integer k with 1 k T and xk p C yk q D 0. If is irrational, this
means that there are only finitely many rational solutions to j p=qj < jqj2" ,
which is Roths theorem.
Note that (like Theorems 6.5 and 6.6) Theorem 6.7 is ineffective, in the sense that
its proof does not yield an explicit upper bound for the height of the proper rational
subspaces containing all the solutions to (2.20). Fortunately, Schmidt [65] was able
to give an admissible value for the number T of subspaces; see [42] for a common
generalization of Theorems 6.6 and 6.7, usually called the Quantitative Subspace
Theorem, and [41] for the current state of the art.
7 Sketch of proof and historical comments

Before proving Theorems 3.1 and 3.2, we wish to highlight the main ideas and explain
how weaker results can be deduced from various statements given in Section 6. We
focus only on b-ary expansions.
48
Yann Bugeaud
The general idea goes as follows. Let us assume that (2.5) does not hold. Then,
the sequence of digits of our real number satisfies a certain combinatorial property.
And a suitable transcendence criterion prevents the sequence of digits of an irrational
algebraic numbers to fulfill the same combinatorial property.
Let us see how transcendence results listed in Section 6 apply to get a combinatorial transcendence criterion. We introduce some more notation. Let W be a finite
word. For a positive integer `, we write W ` for the word W : : : W (` times repeated
concatenation of the word W ) and W 1 for the infinite word constructed by concatenation of infinitely many copies of W . More generally, for any positive real number
x, we denote by W x the word W bxc W 0 , where W 0 is the prefix of W of length
d.x bxc/jW je. Here, d e denotes the upper integer part function. In particular, we
can write
aabaaaabaaaa D .aabaa/12=5 D .aabaaaabaa/6=5 D .aabaa/log 10 :
Let a D .a` /`1 be a sequence of elements from A. Let w > 1 be a real number.
We say that a satisfies Condition ./w if a is not
ultimately periodic and if there exist two sequences of finite words .Zn /n1 , and
.Wn /n1 such that:
(i) For every n 1, the word Wn Znw is a prefix of the word a.
(ii) The sequence .jWn j=jZn j/n1 is bounded from above.
(iii) The sequence .jZn j/n1 is increasing.
We say that a satisfies Condition ./1 if it satisfies Condition ./w for every
w > 1.
Our first result is an application of Theorem 6.4 providing a combinatorial condition on the sequence b-ary expansion of a real number which ensures that this number
is trancendental.
from f0; 1; : : : ; b 1g. If a satisfies Condition ./1, then the real number
WD
C1
X
`D1
a`
b`
is transcendental.
Proof. Let w > 1 be a real number. By assumption, there exist two sequences of
finite words, .Zn /n1 , and .Wn /n1 , and an integer C , such that jWn j C jZn j and
Wn Znw is a prefix of a for n 1. Let n 1 be an integer. In particular, is very
close to the rational number n whose b-ary expansion is the eventually periodic word
Wn Zn1 . A rapid calculation shows that there is an integer pn such that
n D
pn
b jWn j .b jZn j 1/
and
j n j D
49
1
pn
jW jCwjZ j
jW
j
jZ
j
n
b n .b n 1/
b n

.jWn jCwjZn j/=.jWn jCjZn j/

1
jW j jZ j
:
b n .b n 1/
Since jWn j C jZn j, the quantity .jWn j C wjZn j/=.jWn j C jZn j/ is bounded from
below by .C C w/=.C C 1/. Consequently, we get

.C Cw/=.C C1/
1
pn
:
(2.21)
jW j jZ j
jW j jZ j
b n .b n 1/
b n .b n 1/
Let d be the integer part of .C C w/=.C C 1/. Since (2.21) holds for every n 1, it
follows from Theorem 6.4 that cannot be algebraic of degree d 1. Since w can
be taken arbitrarily large, one deduces that must be transcendental.

It is apparent from the proof of Theorem 7.1 that, if instead of Liouvilles theorem
we use Roths (Theorem 6.5) or, even better, Ridouts Theorem 6.6, then the assumptions of Theorem 7.1 can be substantially weakened. Indeed, Roths theorem is sufficient to establish the transcendence of as soon as the exponent .C C w/=.C C 1/
strictly exceeds 2, that is, if w > 2 C C . We explain below how Ridouts theorem
yields a much better result.
from f0; 1; : : : ; b 1g. Let w > 2 be a real number. If a satisfies Condition ./w ,
then the real number
C1
X a`
WD
b`
`D1
is transcendental.
Proof. We keep the notation of the proof of Theorem 7.1, where it is shown that, for
any n 1, we have
1
pn
jWn jCwjZn j ;
jWn j jZn j
b
.b
1/
b
that is,
b jWn j
pn
1
2jW jCwjZ j
jW
j
jZ
j
n
n
n
n
b
.b
1/
b
.2jWn jCwjZn j/=.jWn jCjZn j/

1
< jW j jZ j
:
b n .b n 1/
Observe that, for n 1,

2jWn j C wjZn j
.w 2/jZnj
w2
D2C
2C
:
jWn j C jZn j
jWn j C jZn j
C C1
50
Yann Bugeaud
Hence, if we take for S the set of prime divisors of b and set " WD .w 2/=.C C 1/,
we conclude that there are infinitely many rational numbers p=q such that

Y
1
p
jpqj` min 1; < 2C" :
q
q
`2S
By Theorem 6.6, this shows that is transcendental, since w > 2.
We postpone to Section 9 the proof that the conclusion of Theorem 7.2 remains
true under the weaker assumption w > 1 (the reader can easily check that this corresponds exactly to Theorem 4.1).
8 A combinatorial lemma
The purpose of this section is to establish a combinatorial lemma which allows us to
deduce Theorems 3.1 and 3.2 from Theorems 4.1 and 4.2.
Lemma 8.1. Let w D w1 w2 : : : be an infinite word over a finite or an infinite alphabet A such that
p.n; w; A/
< C1:
lim inf
n!C1
n
Then, the word w satisfies Condition ./ defined in Section 4.
Proof. By assumption, there exist an integer C 2 and an infinite set N of positive
integers such that
p.n; w; A/ C n; for every n in N :
(2.22)
This implies, in particular, that w is written over a finite alphabet.
Let n be in N . By (2.22) and the Schubfachprinzip, there exists (at least) one block
Xn of length n having (at least) two occurrences in the prefix of length .C C 1/n of
w. Thus, there are words Wn , Wn0 , Bn and Bn0 such that jWn j < jWn0 j and
w1 : : : w.C C1/n D Wn Xn Bn D Wn0 Xn Bn0 :
If jWn Xn j jWn0 j, then define Vn by the equality Wn Xn Vn D Wn0 . Observe that
and
Set Un WD Xn .
w1 : : : w.C C1/n D Wn Xn Vn Xn Bn0
(2.23)
jVn j C jWn j
C:
jXn j
(2.24)
51
If jWn0 j < jWn Xn j, then, recalling that jWn j < jWn0 j, we define Xn0 by Wn0 D
Wn Xn0 . Since Xn Bn D Xn0 Xn Bn0 and jXn0 j < jXn j, the word Xn0 is a strict prefix of
Xn and Xn is the concatenation of at least two copies of Xn0 and a (possibly empty)
prefix of Xn0 . Let tn be the largest positive integer such that Xn begins with 2tn copies
of Xn0 . Observe that
2tn jXn0 j C 2jXn0 j jXn0 Xn j;
thus
n D jXn j .2tn C 1/jXn0 j 3tn jXn0 j:
Consequently, Wn .Xn0 tn /2 is a prefix of w such that

t
jXn0 n j n=3
and

3
jWn j
0 tn
j
3C C 1:

.C
C
1/n

2jX

n
t
n
n
jXn0 j
(2.25)
Set Un WD Xn0 tn and let Vn be the empty word.

It then follows from (2.23), (2.24), and (2.25) that, for every n in the infinite set
N,
Wn Un Vn Un is a prefix of w
with
jWn j C jVn j .3C C 1/ jUn j:
This shows that w satisfies Condition ./.
We are now in position to deduce Theorems 3.1 and 3.2 from Theorems 4.1
and 4.2.
Proof of Theorem 3.1. Let b 2 be an integer and be an irrational real number.
Assume that p.n; ; b/ does not tend to infinity with n. It then follows from Lemma
8.1 that the
infinite word composed of the digits of written in base b satisfies Condition ./.
Consequently, Theorem 4.1 asserts that cannot be algebraic. By contraposition, we
get the theorem.

Proof of Theorem 3.2. Let be a real number not algebraic of degree at most two.
Assume that p.n; / does not tend to infinity with n. It then follows from Lemma 8.1
that the
infinite word composed of the partial quotients of satisfies Condition ./. Furthermore, p.1; / is finite, thus the sequence of partial quotients of is bounded, say
by M . It then follows from Theorem 5.3 that q` .M C 1/` for ` 1, hence the
sequence .q`1=` /`1 is bounded. Consequently, all the hypotheses of Theorem 4.2 are
satisfied, and one concludes that cannot be algebraic of degree at least three. By
contraposition, we get the theorem.
52
Yann Bugeaud
9 Proof of Theorem 4.1

We present two proofs of Theorem 4.1, which was originally established in [10].
Throughout this section, we set jUn j D un , jVn j D vn and jWn j D wn , for n 1.
We assume that is algebraic and we derive a contradiction by a suitable application
of Theorem 6.7.
First proof. Let n 1 be an integer. We observe that the real number is quite close
to the rational number n whose b-ary expansion is the infinite word Wn .Un Vn /1 .
Indeed, there exists an integer pn such that
n D
pn
w
u
n
b .b n Cvn
and
j n j
1/
1
b wn Cvn C2un
since and n have the same first wn C vn C 2un digits in their b-ary expansion.
Consequently, we have
jb wn Cun Cvn b wn pn j D jb wn .b un Cvn 1/ pn j b un :
Consider the three linearly independent linear forms with real algebraic coefficients
L1;1 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 / D X1 ;
L2;1 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 / D X2 ;
L3;1 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 / D X1 X2 X3 :
Evaluating them on the integer points xn WD .b wn Cun Cvn ; b wn ; pn /, we get that
Y
jLj;1 .xn /j b 2wn Cvn :
(2.26)
1j 3
For any prime number ` dividing b, consider the three linearly independent linear
forms with integer coefficients
L1;` .X1 ; X2 ; X3 / D X1 ;
L2;` .X1 ; X2 ; X3 / D X2 ;
L3;` .X1 ; X2 ; X3 / D X3 :
We get that
Y Y
jLj;` .xn /j` b 2wn un vn :
`jb 1j 3
Since a satisfies Condition ./, we have

lim inf
n!C1
un
> 0:
wn C un C vn
(2.27)
53
It then follows from (2.26) and (2.27) that there exists " > 0 such that
Y
Y Y
jLj;1 .xn /j
jLj;` .xn /j` b un
1j 3
`jb 1j 3
maxfb wn Cun Cvn ; b wn ; pn g" ;

for every n 1.
Now we infer from Theorem 6.7 that all the points xn lie in a finite number of
proper subspaces of Q3 . Thus, there exist a non-zero integer triple .z1 ; z2 ; z3 / and an
infinite set of distinct positive integers N1 such that
z1 b wn Cun Cvn C z2 b wn C z3 pn D 0;
(2.28)
for any n in N1 .
Dividing (2.28) by b wn Cun Cvn , we get
z1 C z2 b un vn C z3
pn
w
Cu
n
n Cvn
b
D 0:
(2.29)
Since un tends to infinity with n, the sequence .pn =b wn Cun Cvn /n1 tends to . Letting n tend to infinity along N1 , we then infer from (2.29) that either is rational, or
z1 D z3 D 0. In the latter case, z2 must be zero, a contradiction. This shows that
cannot be algebraic.

Second proof. Here, we follow an alternative approach presented in [2].
Let pn and pn0 be the rational integers defined by
wn Cv
n C2un
X
`D1
pn
a`
D w Cv C2u
`
n
b n n
b
and
wn
Cun
X
`D1
pn0
a`
D

b wn Cun
b`
Observe that there exist integers fn and fn0 such that

pn D awn Cvn C2un C awn Cvn C2un 1 b C C awn Cvn Cun C1 b un 1 C fn b un (2.30)
and
pn0 D awn Cun C awn Cun 1 b C C awn C1 b un 1 C fn0 b un :
(2.31)
Since, by assumption,
awn Cun Cvn Cj D awn Cj ;
for j D 1; : : : ; un ;
it follows from (2.30) and (2.31) that pn pn0 is divisible by an integer multiple of
b un . Thus, for any prime number ` dividing b, the `-adic distance between pn and
pn0 is very small and we have
jpn pn0 j` jbju` n :
54
Yann Bugeaud
Furthermore, it is clear that

jb wn Cun pn0 j < 1
and jb wn Cvn C2un pn j < 1:
Consider now the four linearly independent linear forms with real algebraic coefficients
L1;1 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X1 ;
L2;1 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X2 ;
L3;1 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X1 X3 ;
L4;1 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X2 X4 :
Evaluating them on the integer points xn WD .b wn Cvn C2un ; b un Cwn ; pn ; pn0 /, we get
that
Y
jLj;1 .xn /j b 2wn Cvn C3un :
(2.32)
1j 4
For any prime number p dividing b, we consider the four linearly independent
linear forms with integer coefficients
L1;` .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X1 ;
L2;` .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X2 ;
L3;` .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X3 ;
L4;` .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X4 X3 :
We get that
Y Y
jLj;` .xn /j` b .2wn Cvn C3un / b un :
(2.33)
`jb 1j 4

lim inf
n!C1
un
> 0:
wn C 2un C vn
It then follows from (2.32) and (2.33) that there exists " > 0 such that
Y
Y Y
jLj;1 .xn /j
jLj;` .xn /j` b un
1j 4
`jb 1j 4
maxfb wn Cvn C2un ; b un Cwn ; pn ; pn0 g" ;

for every n 1.
We then infer from Theorem 6.7 that all the points xn lie in a finite number of
proper subspaces of Q4 . Thus, there exist a non-zero integer quadruple .z1 ; z2 ; z3 ; z4 /
and an infinite set of distinct positive integers N1 such that
z1 b wn Cvn C2un C z2 b un Cwn C z3 pn C z4 pn0 D 0;
for any n in N1 .
(2.34)
55
Dividing (2.34) by b wn Cvn C2un , we get

z1 C z2 b un vn C z3
pn
b wn Cvn C2un
C z4 b un vn
pn0
b un Cwn
D 0:
(2.35)
Recall that un tends to infinity with n. Thus, the sequences .pn =b wn Cvn C2un /n1
and .pn0 =b un Cwn /n1 tend to as n tends to infinity. Letting n tend to infinity along
N1 , we infer from (2.35) that either is rational, or z1 D z3 D 0. In the latter case,
we obtain that is rational. This is a contradiction, since the sequence .a` /`1 is not
ultimately periodic. Consequently, cannot be algebraic.

Also, the Schmidt Subspace Theorem was applied similarly as in the first proof of
Theorem
4.1 by Troi and Zannier [68] to establish the transcendence of the number
P
m
, where S denotes the set of integers which can be represented as sums of
m2S 2
distinct terms 2k C 1, where k 1.
Moreover, in his short paper Some suggestions for further research published in
1984, Mahler [53] suggested explicitly to apply the Schmidt Subspace Theorem exactly as in the first proof of Theorem 4.1 given in Section 9 to investigate whether the
middle third Cantor set contains irrational algebraic elements or not. More precisely,
he wrote:
A possible approach to this question consists in the study of the nonhomogeneous linear expressions
j3pr CPr X 3pr X Nr j:
It may be that a p-adic form of Schmidts theorem on the rational approximations of algebraic numbers 10 holds for such expressions.
The reference [10] above is Schmidts book [64].
We end this section by mentioning an application of Theorem 4.1. Adamczewski
and Rampersad [12] proved that the binary expansion of an algebraic number contains
infinitely many occurrences of 7=3-powers. They also established that the ternary
expansion of an
algebraic number contains infinitely many occurrences of squares, or infinitely
many occurrences of one of the blocks 010 or 02120.
10 Proof of Theorem 4.2

We reproduce the proof given in [29].
Throughout, the constants implied in depend only on . Assume that the
sequences .Un /n1 , .Vn /n1 , and .Wn /n1 occurring in the definition of Condition
./ are fixed. For n 1, set un D jUn j, vn D jVn j, and wn D jWn j. We assume
56
Yann Bugeaud
that the real number WD 0I a1 ; a2 ; : : : is algebraic of degree at least three. Set

p1 D q0 D 1 and q1 D p0 D 0.
We observe that admits infinitely many good quadratic approximants obtained
by truncating its continued fraction expansion and completing by periodicity. Pre.n/
cisely, for every positive integer n, we define the sequence .bk /k1 by
bh.n/ D ah
.n/
bwn ChCj.un Cvn / D awn Ch
for 1 h wn C un C vn ,
for 1 h un C vn and j 0.
The sequence .bk.n/ /k1 is ultimately periodic, with preperiod Wn and with period
Un Vn . Set

n D 0I b1.n/ ; b2.n/ ; : : : ; bk.n/ ; : : :
and note that, since the first wn C 2un C vn partial quotients of and of n are the
same, it follows from Corollary 5.2 that
2
:
j n j qw
n C2un Cvn
(2.36)
Furthermore, Lemma 5.8 asserts that n is root of the quadratic polynomial

Pn .X / WD .qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /X 2
.qwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn qwn pwn Cun Cvn 1
C pwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn pwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /X
C .pwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn pwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 /:
By (2.10), we have
j.qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 / .qwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn qwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 /j
qwn 1 jqwn Cun Cvn pwn Cun Cvn j C qwn jqwn Cun Cvn 1 pwn Cun Cvn 1 j
1
2 qwn qw
n Cun Cvn
(2.37)
and, likewise,
j.qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 / .pwn 1 qwn Cun Cvnpwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /j
qwn Cun Cvn jqwn 1 pwn 1 j C qwn Cun Cvn 1 jqwn pwn j
1
q
:
2 qw
n wn Cun Cvn
(2.38)
Using (2.36), (2.37), and (2.38), we then get
jPn ./j D jPn ./ Pn .n /j
D j.qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /. n /. C n /
.qwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn qwn pwn Cun Cvn 1
C pwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn pwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /. n /j
57
D j.qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /

.qwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn qwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 /
C .qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /
.pwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn pwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /
C .qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /.n /j j n j

1
1
C
q
q
C
q
q
j
j
j n j qwn qw
w
Cu
Cv
w
w
Cu
Cv
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
Cu
Cv
w
n
n
n
n
1
j n jqw
q
n wn Cun Cvn
1
qw
q
q 2
:
n wn Cun Cvn wn C2un Cvn
(2.39)
We consider the four linearly independent linear forms

L1 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D 2 X1 .X2 C X3 / C X4 ;
L2 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X1 X2 ;
L3 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X1 X3 ;
L4 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X1 :
Evaluating them on the 4-tuple
xn WD.qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 ;
qwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn qwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 ;
pwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn pwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 ;
pwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn pwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 /;
it follows from (2.37), (2.38), (2.39), and Theorem 5.3 that
Y
2
jLj .xn /j qw
q 2
n Cun Cvn wn C2un Cvn
1j 4
2un
.qwn qwn Cun Cvn /un =.2wn Cun Cvn / ;
if n is sufficiently large, where we have set
M D 1 C lim sup q`1=`
and D
`!C1
log 2
:
log M

lim inf
n!C1
un
> 0:
2wn C un C vn
Consequently, there exists " > 0 such that

Y
jLj .xn /j .qwn qwn Cun Cvn /"
1j 4
holds for any sufficiently large integer n.
58
Yann Bugeaud
It then follows from Theorem 6.7 that the points xn lie in a finite union of proper
linear subspaces of Q4 . Thus, there exist a non-zero integer quadruple .x1 ; x2 ; x3 ; x4 /
and an infinite set N1 of distinct positive integers such that
x1 .qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /
Cx2 .qwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn qwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 /
Cx3 .pwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn pwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /
Cx4 .pwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn pwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 / D 0;
(2.40)
for any n in N1 .
First case: we assume that there exist an integer ` and infinitely many integers
n in N1 with wn D `.
By extracting an infinite subset of N1 if necessary and by considering the real
number 0I a`C1 ; a`C2 ; : : : instead of , we may without loss of generality assume
that wn D ` D 0 for any n in N1 .
Then, recalling that q1 D p0 D 0 and q0 D p1 D 1, we deduce from (2.40)
that
x1 qun Cvn 1 C x2 pun Cvn 1 x3 qun Cvn x4 pun Cvn D 0;
(2.41)
for any n in N1 . Observe that .x1 ; x2 / 6D .0; 0/, since, otherwise, by letting n tend to
infinity along N1 in (2.41), we would get that the real number is rational. Dividing
(2.41) by qun Cvn , we obtain
x1
qun Cvn 1
pu Cv 1 qu Cv 1
pu Cv
C x2 n n n n x3 x4 n n D 0:
qun Cvn
qun Cvn 1 qun Cvn
qun Cvn
(2.42)
By letting n tend to infinity along N1 in (2.42), we get that

WD
lim
N1 3n!C1
qun Cvn 1
x3 C x4
:
D
qun Cvn
x1 C x2
Furthermore, observe that, for any sufficiently large integer n in N1 , we have

qun Cvn 1 D x3 C x4 x3 C x4 pun Cvn =qun Cvn
qun Cvn x1 C x2 x1 C x2 pun Cvn 1 =qun Cvn 1

(2.43)
1
;

qun Cvn 1 qun Cvn
by (2.10). Since the rational number qun Cvn 1 =qun Cvn is in its reduced form and
un C vn tends to infinity when n tends to infinity along N1 , we see that, for every
positive real number
and every positive integer N , there exists a reduced rational
number a=b such that b > N and j a=bj
=b. This implies that is irrational.
Consider now the three linearly independent linear forms
L01 .Y1 ; Y2 ; Y3 / D Y1 Y2 ;
L02 .Y1 ; Y2 ; Y3 / D Y1 Y3 ;
L03 .Y1 ; Y2 ; Y3 / D Y2 :
59
Evaluating them on the triple .qun Cvn ; qun Cvn 1 ; pun Cvn / with n 2 N1 , we infer
from (2.10) and (2.43) that
Y
jL0j .qun Cvn ; qun Cvn 1 ; pun Cvn /j qu1
:
n Cvn
1j 3
It then follows from Theorem 6.7 that the points .qun Cvn ; qun Cvn 1 ; pun Cvn / with
n 2 N1 lie in a finite union of proper linear subspaces of Q3 . Thus, there exist
a non-zero integer triple .y1 ; y2 ; y3 / and an infinite set of distinct positive integers
N2 N1 such that
y1 qun Cvn C y2 qun Cvn 1 C y3 pun Cvn D 0;
(2.44)
for any n in N2 . Dividing (2.44) by qun Cvn and letting n tend to infinity along N2 ,
we get
y1 C y2 C y3 D 0:
(2.45)
To obtain another equation relating and , we consider the three linearly independent linear forms
L001 .Z1 ; Z2 ; Z3 / D Z1 Z2 ;
L003 .Z1 ; Z2 ; Z3 / D Z2 :
L002 .Z1 ; Z2 ; Z3 / D Z2 Z3 ;
Evaluating them on the triple .qun Cvn ; qun Cvn 1 ; pun Cvn 1 / with n in N1 , we infer
from (2.10) and (2.43) that
Y
jL00j .qun Cvn ; qun Cvn 1 ; pun Cvn 1 /j qu1
:
n Cvn
1j 3
It then follows from Theorem 6.7 that the points .qun Cvn ; qun Cvn 1 ; pun Cvn 1 / with
n 2 N1 lie in a finite union of proper linear subspaces of Q3 . Thus, there exist a nonzero integer triple .z1 ; z2 ; z3 / and an infinite set of distinct positive integers N3 N2
such that
(2.46)
z1 qun Cvn C z2 qun Cvn 1 C z3 pun Cvn 1 D 0;
for any n in N3 . Dividing (2.46) by qun Cvn 1 and letting n tend to infinity along N3 ,
we get
z1
C z2 C z3 D 0:
(2.47)
We infer from (2.45) and (2.47) that

.z3 C z2 /.y3 C y1 / D y2 z1 :
Since is irrational, we get from (2.45) and (2.47) that y3 z3 6D 0. This shows that
is an algebraic number of degree at most two, which contradicts our assumption that
is algebraic of degree at least three.
60
Yann Bugeaud
Second case: extracting an infinite subset N4 of N1 if necessary, we assume

that .wn /n2N4 tends to infinity.
In particular .pwn =qwn /n2N4 and .pwn Cun Cvn =qwn Cun Cvn /n2N4 both tend to
as n tends to infinity.
We make the following observation. Let a be a letter and U; V; W be three finite
words (V may be empty) such that a begins with W U V U and a is the last letter of
W and of U V . Then, writing W D W 0 a, V D V 0 a if V is non-empty, and U D U 0 a
if V is empty, we see that a begins with W 0 .aU /V 0 .aU / if V is non-empty and with
W 0 .aU 0 /.aU 0 / if V is empty. Consequently, by iterating this remark if necessary, we
can assume that for any n in N4 , the last letter of the word Un Vn differs from the last
letter of the word Wn . Said differently, we have awn 6D awn Cun Cvn for any n in N4 .
Divide (2.40) by qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 and write
Qn WD .qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn /=.qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /:
We then get

pwn Cun Cvn pwn Cun Cvn 1

x1 .Qn 1/ C x2 Qn
qwn Cun Cvn
qw Cu Cv 1

n n n
pwn 1 pwn

C x3 Qn
qwn 1
qwn

pw 1 pwn Cun Cvn pwn pwn Cun Cvn 1
D 0;

C x4 Qn n
qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn
qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1
(2.48)
for any n in N4 . To shorten the notation, for any ` 1, we put R` WD p` =q` and
rewrite (2.48) as

x1 .Qn 1/ C x2 Qn . Rwn Cun Cvn / . Rwn Cun Cvn 1 /

Cx3 Qn . Rwn 1 / . Rwn /

Cx4 Qn . Rwn 1 /. Rwn Cun Cvn / . Rwn /. Rwn Cun Cvn 1 / D 0:
This yields

.Qn 1/ x1 C .x2 C x3 / C x4 2 D x2 Qn Rwn Cun Cvn x2 Rwn Cun Cvn 1
C x3 Qn Rwn 1 x3 Rwn
x4 Qn Rwn 1 Rwn Cun Cvn
C x4 Rwn Rwn Cun Cvn 1 C .x4 Qn Rwn 1
C x4 Qn Rwn Cun Cvn x4 Rwn
x4 Rwn Cun Cvn 1 /:
(2.49)
Observe that
by (2.10).
1
jR` j q`1 q`C1
;
` 1;
(2.50)
61
We use (2.49), (2.50) and the assumption that awn 6D awn Cun Cvn for any n in N4
to establish the following claim.
Claim. We have
x1 C .x2 C x3 / C x4 2 D 0:
Proof of the Claim. If there are arbitrarily large integers n in N4 such that Qn 2
or Qn 1=2, then the claim follows from (2.49) and (2.50).
Assume that 1=2 Qn 2 holds for every large n in N4 . We then derive from
(2.49) and (2.50) that
1
q 1 :
j.Qn 1/.x1 C .x2 C x3 / C x4 2 /j jRwn 1 j qw
n 1 wn
If x1 C .x2 C x3 / C x4 2 6D 0, then we get

1
q 1 :
jQn 1j qw
n 1 wn
(2.51)
On the other hand, observe that, by Theorem 5.4, the rational number Qn is the quotient of the two continued fractions awn Cun Cvn I awn Cun Cvn 1 ; : : : ; a1 and
awn I awn 1 ; : : : ; a1 . Since awn Cun Cvn 6D awn , we have either awn Cun Cvn awn
1 or awn awn Cun Cvn 1. In the former case, we see that
Qn
awn
awn Cun Cvn

1
awn C 1
1C
:

awn 2 C 1
.awn C 1/.awn 2 C 2/
1
awn C
C
awn 2 C 2
1
1C
awn 2 C 1
In the latter case, we have

awn C
1
1
1
awn 1 C1

:
1C
1C
Qn
awn Cun Cvn C1
.awn1 C1/.awnCun Cvn C1/
.awn 1 C1/awn
Consequently, in any case,
1
1
1
1 1
minfaw
; aw
g aw
q
:
jQn 1j aw
n
n 2
n 1
n wn 1
Combined with (2.51), this gives

awn qwn awn qwn 1 ;
which implies that n is bounded, a contradiction. This proves the Claim.
Since is irrational and not quadratic, we deduce from the Claim that x1 D x4 D
0 and x2 D x3 . Then, x2 is non-zero and, by (2.40), we have, for any n in N4 ,
qwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn qwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 D pwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn pwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 :
62
Yann Bugeaud
Thus, the polynomial Pn .X / can be simply expressed as

Pn .X / WD .qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /X 2
2.qwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn qwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 /X
C .pwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn pwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 /:
2
L000
1 .T1 ; T2 ; T3 / D T1 2T2 C T3 ;
L000
2 .T1 ; T2 ; T3 / D T1 T2 ;
L000
3 .T1 ; T2 ; T3 / D T1 :
Evaluating them on the triple

x0n WD .qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 ;
qwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn qwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 ;
pwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn pwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 /;
for n in N4 , it follows from (2.37) and (2.39) that
Y
0
2
"
jL000
j .xn /j qwn qwn Cun Cvn qwn C2un Cvn .qwn qwn Cun Cvn / ;
1j 3
with the same " as above, if n is sufficiently large.

We then deduce from Theorem 6.7 that the points x0n , n 2 N4 , lie in a finite union
of proper linear subspaces of Q3 . Thus, there exist a non-zero integer triple .t1 ; t2 ; t3 /
and an infinite set of distinct positive integers N5 included in N4 such that
t1 .qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /
Ct2 .qwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn qwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 /
Ct3 .pwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn pwn pwn Cun Cvn 1 / D 0;
(2.52)
for any n in N5 .
We proceed exactly as above. Divide (2.52) by qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 and set
Qn WD .qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn /=.qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1 /:
We then get

pwn Cun Cvn 1
pw Cu Cv
t1 .Qn 1/ C t2 Qn n n n
qwn Cun Cvn
qwn Cun Cvn 1

pwn 1 pwn Cun Cvn pwn pwn Cun Cvn 1
D 0;

C t3 Qn
qwn 1 qwn Cun Cvn
qwn qwn Cun Cvn 1
(2.53)
for any n in N5 . We argue as after (2.48). Since pwn=qwn and pwn Cun Cvn=qwn Cun Cvn
tend to as n tends to infinity along N5 , we derive from (2.53) that
t1 C t2 C t3 2 D 0;
a contradiction since is irrational and not quadratic. Consequently, must be transcendental. This concludes the proof of the theorem.
63
11 A transcendence criterion for quasi-palindromic

continued fractions
In this section, we present another combinatorial transcendence criterion for continued fractions which was established in [29], based on ideas from [5].
For a finite word W WD w1 : : : wk , we denote by W WD wk : : : w1 its mirror
image. The finite word W is called a palindrome if W D W .
Let a D .a` /`1 be a sequence of elements from A. We say that a satisfies
Condition .|/ if a is not
ultimately periodic and if there exist three sequences of finite words .Un /n1 ,
.Vn /n1 , and .Wn /n1 such that:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
For every n 1, the word Wn Un Vn U n is a prefix of the word a.

The sequence .jVn j=jUn j/n1 is bounded from above.
The sequence .jWn j=jUn j/n1 is bounded from above.
The sequence .jUn j/n1 is increasing.
Theorem 11.1. Let a D .a` /`1 be a sequence of positive integers. Let .p` =q` /`1
denote the sequence of convergents to the real number
WD 0I a1 ; a2 ; : : : ; a` ; : : ::
Assume that the sequence .q`1=` /`1 is bounded. If a satisfies Condition .|/, then
is transcendental.
A slight modification of the proof of Theorem 11.1 allows us to remove the assumption on the growth of the sequence .q` /`1 , provided that a stronger condition
than Condition .|/ is satisfied.
Theorem 11.2. Let a D .a` /`1 be a sequence of positive integers and set
WD 0I a1 ; a2 ; : : : ; a` ; : : ::
Assume that a D .a` /`1 is not eventually periodic. If there are arbitrarily large
integers ` such that the word a1 : : : a` is a palindrome, then is transcendental.
We leave to the reader the proof of Theorem 11.2, established in [5], and establish
Theorem 11.1.
Proof. Throughout, the constants implied in are absolute.
Assume that the sequences .Un /n1 , .Vn /n1 , and .Wn /n1 are fixed. Set wn D
jWn j, un D jUn j and vn D jVn j, for n 1. Assume that the real number WD
0I a1 ; a2 ; : : : is algebraic of degree at least three.
For n 1, consider the rational number Pn =Qn defined by
Pn
WD 0I Wn Un Vn Un Wn
Qn
64
Yann Bugeaud
and denote by Pn0 =Qn0 the last convergent to Pn =Qn which is different from Pn =Qn .
Since the first wn C 2un C vn partial quotients of and Pn =Qn coincide, we deduce
from Corollary 5.2 that
2
jQn Pn j < Qn qw
;
n C2un Cvn
2
jQn0 Pn0 j < Qn qw
:
n C2un Cvn
(2.54)
Furthermore, it follows from Theorem 5.4 that the first wn C 2un C vn

partial quotients of and of Qn0 =Qn coincide, thus
2
;
jQn Qn0 j < Qn qw
n Cun
(2.55)
again by Corollary 5.2, and, by Theorem 5.6,

Qn 2qwn qwn C2un Cvn 2qwn Cun qwn C2un Cvn :
Since
(2.56)
.Qn Pn /
.Qn0
Pn0 /

Pn
Pn0
0
Qn 0
D Qn
Qn
Qn

0

Pn
Pn
Pn
C Qn0
;
D .Qn Qn0 /

Qn
Qn0
Qn
it follows from (2.54), (2.55), and (2.56) that

2
q 2
C Qn1
j 2 Qn Qn0 Pn C Pn0 j Qn qw
n Cun wn C2un Cvn
Qn1 :
(2.57)
Consider the four linearly independent linear forms with algebraic coefficients
L1 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D 2 X1 X2 X3 C X4 ;
L2 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X2 X4 ;
L3 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X1 X2 ;
L4 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 ; X4 / D X2 :
We deduce from (2.54), (2.55), (2.56), and (2.57) that
Y
2
2
jLj .Qn ; Qn0 ; Pn ; Pn0 /j Qn2 qw
q 2
qw
q 2
:
n C2un Cvn wn Cun
n wn Cun
1j 4
By combining Theorems 5.3 and 5.6 with (2.56), we have

2
qw
q 2
2un Qnun =.2wn C2un Cvn / ;
n wn Cun
if n is sufficiently large, where we have set

1=`
M D 1 C lim sup q`
`!C1
and D
log 2
:
log M
65
Since a satisfies Condition .|/, we have

lim inf
n!C1
un
> 0:
2wn C 2un C vn
Consequently, there exists " > 0 such that

Y
jLj .Qn ; Qn0 ; Pn ; Pn0 /j Qn" ;
1j 4
for every sufficiently large n.

It then follows from Theorem 6.7 that the points .Qn ; Qn0 ; Pn ; Pn0 / lie in a finite number of proper subspaces of Q4 . Thus, there exist a non-zero integer 4-tuple
.x1 ; x2 ; x3 ; x4 / and an infinite set of distinct positive integers N1 such that
x1 Qn C x2 Qn0 C x3 Pn C x4 Pn0 D 0;
(2.58)
for any n in N1 . Dividing by Qn , we obtain

x1 C x2
Qn0
Pn
P 0 Q0
C x3
C x4 n0 n D 0:
Qn
Qn
Qn Qn
By letting n tend to infinity along N1 , we infer from (2.55) and (2.56) that
x1 C .x2 C x3 / C x4 2 D 0:
Since .x1 ; x2 ; x3 ; x4 / 6D .0; 0; 0; 0/ and since is irrational and not quadratic, we
have x1 D x4 D 0 and x2 D x3 . Then, (2.58) implies that
Qn0 D Pn :
for every n in N1 . Thus, for n in N1 , we have
j 2 Qn 2Qn0 C Pn0 j Qn1 :
(2.59)

L01 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 / D 2 X1 2X2 C X3 ;
L02 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 / D X2 X3 ;
L03 .X1 ; X2 ; X3 / D X1 :
Evaluating them on the triple .Qn ; Qn0 ; Pn0 / for n in N1 , it follows from (2.54), (2.56)
and (2.59) that
Y
2
jL0j .Qn ; Qn0 ; Pn0 /j Qn qw
n C2un Cvn
1j 3
1
1
qwn qw
qwn qw
Qn"=2 ;
n C2un Cvn
n Cun
with the same " as above, if n is sufficiently large.
66
Yann Bugeaud
It then follows from Theorem 6.7 that the points .Qn ; Qn0 ; Pn0 / lie in a finite number of proper subspaces of Q3 . Thus, there exist a non-zero integer triple .y1 ; y2 ; y3 /
and an infinite set of distinct positive integers N2 such that
y1 Qn C y2 Qn0 C y3 Pn0 D 0;
for any n in N2 .
Dividing (2.60) by Qn , we get
y1 C y2
Pn
P 0 Pn
C y3 n0
D 0:
Qn
Qn Qn
(2.60)
(2.61)
By letting n tend to infinity along N2 , it thus follows from (2.61) that

y1 C y2 C y3 2 D 0:
Since .y1 ; y2 ; y3 / is a non-zero triple of integers, we have reached a contradiction.
Consequently, the real number is transcendental. This completes the proof of the
theorem.
12 Complements
We collect in this section several results which complement Theorems 3.1 and 3.2.
The common tool for their proofs (which we omit or just sketch) is the Quantitative
Subspace Theorem, that is, a theorem which provides an explicit upper bound for the
number T of exceptional subspaces in Theorem 6.7.
We have mentioned at the beginning of Section 3 that the sequence of partial
quotients of an algebraic irrational number cannot grow too rapidly. More precisely,
it can be derived from Roths Theorem 6.5 that
log log qn
lim
D 0;
(2.62)
n!C1
n
where .p` =q` /`1 denotes the sequence of convergents to . This is left as an exercise. The use of a quantitative form of Theorem 6.5 allowed Davenport and Roth [38]
to improve (2.62). Their result was subsequently strengthen [4, 25] as follows.
Theorem 12.1. Let be an irrational, real algebraic number and let .pn =qn /n1
denote the sequence of its convergents. Then, for any " > 0, there exists a constant c,
depending only on and ", such that
log log qn c n2=3C" :
Proof. We briefly sketch the proof of a slightly weaker result. Let d be the degree of
. By Theorem 6.4, there exists an integer n0 such that
pn > 1 ;
qn qnd C1
67
for n n0 . Combined with Theorem 5.1, this gives

qnC1 qnd ;
for n n0 :
(2.63)
On the other hand, a quantitative form of Theorem 6.5 (see e.g. [40]) asserts that
there exists a positive number
0 < 1=5, depending only on , such that for every
with 0 <
<
0 , the inequality
p
< 1 ;
q q 2C
has at most
4 rational solutions p=q with p and q co prime and q > 161= .
Consequently, for every n 8=
, with at most
4 exceptions, we have
qnC1 qn1C :
(2.64)
p
Let N .8=
/2 be a large integer and set h WD d N e. We deduce from (2.63) and
(2.64) that
log qN
log qN
log qN 1
log qhC1
D
log qh
log qN 1 log qN 2
log qh
.1 C
/N d
whence
4
log log qN log log qh N

C
4 .log d /:
Observe that it follows from (2.62) that

log log qh N 1=2 ;
when N is sufficiently large. Choosing
D N 1=5 , we obtain the upper bound
log log qN log log qh C N 4=5 .log 3d / 2N 4=5 .log 3d /;
when N is large enough. A slight refinement yields the theorem.
We first observe that, if we assume a slightly stronger condition than

lim inf
p.n; w; A/
< C1
n
lim sup
p.n; w; A/
< C1;
n
n!C1
in Lemma 8.1, namely, that
n!C1
then the word w satisfies a much stronger condition than Condition ./. Indeed, there
then exists an integer C 2 such that
p.n; w; A/ C n;
for n 1;
68
Yann Bugeaud
instead of the weaker assumption (2.22). In the case of the first proof of Theorem 4.1
given in Section 9, this means that, keeping its notation, one may assume that, up to
extracting subsequences, there exists an integer c such that
2.un C vn C wn / unC1 C vnC1 C wnC1 c.un C vn C wn /;
n 1:
This observation is crucial for the proofs of Theorems 12.2 to 12.4 below.
Now, we mention a few applications to the complexity of algebraic numbers, beginning with a result from [31]. Recall that the complexity function n 7! p.n; ; b/
has been defined in Section 2.
Theorem 12.2. Let b 2 be an integer and an algebraic irrational number. Then,
for any real number
such that
< 1=11, we have
lim sup
n!C1
p.n; ; b/
D C1:
n.log n/
The main tools for the proof of Theorem 12.2 are a suitable extension of the
CugianiMahler Theorem and a suitable version of the Quantitative Subspace Theorem, which allows us to get an exponent of log n independent of the base b. Using
the recent results of [41] allows us to show that Theorem 12.2 holds for
in a slightly
larger interval than 0; 1=11/.
As briefly mentioned in Section 6, one of the main features of the theorems of
Roth and Schmidt is that they are ineffective, in the sense that we cannot produce an
explicit upper bound for the denominators of the solutions to (2.19) or for the height
of the subspaces containing the solutions to (2.20). Consequently, Theorems 3.1 and
3.2 are ineffective, as are the weaker results from [14, 43]. It is shown in [24] that, by
means of the Quantitative Subspace Theorem, it is possible to derive an explicit form
of a much weaker statement.
Theorem 12.3. Let b 2 be an integer. Let be a real algebraic irrational number
of degree d and height at most H , with H ee . Set
M D expf10190 .log.8d //2.log log.8d //2 g C 232 log.240 log.4H // :
Then we have

1
n;
p.n; ; b/ 1 C
M
for n 1:
Unfortunately, the present methods do not seem to be powerful enough to get an

effective version of Theorem 3.1.
We have shown that, if the b-ary or the continued fraction expansion of a real number is not ultimately periodic and has small complexity, then this number cannot be
algebraic, that is, the distance between this number and the set of algebraic numbers
is strictly positive. A natural question then arises: is it possible to get transcendence
measures for , that is, to bound from below the distance between and any algebraic
69
number? A positive answer was given in [6], where the authors described a general
method to obtain transcendence measures by means of the Quantitative Subspace
Theorem. In the next statement, proved in [9], we say that an infinite word w written
on an alphabet A is of sublinear complexity if there exists a constant C such that the
complexity function of w satisfies
p.n; w; A/ C n;
for all n 1:
Recall that a Liouville number is an irrational real number such that for every
real number w, there exists a rational number p=q with j p=qj < 1=q w .
Theorem 12.4. Let be an irrational real number and b 2 be an integer. If the
b-ary expansion of is of sublinear complexity, then, either is a Liouville number,
or there exists a positive number C such that
C log log.3d /
j j > H. /.2d /
for every real algebraic number of degree d .

In Theorem 12.4, the quantity H. / is the height of as introduced in Definition 6.3.
The analogue of Theorem 12.4 for continued fraction expansions has been established in [7, 28]. The analogues of Theorems 12.2 and 12.3 have not been written yet,
but there is little doubt that they hold and can be proved by combining the ideas of
the proofs of Theorems 3.2, 12.2 and 12.3.
13 Further notions of complexity

For an integer b 2, an irrational real number whose b-ary expansion is given by
(2.1), and a positive integer n, set
N Z.n; ; b/ WD # f` W 1 ` n; a` 6D 0g;
which counts the number of non-zero digits among the first n digits of the b-ary
expansion of .
Alternatively, if 1 n1 < n2 < denotes the increasing sequence of the indices
` such that a` 6D 0, then for every positive integer n we have
N Z.n; ; b/ WD max fj W nj ng:
Let " > 0 be a real number and be an algebraic, irrational number. It follows
from Ridouts Theorem 6.6 that nj C1 .1 C "/nj holds for every sufficiently large
j . Consequently, we get that
lim
n!C1
N Z.n; ; b/
D C1:
log n
70
Yann Bugeaud
For the base b D 2, this was considerably improved by Bailey, Borwein, Crandall,
and Pomerance [17] (see also Rivoal [60]), using elementary considerations and ideas
from additive number theory. A minor modification of their method allows us to get
a similar result for expansions to an arbitrary integer base. The following statement
is extracted from [27] (see also [11]).
Theorem 13.1. Let b 2 be an integer. For any irrational real algebraic number
of degree d and height H and for any integer n exceeding .20b d d 3 H /d , we have
1=d

1
n
N Z.n; ; b/
;
b 1 2.d C 1/ad
where ad denotes the leading coefficient of the minimal polynomial of over the
integers.
The idea behind the proof of Theorem 13.1 is quite simple and was inspired by
a paper by Knight [48]. If an irrational real number has few non-zero digits, then its
integer powers 2 ; 3 ; : : :, and any finite linear combination of them, cannot have too
many non-zero digits. In particular, cannot be a root of an integer polynomial of
small degree. This is, in general, not at all so simple, since we have to take much care
of the carries. However, for some particular families of algebraic numbers, including
roots of positive integers, a quite simple proof of Theorem 13.1 can be given. Here,
we follow [60] and (this allows some minor simplification) we treat only the case
b D 2.
For a non-negative integer x, let B.x/ denote the number of 1s in the (finite)
binary representation of x.
Theorem 13.2. Let be a positive real algebraic number of degree d 2. Let
ad X d C C a1 X C a0 denote its minimal polynomial and assume that a1 ; : : : ; ad
are all non-negative. Then, there exists a constant c, depending only on , such that
N Z.n; ; 2/ B.ad /1=d n1=d c;
for n 1.
Proof. Observe first that, for all positive integers x and y, we have
B.x C y/ B.x/ C B.y/
and
B.xy/ B.x/ B.y/:
For simplicity, let us write N Z.n; / instead of N Z.n; ; 2/. Let and
be positive irrational numbers (the assumption of positivity is crucial) and n be a sufficiently
large integer. We state without proof several elementary assertions. If C
is irrational, then we have
N Z.n; C
/ N Z.n; / C N Z.n;
/ C 1:
71
If
is irrational, then we have
N Z.n;
/ N Z.n; / N Z.n;
/ C log2 . C
C 1/ C 1;
where log2 denotes the logarithm in base 2. If m is an integer, then we have
N Z.n; m/ B.m/.N Z.n; / C 1/:
Furthermore, for every positive integer A, we have
N Z.n; / N Z.n; A=/ n 1 log2 . C A= C 1//:
(2.65)
Let be as in the statement of the theorem. The real number ja0 j= is irrational,
as are the numbers aj j 1 for j D 2; : : : ; d provided that aj 6D 0. Since
ja0 j 1 D a1 C a2 C C ad d 1
and N Z.n; / tends to infinity with n, the various inequalities listed above imply that
N Z.n; ja0 j 1 / d C B.a1 / C N Z.n; a2 / C C N Z.n; ad d 1 /
d C B.a1 / C B.a2 /.N Z.n; / C 1/ C
C B.ad /.N Z.n; d 1/ C 1/
(2.66)
B.ad /N Z.n; /d 1 C c1 N Z.n; /d 2;

where c1 , like c2 ; c3 ; c4 below, is a suitable positive real number depending only on
. By (2.65), we get
n
N Z.n; ja0 j 1 /
c2 :
N Z.n; /
Combining this with (2.66), we obtain
B.ad /N Z.n; /d C c3 N Z.n; /d 1 n
and we finally deduce that
N Z.n; / B.ad /1=d n1=d c4 ;
as asserted.
We may also ask for a finer measure of complexity than simply counting the number of non-zero digits and consider the number of digit changes.
For an integer b 2, an irrational real number whose b-ary expansion is given
by (2.1), and a positive integer n, we set
N BDC.n; ; b/ WD # f` W 1 ` n; a` 6D a`C1 g;
which counts the number of digits followed by a different digit, among the first n
digits in the b-ary expansion of . The functions n 7! N BDC.n; ; b/ have been
introduced in [23]. Using this notion for measuring the complexity of a real number,
Theorem 13.3 below, proved in [23, 31], shows that algebraic irrational numbers are
not too simple.
72
Yann Bugeaud
Theorem 13.3. Let b 2 be an integer. For every irrational, real algebraic number
, there exist an effectively computable constant n0 .; b/, depending only on and
b, and an effectively computable constant c, depending only on the degree of , such
that
N BDC.n; ; b/ c .log n/3=2 .log log n/1=2
(2.67)
for every integer n n0 .; b/.
A weaker result than (2.67), namely that
lim
n!C1
N BDC.n; ; b/
D C1;
log n
(2.68)
follows quite easily from Ridouts Theorem 6.6. The proof of Theorem 13.3 depends
on a quantitative version of Ridouts Theorem. We point out that the lower bound in
(2.67) does not depend on b.
Further results on the number of non-zero digits and the number of digit changes
in the b-ary expansion of algebraic numbers have been obtained by Kaneko [45, 46].
Bibliography
[1] B. Adamczewski and Y. Bugeaud, On the complexity of algebraic numbers, II. Continued
fractions. Acta Math. 195 (2005), 120.
[2] B. Adamczewski and Y. Bugeaud, On the independence of expansions of algebraic numbers
in an integer base. Bull. London Math. Soc. 39 (2007), 283289.
[3] B. Adamczewski and Y. Bugeaud, On the complexity of algebraic numbers I. Expansions in
integer bases. Ann. of Math. 165 (2007), 547565.
[4] B. Adamczewski and Y. Bugeaud, On the MailletBaker continued fractions. J. reine angew.
Math. 606 (2007), 105121.
[5] B. Adamczewski and Y. Bugeaud, Palindromic continued fractions. Ann. Inst. Fourier (Grenoble) 57 (2007), 15571574.
[6] B. Adamczewski and Y. Bugeaud, Mesures de transcendance et aspects quantitatifs de la
methode de ThueSiegelRothSchmidt. Proc. London Math. Soc. 101 (2010), 131.
[7] B. Adamczewski and Y. Bugeaud, Transcendence measures for continued fractions involving
repetitive or symmetric patterns. J. Europ. Math. Soc. 12 (2010), 883914.
[8] B. Adamczewski and Y. Bugeaud, Diophantine approximation and transcendence. In Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications 135, Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp.
424465.
[9] B. Adamczewski and Y. Bugeaud, Nombres reels de complexite sous-lineaire : mesures
dirrationalite et de transcendance. J. reine angew. Math. 658 (2011), 6598.
[10] B. Adamczewski, Y. Bugeaud, and F. Luca, Sur la complexite des nombres algebriques. C. R.
Acad. Sci. Paris 339 (2004), 1114.
Bibliography
73
[11] B. Adamczewski and C. Faverjon, Chiffres non nuls dans le developpement en base entière
dun nombre algebrique irrationnel. C. R. Math. Acad. Sci. Paris 350 (2012), 14.
[12] B. Adamczewski and N. Rampersad, On patterns occurring in binary algebraic numbers. Proc.
Am. Math. Soc. 136 (2008), 31053109.
[13] R. Adler, M. Keane, and M. Smorodinsky, A construction of a normal number for the continued fraction transformation. J. Number Theory 13 (1981), 95105.
[14] J.-P. Allouche, Nouveaux resultats de transcendance de reels a` developpements non aleatoire.
Gaz. Math. 84 (2000), 1934.
[15] J.-P. Allouche, J. L. Davison, M. Queffelec, and L. Q. Zamboni, Transcendence of Sturmian
or morphic continued fractions. J. Number Theory 91 (2001), 3966.
[16] J.-P. Allouche and J. Shallit, Automatic Sequences: Theory, Applications, Generalizations.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003.
[17] D. H. Bailey, J. M. Borwein, R. E. Crandall, and C. Pomerance, On the binary expansions of
algebraic numbers. J. Theor. Nombres Bordeaux 16 (2004), 487518.
[18] D. H. Bailey and R. E. Crandall, Random generators and normal numbers. Experiment. Math.
11 (2002), 527546.
[19] V. Becher and P. A. Heiber, On extending de Bruijn sequences. Inform. Process Lett. 111
(2011), 930932.
[20] Yu. F. Bilu, The many faces of the subspace theorem after Adamczewski, Bugeaud, Corvaja,
Zannier: : :. Seminaire Bourbaki. Vol. 2006/2007. Asterisque 317 (2008), Exp. No. 967, vii,
138.
Borel, Les probabilites denombrables et leurs applications arithmetiques. Rend. Circ. Math.
[21] E.
Palermo 27 (1909), 247271.
[22] Y. Bugeaud, Approximation by Algebraic Numbers. Cambridge Tracts in Mathematics 160,
Cambridge, 2004.
[23] Y. Bugeaud, On the b-ary expansion of an algebraic number. Rend. Sem. Mat. Univ. Padova
118 (2007), 217233.
[24] Y. Bugeaud, An explicit lower bound for the block complexity of an algebraic number. Atti
Accad. Naz. Lincei Cl. Sci. Fis. Mat. Natur. Rend. Lincei (9) Mat. Appl. 19 (2008), 229235.
[25] Y. Bugeaud, On the convergents to algebraic numbers. In Analytic Number Theory, 133143,
Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2009.
[26] Y. Bugeaud, Quantitative versions of the Subspace Theorem and applications. J. Theor. Nombres Bordeaux 23 (2011), 3557.
[27] Y. Bugeaud, Distribution Modulo one and Diophantine Approximation. Cambridge Tracts in
Mathematics 193, Cambridge, 2012.
[28] Y. Bugeaud, Continued fractions with low complexity: Transcendence measures and quadratic
approximation. Compos. Math. 148 (2012), 718750.
[29] Y. Bugeaud, Automatic continued fractions are transcendental or quadratic. Ann. Sci. Ecole
Norm. Sup. 46 (2013), 10051022.
[30] Y. Bugeaud, Transcendence of stammering continued fractions. In Number Theory and Related Fields: In Memory of Alf van der Poorten, J. M. Borwein et al. (eds.), Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics 43, 2013.
74
Yann Bugeaud
[31] Y. Bugeaud and J.-H. Evertse, On two notions of complexity of algebraic numbers. Acta Arith.
133 (2008), 221250.
[32] J. Cassaigne, Sequences with grouped factors. In DLT97, Developments in Language Theory
III, Thessaloniki, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 1998, pp. 211222.
[33] J. W. S. Cassels, An Introduction to Diophantine Approximation. Cambridge Tracts in Math.
and Math. Phys., vol. 99, Cambridge University Press, 1957.
[34] D. G. Champernowne, The construction of decimals normal in the scale of ten. J. London
Math. Soc. 8 (1933), 254260.
[35] A. H. Copeland and P. Erdos, Note on normal numbers. Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 52 (1946),
857860.
[36] K. Dajani and C. Kraaikamp, Ergodic Theory of Numbers. Carus Mathematical Monographs,
29. Mathematical Association of America, Washington, DC, 2002. x+190 pp.
[37] H. Davenport and P. Erdos, Note on normal decimals. Canadian J. Math. 4 (1952), 5863.
[38] H. Davenport and K. F. Roth, Rational approximations to algebraic numbers. Mathematika 2
(1955), 160167.
[39] L. Euler, De fractionibus continuis. Commentarii Acad. Sci. Imperiali Petropolitanae 9 (1737).
[40] J.-H. Evertse, The number of algebraic numbers of given degree approximating a given algebraic number. In Analytic Number Theory (Kyoto, 1996), 5383, London Math. Soc. Lecture
Note Ser. 247, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1997.
[41] J.-H. Evertse and R. G. Ferretti, A further improvement of the Quantitative Subspace Theorem. Ann. of Math. 177 (2013), 513590.
[42] J.-H. Evertse and H. P. Schlickewei, A quantitative version of the Absolute Subspace Theorem. J. reine angew. Math. 548 (2002), 21127.
[43] S. Ferenczi and Ch. Mauduit, Transcendence of numbers with a low complexity expansion. J.
Number Theory 67 (1997), 146161.
[44] G. H. Hardy and E. M. Wright, An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers, 5th. edition, Clarendon Press, 1979.
[45] H. Kaneko, On the binary digits of algebraic numbers. J. Austral. Math. Soc. 89 (2010), 233
244.
[46] H. Kaneko, On the number of digit changes in base-b expansions of algebraic numbers. Uniform Distribution Theory 7 (2012), 141168.
[47] A. Ya. Khintchine, Continued Fractions. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago Ill., London, 1964.
[48] M. J. Knight, An Ocean of Zeroes proof that a certain non-Liouville number is transcendental. Am. Math. Monthly 98 (1991), 947949.
[49] A. N. Korobov, Continued fractions of some normal numbers. Mat. Zametki 47 (1990), 2833,
158 (in Russian). English transl. in Math. Notes 47 (1990), 128132.
[50] J. L. Lagrange, Additions au memoire sur la resolution des e quations numeriques, Mem. Berl.
24 (1770).
[51] J. Liouville, Remarques relatives a` des classes très-etendues de quantites dont la valeur nest
ni algebrique, ni meme reductible a` des irrationnelles algebriques, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 18
(1844), 883885.
75
[52] J. Liouville, Nouvelle demonstration dun theorème sur les irrationnelles algebriques, C. R.
Acad. Sci. Paris 18 (1844), 910911.
[53] K. Mahler, Some suggestions for further research. Bull. Austral. Math. Soc. 29 (1984), 101
108.
[54] G. Martin, Absolutely abnormal numbers. Am. Math. Monthly 108 (2001), 746754.
[55] M. Morse and G. A. Hedlund, Symbolic dynamics. Am. J. Math. 60 (1938), 815866.
[56] M. Morse and G. A. Hedlund, Symbolic dynamics II. Am. J. Math. 62 (1940), 142.
[57] O. Perron, Die Lehre von den Ketterbruchen, Teubner, Leipzig, 1929.
[58] A. J. van der Poorten, An introduction to continued fractions. In Diophantine Analysis (Kensington, 1985), 99138, London Math. Soc. Lecture Note Ser. 109, Cambridge Univ. Press,
Cambridge, 1986.
[59] D. Ridout, Rational approximations to algebraic numbers. Mathematika 4 (1957), 125131.
[60] T. Rivoal, On the bits counting function of real numbers. J. Austral. Math. Soc. 85 (2008),
95111.
[61] K. F. Roth, Rational approximations to algebraic numbers. Mathematika 2 (1955), 120; corrigendum, 168.
[62] W. M. Schmidt, Simultaneous approximations to algebraic numbers by rationals. Acta Math.
125 (1970), 189201.
[63] W. M. Schmidt, Norm form equations. Ann. of Math. 96 (1972), 526551.
[64] W. M. Schmidt, Diophantine Approximation, Lecture Notes in Math. 785, Springer, Berlin,
1980.
[65] W. M. Schmidt, The subspace theorem in Diophantine approximation. Compositio Math. 69
(1989), 121173.
[66] R. G. Stoneham, On the uniform "-distribution of residues within the periods of rational fractions with applications to normal numbers. Acta Arith. 22 (1973), 371389.
[67] A. Thue, Uber

Annaherungswerte algebraischer Zahlen. J. reine angew. Math. 135 (1909),
284305.
[68] G. Troi and U. Zannier, Note on the density constant in the distribution of self-numbers. II.
Boll. Unione Mat. Ital. Sez. B Artic. Ric. Mat. (8) 2 (1999), 397399.
[69] U. Zannier, Some Applications of Diophantine Approximation to Diophantine Equations, Editrice Forum, Udine, 2003.
Chapter 3
Multiplicative Toeplitz matrices

and the Riemann zeta function
Titus Hilberdink
Contents
1
2
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Toeplitz matrices and operators a brief overview . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1
C.T/, W .T/, and winding number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2
Invertibility and Fredholmness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3
Hankel matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4
WienerHopf factorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
Bounded multiplicative Toeplitz matrices and operators . . . . . . . . .
3.1
Criterion for boundedness on l 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2
Viewing 'f as an operator on function spaces; Besicovitch space
3.3
Interlude on .s/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.4
Factorization and invertibility of multiplicative Toeplitz operators
4
Unbounded multiplicative Toeplitz operators and matrices . . . . . . . .
4.1
First measure the function .N / . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2
Connections between .N / and the order of j. C it/j . . . .
4.3
Second measure ' on M2 and the function M .T / . . . . .
5
Connections to matrices of the form .f .ij =.i; j /2 //i;j N . . . . . . .
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
77
80
82
82
83
84
85
85
89
91
95
99
99
105
110
118
120
1 Introduction
In this short course, we aim to highlight connections between a certain class of matrices and Dirichlet series, in particular the Riemann zeta function. The matrices we
study are of the form
0
1
f .1/ f . 12 / f . 13 / f . 14 /
B f .2/ f .1/ f . 2 / f . 1 / C
B
C
3
2
B
C
B f .3/ f . 32 / f .1/ f . 34 / C ;
()
B
C
B f .4/ f .2/ f . 4 / f .1/ C
@
A
3
::
::
::
::
::
:
:
:
:
:
78
Titus Hilberdink
i.e., with entries aij D f .i=j / for some function f W QC ! C. They are a multiplicative version of Toeplitz matrices which have entries of the form aij D ai j . For this
reason we call them Multiplicative Toeplitz Matrices.
Toeplitz matrices (and operators) have been studied in great detail by many authors. They are most naturally studied by associating with them a function (or symbol) whose Fourier coefficients make up the matrix. With aij D ai j , this symbol
is
1
X
an t n :
t 2T
a.t/ D
nD1
Then properties of the matrix (or rather the operator induced by the matrix) imply
properties of the symbol and vice versa. For example, the boundedness of the operator is essentially related to the boundedness of the symbol, while invertibility of the
operator is closely related to a.t/ not vanishing on the unit circle.
For matrices of the form () we associate, by analogy, the (formal) series
X
f .q/q i t ;
q2QC
where q ranges over the positive rationals. Note, in particular, that if f is supported
on the natural numbers, this becomes the Dirichlet series
X
f .n/ni t :
n2N
In the special case where f .n/ D n , the symbol becomes . i t/. It is quite
natural then to ask to what extent properties of these Multiplicative Toeplitz Matrices
are related to properties of the associated symbol. Rather surprisingly perhaps, these
type of matrices do not appear to have been studied much at all at least not in this
respect. Finite truncations of them have appeared on occasions, notably Redheffers
matrix [29], the determinant of which is related to the Riemann Hypothesis. Denoting
by An .f / the n
n matrix with entries f .i=j / if j ji and zero otherwise, it is easy to
see that
An .f /An .g/ D An .f g/;
where f g is Dirichlet convolution;
th
since the ij entry on the left product is

n
X
rD1
An .f /i r An .g/rj D
X
j jrji
i
r
X i=j
f
g
D
g.d /
r
j
d
d ji=j
if j ji by putting r D jd , and zero otherwise. With 1 and denoting the constant

1 and the Mobius functions, respectively, it follows that An .1/An./ D In the
identity matrix. Note also that det An .1/ D det An ./ D 1. Redheffers matrix is
1
0
0
1
1 1
0
0 0 C
B 0
D An .1/ C En ;
Rn D An .1/ C @
A
0
0
0 0
3 Multiplicative Toeplitz Matrices and the Riemann zeta function
79
say, where the matrix En has

Ponly 1s on the topmost row from the 2nd column onwards. Then, with M.n/ D nrD1 .r/,
1 0 M.n/ 1
0
M.n/ 1
0
1 0 C
0
0 0 C B
B
C;
DB
Rn An ./ D In C @
A
::
@

: A

0
0 0
0
0 1
so that det Rn D M.n/. The well-known connection between the Riemann Hypothe1
sis (RH) and M.n/ therefore implies that RH holds if and only if det Rn D O.n 2 C" /
for every " > 0. (See also [20] for estimates of the largest eigenvalue of Rn ).
Briefly then, the course is designed as follows: In Section 2, we recall some
basic aspects of the theory of Toeplitz operators, in particular their boundedness and
invertibility. In Section 3, we study bounded multiplicative Toeplitz operators. This
is partly based on some of Toeplitzs own work [34], [35] and recent results from [17]
and [18], but we also present new results, mainly in Section 3. Thus Theorem 3.1 is
new, generalising Theorem 2.1 of [18], which in turn is now contained in Corollary
3.2. Also Subsection 3.2 and parts of 3.4 are new.
Preliminaries and Notation

(a) P
The sequence spaces l p .1 p < 1) consist of sequences .an / for which
1
p
nD1 jan j converges. They are Banach spaces with the norm
1=p
X
1
jan jp
:
k.an /kp D
nD1
1
The space l is the space of all bounded sequences, equipped with the norm
the space of sek.an /k1 D supn2N jan j. We shall also use l p .QC/, which is P
quences aq where q ranges over the positive rationals such that q jaq jp < 1,
with analogous norms and also for p D 1.
l 2 and l 2 .QC / are Hilbert spaces with the inner products
ha; bi D
1
X
nD1
a n bn
and ha; bi D
a q bq ;
q2QC
respectively.
(b) Let T D fz 2 C W jzj D 1g the unit circle. We denote by L2 .T/ the space of
square-integrable functions on T. L2 .T/ is a Hilbert space with the inner product
and corresponding norm given by
sZ
Z
Z 2
1
hf; gi D f g D
f .ei /g.ei / d;
kf k D
jf j2 :
2 0
T
T
80
Titus Hilberdink
The space L1 .T/ consists of the essentially bounded functions on T with norm
kf k1 denoting the essential supremum of f . (Strictly speaking, L2 and L1
consist of equivalence classes of functions satisfying the appropriate conditions,
with two functions belonging to the same class if they differ on a set of measure
zero.)
Let n .t/ D t n for n 2 Z. Then .n /n2Z is an orthonormal basis in L2 .T/
and L2 .T/ is isometrically isomorphic to l 2 .Z/ via the mapping f 7! .fn /n2Z ,
where fn are the Fourier coefficients of f , i.e.,
Z
fn D hf; n i D f n :
T
(c) A linear operator ' on a Banach space X is bounded if k'xk C kxk for all
x 2 X . In this case the operator norm of ' is defined to be
k'k D
k'xk
D sup k'xk:
x2X;x0 kxk
kxkD1
sup
The algebra of bounded linear operators on X is denoted by B.X /.

(d) An infinite matrix A D .aij / induces a bounded operator on a Hilbert space H if
there exists ' 2 B.H / such that
aij D h'ej ; ei i;
where .ei / is an orthonormal basis of H . Note that not every infinite matrix
induces a bounded operator, and it may be difficult to tell when it does.
(e) For the later sections we require the usual O; o; ; notation. Given f; g defined on neighbourhoods of 1 with g eventually positive, we write f .x/ D
o.g.x// (or simply f D o.g/) to mean limx!1 f .x/=g.x/ D 0, f .x/ D
O.g.x// to mean jf .x/j Ag.x/ for some constant A and all x sufficiently
large, and f .x/ g.x/ to mean limx!1 f .x/=g.x/ D 1.
The notation f g means the same as f D O.g/, while f . g means
f .x/ .1 C o.1//g.x/.
2 Toeplitz matrices and operators a brief overview

Toeplitz matrices are matrices of the form
0
a0 a1 a2 a3
B a1 a0 a1 a2
B a
a1
a0 a1
2
T DB
B a
a
a1
a0
2
@ 3
::
::
::
::
:
:
:
:

::
:
1
C
C
C;
C
A
(3.1)
81
i.e., T D .tij /, where tij D ai j . They are characterised by being constant on

diagonals.
For a Toeplitz matrix, the question of boundedness of T was solved by Toeplitz.
Theorem 2.1 (Toeplitz [34]). The matrix T induces a bounded operator on l 2 if and
only if there exists a 2 L1 .T/ whose Fourier coefficients are an .n 2 Z/. If this is
the case, then kT k D kak1 .
We refer to the function a as the symbol of the matrix T , and we write T .a/.
Sketch of Proof. For a 2 L2 .T/, the multiplication operator
M.a/W L2 .T/ ! L2 .T/; f 7! af
is bounded if and only if a 2 L1 .T/. If bounded, then kM.a/k D kak1 . The matrix
representation of M.a/ with respect to .n /n2Z is given by
Z
Z
hM.a/j ; i i D haj ; i i D aj i D ai j D ai j ;
T
i.e., by the so-called Laurent matrix

0
B
B
B
L.a/ WD B
B
@

a0
a1
a2
a3

a1 a2
a0 a1
a1
a0
a2
a1

a3
a2
a1
a0

a4
a3
a2
a1

1
C
C
C
C:
C
A
(3.2)
The matrix for T is just the lower right quarter of L.a/. We can therefore think of T
as the compression PL.a/P , where P is the projection of l 2 .Z/ onto l 2 D l 2 .N/.
An easy argument shows that T is bounded if and only if a 2 L1 , and then kT k D
kL.a/k D kak1 .

Hardy space. Let H 2 .T/ denote the subspace of L2 .T/ of functions f whose
Fourier coefficients fP
n vanish for n <
P0. Let P be the orthogonal projection of
L2 onto H 2 , i.e., P . n2Z fn n / D n0 fn n . The operator f 7! P .af / has
matrix representation (3.1). For, with j 0 (so that j 2 H 2 .T/),

Z
Z X
Z
X
an nCj i D
anj
ni D ai j
hT .a/j ; i i D P .aj /i D P
T
n2Z
n0
if i 0, and zero otherwise. Hence, we can equivalently view T .a/ as the operator
T .a/W H 2.T/ ! H 2 .T/; f 7! P .af /:
82
Titus Hilberdink
2.1 C.T/, W.T/, and winding number Let C.T/ denote the space of continuous functions on T. For a 2 C.T/ such that a.t/ 0 for all t 2 T, we denote by wind.a; 0/ the winding number of a with respect to zero. More generally,
wind.a; / Dwind.a ; 0/ denotes thewinding number with respect 2 C. For
example, wind.n ; 0/ D n.
The Wiener Algebra is the set of absolutely convergent Fourier series:
(1
)
1
X
X
W .T/ D
an n W
jan j < 1 :
1
1
Some properties:
(i) W .T/ forms a Banach algebra under pointwise multiplication, with norm
1
X
jan j:
kakW WD
1
(ii) (Wieners Theorem) If a 2 W and a.t/ 0 for all t 2 T, then a1 2 W .

(iii) If a 2 W .T/ has no zeros and wind.a; 0/ D 0, then a D eb for some b 2 W .T/.
We have
W .T/ C.T/ L1 .T/ L2 .T/:
2.2 Invertibility and Fredholmness Let A be a bounded operator on a Banach

space X .
(i) A is invertible if there exists a bounded operator B on X such that AB D BA D
I . As such, B is the unique inverse of A, and we write B D A1 . The spectrum
of A is the set
.A/ D f 2 C W I A is not invertible in Xg:
The kernel and image of A are defined by
Ker A D fx 2 X W Ax D 0g;
Im A D fAx W x 2 X g:
(ii) The operator A is Fredholm if ImA is a closed subspace of X and both KerA
and X=ImA are finite-dimensional. As such, the index of A is defined to be
Ind A D dim Ker A dim .X=Im A/:
For example, T .n / is Fredholm with Ind T .n / D n.
Equivalently, A is Fredholm if it is invertible modulo compact operators; that
is, there exists bounded operator B on X such that AB I and BA I are both
compact.
The essential spectrum of A is the set
ess .A/ D f 2 C W I A is not Fredholm in Xg:
Clearly ess .A/ .A/. Note that A invertible implies A is Fredholm of index
zero. For Toeplitz operators, the converse actually holds (see [5], p. 12).
83
2.3 Hankel matrices These are matrices of the form

0
B
B
H DB
B
@
a1
a2
a3
a4
::
:
a2
a3
a4
a5
::
:
a3
a4
a5
a6
::
:
a4
a5
a6
a7
::
:

::
:
1
C
C
C;
C
A
(3.3)
i.e., H D .hij /, where hij D ai Cj 1 . They are characterised by being constant on

cross diagonals. The boundedness of H was solved by Nehari, and the compactness
of H by Hartman.
Theorem 2.2 ([28], [14]). The matrix H generates a bounded operator on l 2 if and
only if there exists b 2 L1 .T/ .with Fourier coefficients bn / such that bn D an for
n 1. Furthermore, the operator H is compact if and only if b 2 C.T/.
We refer to the function a as the symbol of the matrix H , and we write H.a/.
Given a function a defined on T, let aQ be the function
a.t/
Q
D a.1=t/ .t 2 T/:
Proposition 2.3. For a; b 2 L1 .T/,
Q
T .ab/ D T .a/T .b/ C H.a/H.b/
Q C T .a/H.b/:
H.ab/ D H.a/T .b/
Proof. The matrix L.a/ in (3.2) is of the form

Q
T .a/ H.a/
:
L.a/ D
H.a/ T .a/
Since L.ab/ D L.a/L.b/, the result follows by multiplying the 2
2 matrices.
As a special case, we see that T .abc/ D T .a/T .b/T .c/ for a 2 H 1 ; b 2

L ; c 2 H 1 . The space H 1 is defined analogously to L1 . (T .a/ is uppertriangular and T .c/ is lower-triangular.)
Q is compact, so that T .ab/
By Theorem 2.2, if a; b 2 C.T/, then H.a/H.b/
T .a/T .b/ is compact. In particular, if a has no zeros on T, we can take b D a1 2
C.T/. Then T .ab/ D T .1/ D I , so T .a/ is invertible modulo compact operators
(i.e., Fredholm) with inverse T .a1/. This type of reasoning leads to:
1
Theorem 2.4 (Gohberg [9]). Let a 2 C.T/. Then T .a/ is Fredholm if and only if a
has no zeros on T, in which case
Ind T .a/ D wind.a; 0/:
84
Titus Hilberdink
Hence T .a/ is invertible if and only if a has no zeros on T and wind.a; 0/ D 0.

Equivalently, since T . a/ D I T .a/ for 2 C, we have
ess .T .a// D a.T/;
.T .a// D a.T/ [ f 2 C n a.T/ W wind.a; / 0g:
Sketch of Proof. We have seen that a 0 on T implies T .a/ is Fredholm. In this
case, let wind.a; 0/ D k. Then a is homotopic to k , and (since the index varies
continuously)
Ind T .a/ D Ind T .k / D k D wind .a; 0/:
For the converse, suppose T .a/ is Fredholm with index k, but a has zeros on T.
Then a can be slightly perturbed to produce two functions b; c 2 W .T/ without zeros
such that ka bk1 and ka ck1 are as small as we please, but wind.b; 0/ and
wind.c; 0/ differ by one. As the index is stable under small perturbations, T .b/ and
T .c/ are Fredholm with equal index. But Ind T .b/ D wind.b; 0/ and Ind T .c/ D
wind.c; 0/ (by above), so wind.b; 0/ wind.c; 0/ D 0 a contradiction.
2.4 WienerHopf factorization Since W .T/ C.T/, Theorem 2.4 applies

to W .T/. However, for Wiener symbols we can obtain a quite explicit form for the
inverse when it exists. This is because Wiener functions can be factorized.
Denote by WC and W the subspaces of W consisting of functions
1
X
an t n
nD0
respectively, where
and
1
X
an t n
t 2T
nD0
jan j < 1.
Theorem 2.5 (WienerHopf factorization). Let a 2 W .T/ such that a has no zeros,
and let wind.a; 0/ D k. Then there exist a 2 W and aC 2 WC such that
a D k a a C :
Proof. We have wind.ak ; 0/ D 0. So ak D eb for some b 2 W . But b D
b C bC , where b 2 W and bC 2 WC . Hence, writing a D eb and aC D ebC
gives

ak D eb ebC D a aC :
Theorem 2.6 (Krein [23]). Let a 2 W .T/. Then T .a/ is Fredholm if and only if a
has no zeros on T, in which case
Ind T .a/ D wind.a; 0/:
In particular, T .a/ is invertible if and only if a has no zeros on T and wind.a; 0/ D 0.
In this case
1
1
T .a/1 D T .aC
/T .a
/;
where a D aC a is the WienerHopf factorization of a.
85
Proof of second part. Note that if a 2 W , then H.a/ D 0, while if a 2 WC , then

H.a/
Q D 0. Suppose a has no zeros on T and wind.a; 0/ D 0. Then a factorizes as
a D a aC with a 2 W . Applying Proposition 2.3 with a and aC in turn gives
1
1
1
1
/T .a / D T .a
a / D I D T .aa
/ D T .a /T .a
/;
T .a
1
1
1
1
/T .aC/ D T .aC
aC / D I D T .aC aC
/ D T .aC/T .aC
/;
T .aC
1
so that T .a/ are invertible with T .a /1 D T .a
/. But also T .a/ D T .aaC / D
T .a/T .aC/ (by Proposition 2.3). Hence T .a/1 D T .aC/1 T .a /1 D
1
1
T .aC
/T .a
/.
3 Bounded multiplicative Toeplitz matrices and operators

3.1 Criterion for boundedness on l 2 Now we consider the linear operators
induced by matrices of the form ./, regarding them as operators on sequence spaces,
in particular l 2 .
For a function f W QC ! C on the positive rationals, we define
m
X
X
; whenever this limit exists:
f .q/ D lim
f
N !1
n
C
m; n N
q2Q
.m; n/ D 1
We shall sometimes abbreviate the left-hand sum by

l 1 .QC / if
X
jf .q/j
P
q
f .q/. We say that f 2
q2QC
converges. In this case, the function

X
F .t/ D
f .q/q i t
t 2R
q2QC
exists and is uniformly continuous on R. Note that for > 0,

1
lim
T !1 2T
T
i t
F .t/
dt D
T
f .q/;
0;
if D q 2 QC ;
otherwise.
(3.4)
Theorem 3.1. Let f 2 l 1 .QC / and let 'f denote the mapping .an / 7! .bn / where
bn D
1
X
mD1
am :
86
Titus Hilberdink
Then 'f is bounded on l 2 with operator norm

X
it
f .q/q D kF k1 :
k'f k D sup
t 2R
q2QC
Proof. We shall first prove that 'f is bounded on l 2 , showing k'f k kF k1 in the
process, and then show that kF k1 is also a lower bound.
For q 2 QC and N 2 N, let
bq.N /
D
f
am
m
mD1
N
X
and
bq D
1
X
mD1
am :
.N /
Note that bq ! bq as N ! 1 for every q 2 QC , whenever an is bounded. We

have the following formulae:
N
2
Z T
N
X
X
1
i
t
F .t/
an n dt D
an bn.N /
(3.5)
lim
T !1 2T T
nD1
nD1
2
Z T
N
X
X
1
it
lim
a
n
dt
D
jbq.N / j2 :
(3.6)
F
.t/
n
T !1 2T T
C
nD1
q2Q
(These hold for an bounded.) To prove these expand the integrand in a Dirichlet
series. For the first formula we have
N
2
Z T
Z T
n
i t
X
X
1
1
it
F .t/
an n dt D
am an
F .t/
dt
2T T
2T T
m
nD1
m;nN
!
am an f
m;nN
N
X
an bn.N /
nD1
as T ! 1. For the second formula, note first that

F .t/
N
X
a n ni t D
f .q/an .q n/i t
q2QC ;nN
nD1
X X
r2QC
nN
r

X
an r i t D
br.N / r i t ;
n
C
r2Q
the series converging absolutely. Thus

2
Z T
Z T
i t
N
X
X
X
q1
1
it
.N / .N / 1
F .t/
a
n
dt
D
b
b
dt
!
jbq.N / j2
n
q
q
2
1
2T T
2T
q
2
T
C
C
nD1
q1 ;q2 2Q
as T ! 1.
q2Q
87
Since jF .t/j kF k1 , we have

X
jbq.N / j2
kF k21
q2QC
1
lim
T !1 2T
X
2
N
X
N
it
2
an n dt D kF k1
jan j2 :
T nD1
nD1
P1
Thus if a D .an / 2 l 2 , we have nD1 jbn.N / j2 kF k21 kak2 for every N . Letting
N ! 1 shows that .bn / 2 l 2 too (indeed .bq / 2 l 2 .QC /), and so 'f is bounded on
l 2 , with
k'f k kF k1 :
Now we need a lower bound. By CauchySchwarz,
2 X
X
1
1
X
1
2
a n bn
jan j
jbn j2 :
nD1
P1
nD1
nD1
Thus k'f k j nD1 an bn j for every a D .an / 2 l 2 with kak D 1. Choose an as

follows: let N 2 N (to be determined later) and put
ni t
an D p
d.N /
for njN , and zero otherwise.
Here d.N / is the number of divisors of N . Thus .an / 2 l 2 and kak D 1. With this
choice,
X n
1
bn D p
f
mi t .D bn.N / /
m
d.N /
mjN
and so
1
X
nD1
a n bn D
X n
n
i t
1 X i t X n
i t
1
m D
n
f
f
d.N /
m
d.N /
m m
njN
mjN
m;njN
X
1
D
f .q/q i t Sq .N /;
d.N /
C
q2Q
where
Sq .N / D
1:
m; njN
n
m Dq
n
Put q D kl , where .k; l/ D 1. Then m
D kl if and only if ln D km. Since .k; l/ D 1,
this forces kjn and ljm. So, for a contribution to the sum, we need k; ljN , i.e., kljN .
Suppose therefore that kljN . Then
X
X
Sq .N / D
1D
1
m D rl; n D rk with r 2 N
m; njN
l n D km
X
N
rj kl
1Dd
rk;rljN
kl
88
Titus Hilberdink
Writing jqj D kl whenever q D

1
X
k
l
in its lowest terms, gives

X
a n bn D
f .q/q i t
q 2 QC
jqjjN
nD1
d.N=jqj/
:
d.N /
(3.7)
The idea is now to choose N in such a way that it has all small divisors while
d.N=jqj/
is close to 1 for all such small divisors jqj. Take N of the form
d.N /
h
i
Y
P
pp ; where p D log
N D
.
log p
pP
Thus every natural

Q number up to P is a divisor of N . Every q such that jqjjN is of
the form jqj D pP pp (0 p p ), so that
Y
d.N=jqj/
p
D
:
1
d.N /
p C 1
pP
p
If we take jqj log P , then pp log P for every prime divisor p of jqj.
p
log P
Hence, for such p, p log
and p D 0 if p > log P . Thus
2 log p
p
Y
d.N=jqj/
D
d.N /
p

1
p log P
D 1
Y
p

p C 1
p

1
p log P
p
log log P
. log P /
2 log P
log log P
2 log P
where .x/ is the number of primes up to x. Since .x/ D O. logx x /, it follows that
for all P sufficiently large, the RHS above is at least
1 p
A
log P
for some constant A.

P
2
Let " > 0. Then there exists n0 such that jqj>n0 jf .q/j < ". Choose P en0
p
so that log P n0 . Then the modulus of the sum in (3.7) can be made as close to
kF k1 as we please by increasing P , for it is at least
X
X
X
A
it
f .q/q p
jf .q/j
jf .q/j
p
p
p
log P
jqj log P
jqj log P
jqj> log P
X
X
X
A
it
f .q/q p
jf .q/j 2
jf .q/j

p
log P q2QC
q2QC
jqj> log P
> jF .t/j p
log P
2";
89
where " can be made as small as we please by making P large. Since this holds for
any t, we can choose t to make F .t/ as close as we like to kF k1 . Hence k'f k
kF k1 and so we must have equality.

In the special case where f 0, the supremum of jF .t/j is attained when t D 0,
in which case kF k1 D F .0/ D kf k1;QC . Thus:
Corollary 3.2. Let f W QC ! C such that f 0. Then 'f is bounded on l 2 if and
only if f 2 l 1 .QC /, in which case k'f k D kf k1;QC .
Example. Take f .n/ D n for n 2 N, and zero otherwise. Then F .t/ D . i t/.
We shall denote 'f by ' in this case. Applying Corollary 3.2, we see that ' is
bounded on l 2 if and only if > 1, and the norm is ./.
3.2 Viewing 'f as an operator on function spaces; Besicovitch space
We can view 'f as an operator on functions rather than sequences. For this we need
to construct the appropriate spaces.
Let A denote the set of trigonometric polynomials; i.e., the elements of A are all
finite sums of the form
n
X
a k e i
k t ;
kD1
where ak 2 C and k 2 R. The space A has an inner product and a norm given by
s
Z T
Z T
p
1
1
hf; gi D lim
fg
and
kf k D hf; f i D
lim
jf j2 :
T !1 2T T
T !1 2T T
Now let B 2 (Besicovitch space) denote the closure of A with respect to this inner
product; i.e., f 2 B 2 if kf fn k ! 0 as n ! 1 for some fn 2 A. We turn B 2 into
a Hilbert space by identifying f and g whenever kf gk D 0. (See [3], Chapter II.)
Now write
.t/ D i t ( > 0; t 2 R) and let fO./ denote the Fourier coefficient
1
T !1 2T
fO./ D lim
T
1
f
D lim
T !1 2T
f .t/i t dt
where it exists:
T
Denote by F the space of locally integrable f W R ! C such that fO./ exists for all
> 0.
(a) Fourier coefficients and series For f 2 B 2 , the Fourier coefficients fO./ exist and fO./ is non-zero on at most a countable set, say fn gn2N . The function
P
fO.n /i t .
f has the .formal/ Fourier series
n1
(b) Uniqueness f; g 2 B have the same Fourier series if and only if kf gk D 0.
90
Titus Hilberdink
(c) Parseval For f 2 B 2 ,
kf k D lim
T !1
1
2T
and, more generally, for f; g 2 B 2 ,

1
T !1 2T
jf
j2
sX
T
(3.8)
hf; gi D lim
jfO./j2 ;
fgD
T
O
fO./g./:
(d) RieszFischer Theorem

Given n > 0 and an 2 l 2 , there exists f 2 B 2
P
such that f .t/ n1 an int .
(e) Criterion for membership in B 2 : With F as before, if f 2 F and Parsevals
identity (3.8) holds, then f 2 B 2 .
Indeed, the set of for which fO./ 0 is necessarily countable and we
P
2
2
O
may write this as f1 ; 2 ; : : :g with 1
kD1 jf .k /j D kf k . Let fn .t/ D
P
it
O
kn f .k /k . Then
X
jfO./j2 ! 0 as n ! 1.
kf fn k2 D kf k2 kfn k2 D
k>n
The analogues of the Hardy and Wiener spaces: BQ2 C , BN2 , WQC , WN .
(a) Let BQ2 C denote the subspace of B 2 of functions with exponents D log q
for some q 2 QC . Alternatively, start with
P the subset of A consisting of finite
trigonometric polynomials of the form
aq q , where q ranges over a finite
subset of QC , and take its closure.
(b) Let BN2 denote the subspace of B 2 of functions with exponents D log n for
some n 2 N. This is the analogue of the Hardy space.
(c) Let WQC denote the set of all absolutely convergent Fourier series in BQ2 C ; i.e.
nX
o
X
c.q/q W
jc.q/j < 1 :
WQC D
q2QC
q2QC
This is the analogue of the Wiener algebra. As we saw earlier, if

X
f D
c.q/q 2 WQC ;
q2QC
then fO.q/ D c.q/. With pointwise addition and multiplication, WQC becomes
an algebra. Further, WQC becomes a Banach algebra with respect to the norm
X
kf kW D
jfO.q/j:
q2QC
Analogously, let WN denote the set of absolutely convergent series
P1
nD1 an n
it
91
BQ2 C has .q /q2QC as an orthonormal basis while BN2 has .n /n2N as an orthonormal basis. The spaces BQ2 C and BN2 are isometrically isomorphic to l 2 .QC / and l 2 ,
respectively, via the mappings
f 7! ffO.q/gq2QC and f 7! ffO.n/gn1 :

The operator M.f /. Let P be the projection from BQ2 C to BN2 ; that is,
P
X
c.q/q i t D
c.n/ni t :
q2QC
n2N
For f 2 WQC , we define the operator M.f /W BN2 ! BN2 by g 7! P .fg/.

The matrix representation of M.f / w.r.t. fn gn2N is the multiplicative Toeplitz
P
matrix .fO.i=j //i;j 1. Indeed, if f D q fO.q/q , then
P .f j / D P
fO.q/q j D P
fO.q/qj
DP
fO.q=j /q D
1
X
fO.n=j /n:
nD1
Hence
hM.f /j ; i i D hP .f j /; i i D
In terms of the operator ',
:
fO.n=j /hn; i i D fO
j
nD1
1
X
M.f / D 1 'fO :
3.3 Interlude on .s/ Since this work concerns connections to Dirichlet series
and the Riemann zeta function in particular, we recall a few relevant facts regarding
.s/.
The Riemann zeta function is defined for <s > 1 by the Dirichlet series
.s/ D
1
X
1
:
s
n
nD1
In this half-plane .s/ is holomorphic and there is an analytic continuation to the

whole of C except for a simple pole at s D 1 with residue 1. Furthermore, .s/
satisfies the functional equation
.s/ D .s/.1 s/
92
where
Titus Hilberdink
1
s
s/
1 .
.s/ D 2s s1 .1 s/ sin
D s 2 2 s 2 :
2
. 2 /
The connection to prime numbers comes from Eulers remarkable product formula
.s/ D
Y
p
1
1 ps
<s > 1
The order of .s/. Considering . C i t/ as a function of the real variable t for
fixed (but arbitrary) , it is known that for jtj large
def
.t/ D . C i t/ D O.jtjA /
for some A:
The infimum of such A is the order of and is called the Lindelof function; i.e.,
. / D inffA W . C i t/ D O.jtjA /g:
From the general theory of functions it is known that the Lindelof function is convex
and decreasing. Since is bounded for > 1, but 6! 0, it follows that . / D 0
for 1. By the functional equation and continuity of we then have

0;
if 1;
. / D 1
()

;
if 0.
2
For 0 < < 1, the value of . / is not known, but it is conjectured that the two
line segments in () above extend to D 12 . This is the Lindelof Hypothesis. It is
equivalent to the statement that
. 12 C i t/ D O.t " /
for every " > 0:
The Lindelof Hypothesis is a major open problem and is a consequence of the Riemann Hypothesis, which states that .s/ 0 for > 12 .
Upper and lower bounds for . Let
Z .T / D max j. C i t/j:
1jt jT
(The restriction jtj 1 is only added to avoid problems for the case D 1.) The
following results hold for large T .
(a) Z .T / ! . / for > 1.
2
(b) For D 1, unconditionally it is known that Z1 .T / D O..log T / 3 /, while on

RH
Z1 .T / . 2e log log T:
93
On the other hand, Granville and Soundararajan [13] proved that

Z1 .T / e .log log T C log log log T log log log log T /;
for some arbitrarily large T . They further conjectured that it equals the above
with an O.1/ term instead of the quadruple log-term.
(c) For 12 < < 1, unconditionally one has Z .T / D O.T a / for various a > 0,
while on RH
.log T /22
log Z .T / A
.1 / log log T
for some constant A. Montgomery [27] showed that
p
1=2 .log T /1
log Z .T /
20
.log log T /
and, using a heuristic argument, he conjectured that this is (apart from the constant) the correct order of log Z .T /. In a recent paper (see [24]), Lamzouri
suggests that
.log T /1
log Z .T / C. /
.log log T /
with C. / D G1 . / 2 .1 /1, where
!
Z 1
1
X
.u=2/2n
du
G1 .x/ D
log
:
2
1C1=x
.n/
u
0
nD0
32
(d) For D 12 unconditionally one has Z 1 .T / D O.T 205 .log T /c / D O.T 0:156::/
2
(see [19]), while on RH
log Z 1 .T / A
2
log T
log log T
for some constant A. On the other hand, it is known that

s
log T
log Z 1 .T / c
2
log log T
(see [2], [31]). Using a heuristic argument, Farmer et al. ([8]) conjectured that
r
1
log Z 1 .T /
log T log log T :
2
2
(e) For < 12 , the functional equation for .s/ reduces the problem to the case
> 12 . So, for example,
Z .T / .1 /
T
12
2
for < 0.
94
Titus Hilberdink
Mean values. For 2 . 12 ; 1/, the mean-value formula

Z T
1
X
1
1
2
j. i t/j dt D
D .2 /;
lim
T !1 2T T
n2
nD1
is well-known (see [33]). Furthermore,
Z T
1
X
.2 /4
1
d.n/2
4
j. i t/j dt D
D
:
lim
T !1 2T T
n2
.4 /
nD1
For higher powers, however, present knowledge is very patchy. It is expected that the
above formulas extend to all higher moments, i.e.,
Z T
1
X
1
dk .n/2
2k
j. i t/j dt D
:
lim
T !1 2T T
n2
nD1
This is equivalent to the Lindelof Hypothesis.
Examples.
(a) The mean values for and 2 imply that ; 2 2 BN2 for 2 . 12 ; 1/. Note that
this also implies j j2 2 BQ2 C .
For higher powers, however, only partial results are known. For example, it is
known that k 2 BN2 if 2 .1 k1 ; 1/. Slightly better bounds are available,
especially for particular values of k, but it is expected that much more holds,
namely: k 2 BN2 for every k 2 N and all 2 . 12 ; 1/. This is (equivalent to) the
Lindelof Hypothesis.
P1 bn
P
an
(b) Let g.s/ D 1
nD1 ns and h.s/ D
nD1 ns be two Dirichlet series which converge absolutely for <s > 0 and <s > 1 , respectively. Let > 0 and > 1
and put f .t/ D g. i t/h. C i t/. Then f 2 WQC with
fO.q/ D
1
1 X amd bnd
m n
d C
for q D
m
n
with .m; n/ D 1.
d D1
We can prove this by multiplying out the series for g. i t/ and h. C i t/. We
have
1
1
X
X am bn m
i t
a m X bn
f .t/ D
D
mi t nD1 n Ci t
m n n
mD1
m;n1
D
1
X
d D1
m; n 1
.m; n/ D d
X
m; n 1
.m; n/ D 1
1
X
a m bn m
i t
1
D
C
m n n
d
d D1
1 X amd bnd
m
i t
:
n
m n
d C
1
d D1
X
m; n 1
.m; n/ D 1
amd bnd m
i t
m n n
95
Further Properties of WQC and WN . Notation. For a unital Banach algebra A,

denote by GA the group of invertible elements of A, and by G0 A, the connected
component of GA which contains the identity. If A is commutative, then
a 2 G0 A a D eb
for some b 2 A.
(a) Wieners Theorem for WQC and WN (see [15], Theorems 1 and 2):
Let f 2 WQC . Then 1=f 2 WQC if and only if infR jf j > 0; i.e., GWQC D
ff 2 WQC W infR jf j > 0g:
P
P
an
it
2 WN and put F .s/ D 1
Let f .t/ D 1
nD1 an n
nD1 ns for <s 0. Then
1=f 2 WN if and only if there exists > 0 such that jF .s/j for all <s 0.
The example f .t/ D 2i t shows that the condition jf .t/j > 0 for all t 2 R is
not sufficient for 1=f 2 WN .
(b) Let f 2 GWQC . Then the average winding number1 w.f /, defined by
arg f .T / arg f .T /
T !1
2T
w.f / D lim
exists, and w.f / D log q for some q 2 QC (see [21], Theorem 27).
It is easy to see that (i) w.fg/ D w.f / C w.g/, and (ii) w.q / D log q.
(c) G0 WN D GWN ; i.e. for f 2 WN , we have 1=f 2 WN if and only if f D eg for
some g 2 WN
3.4 Factorization and invertibility of multiplicative Toeplitz operators

The analogue of the factorization T .abc/ D T .a/T .b/T .c/ for a 2 H 1 ; b 2
L1 ; c 2 H 1 for Toeplitz matrices holds for Multiplicative
matrices.
PToeplitz i
t
a
n
.
Let WN denote the set of absolutely convergent series 1
n
nD1
Theorem 3.3. Let f 2 WN , g 2 WQC , and h 2 WN . Then
M.fgh/ D M.f /M.g/M.h/:
Proof. We show the matrix entries agree. By Proposition 3.1, fgh 2 WQC and

X
D
M.f /i k M.g/kl M.h/lj
M.f /M.g/M.h/
ij
k;l1
X
k; l 1
ijk and j jl
Also known as mean motion.
i
k
l
hO
fO
gO
k
l
j
1
mi
n
gO
hO
:
fO
m
nj
1
m;n1
X
96
Titus Hilberdink
On the other hand, since all QC -series converge absolutely we have

X
O 3 /.q1 q2 q3 /i t
O 2 /h.q
f .t/g.t/h.t/ D
fO.q1 /g.q
q1 ;q2 ;q3 2QC
X X
q2QC
fO.q1 /gO
q1 ;q3

q
O
h.q3 / q i t
q1 q3
f gh.q/q i t :
q2QC
Hence
b ji
D X fO.q /gO j qi q
h.q
O / D M.f /M.g/M.h/
M.fgh/ij D f gh
1 3
q1 ;q3
since 1=q1 and q3 must range over N.
ij
;
In view of Theorem 3.3, it is of interest to know when a given f 2 WQC factorises

as f D gh with g 2 WN and h 2 WN . For then M.f / D M.g/M.h/ and the
invertibility of M.f / follows from knowing when M.g/ and M.h/ are invertible.
Thus, if h is invertible in WN , then
M.h/M.h1 / D M.hh1 / D M.1/ D I D M.1/ D M.h1 h/ D M.h1 /M.h/;
so that M.h/1 D M.h1 /. Similarly, if g is invertible in WN , then M.g/1 D
M.g 1 /. It follows then that M.f /1 D M.h/1 M.g/1 .
Let F WQC denote the set of functions in WQC which factorise as
f D f q fC
(3.9)
where f 2 GWN , fC 2 GWN , and q 2 QC .

Note that with f as above, then 1=f D f1 .1=q/ fC1 , so 1=f 2 F WQC . In
particular, F WQC GWQC . Note that M.q / is invertible if and only if q D 1.
Theorem 3.4. Let f 2 F WQC . Then M.f / is invertible if and only if w.f / D 0. If
this is the case, then M.f /1 D M.fC1 /M.f1 /, with f as in (3.9).
Proof. Write f D f q fC as in (3.9). Then M.f / D M.f /M.q /M.fC /. Now
M.f / and M.fC / are invertible, with inverses M.f1 / and M.fC1 /, respectively.
Thus M.f / is invertible if and only if M.q / is invertible. But this happens if and
only if q D 1.
Since w.f / D w.f / C w.q / C w.fC / D w.q / D log q, we see that M.f /
is invertible if and only if w.f / D 0.
Now suppose w.f / D 0. Then the above gives

1
M.f /1 D M.f /M.fC /
D M.fC /1 M.f /1 D M.fC1 /M.f1 /:
97
Multiplicative coefficients and Euler products.

Definition.
(a) A function aW QC ! C is multiplicative if a.1/ D 1 and
a
a.p1a1 pk k / D a.p1a1 / a.pk k /;

for all distinct primes pi and all ai 2 Z. We say a is completely multiplicative if,
in addition to the above,
a.pk / D a.p/k
a.pk / D a.p1 /k ;
and
for all primes p and k 2 N.

(b) For a subset S of F , let MF denote the set of f 2 S for which fO. / is multiplicative.
P
(c) Let f 2 F and p prime. Suppose that
jfO.pk /j converges. Then define
k2Z
fp D
fO.pk /pk :
k2Z
Note that fp is periodic with period

fp] .ei / D fp .= log p/ D
2
.
log p
Define fp W T ! C by
fO.pk /eki
for 0 < 2.
k2Z
Further, denote by WQC ;p the set of those f 2 WQC whose QC -coefficients are
supported on fpk W k 2 Zg. (Thus fp 2 WQC ;p by definition.)
Note that, for fixed p, there is a one-to-one correspondence between WQC ;p and
W .T/ via the mapping ] .
In [16], the Euler product formulas
X
Y
f D
fp
fO.q/q D
and
M.f / D
q2QC
M.fp /;
were shown to hold whenever f 2 MWQC .

The analogue of the WienerHopf factorization holds for MWQC -functions without zeros.
Theorem 3.5. Let f 2 MWQC such that f has no zeros. Then f 2 F WQC .
Proof. We have f D
]
fp
Q
p
fp , where fp 2 WQC ;p and each is non-zero. Hence

]
2 W .T/ and has no zeros. Let kp D wind .fp ; 0/. Note that kp D 0 for all
98
Titus Hilberdink
sufficiently large p, since

X
X
jfp] .t/ 1j
jfO.pm /j
jfO.q/j ! 0
m0
as p ! 1.
jqjp
Let q D p pkp (a finite product).

By Section 2.1(iii), we have
]
fp] D pkp egp ;

]
for some gp 2 W .T/. Hence
fp D pkp egp ;
with gp 2 WQC ;p . Thus for P so large that kp D 0 for p > P , we have

X
Y
fp D q exp
gp :
pP
pP
Now fp .t/ ! 1 as p ! 1 uniformly in t, so can choose gp so that gp .t/ ! 0 as

p ! 1 (uniformly in t). Hence, for all sufficiently large p (and all t), jfp 1j D
jegp 1j 12 jgp j, so that
X
jfO.pm /j:
jgp j 2jfp 1j 2
m0
Let g .n/ D
P
pn
gp . Then fg .n/ g is a Cauchy sequence in WQC : for n > m

X
jg .n/ g .m/ j
m<pn
X X
jgp j 2
jfO.pm /j 2
m<pn m0
jfO.k/j ! 0
r>m
as m ! 1. Thus g .n/ ! g 2 WQC . But each g .n/ is of the form hn C kn with

hn 2 WN and kn 2 WN (since gp 2 WQC ;p ). Thus g D h C k with h 2 WN , k 2 WN .

It follows that f D q eh ek , which is of the required form.
Note that, as such,
X
X
X
k
w.pp / D
kp w.p / D
wind.fp] ; 0/ log p;
w.f / D
p
where the sum is finite.

Corollary 3.6. Let f 2 MWQC such that f has no zeros and w.f / D 0. Then
M.f / is invertible.
Example. M. / is invertible for > 1 with M. /1 D M.1= /.
99
4 Unbounded multiplicative Toeplitz operators and

matrices
The last section has, in various ways, been a relatively straightforward extension of
the theory of bounded Toeplitz operators to the multiplicative setting. The theory of
unbounded Toeplitz operators is rather less satisfactory and not easy to generalise.
Our particular concern is in fact the operator M. / for 1, since we expect
a connection with the Riemann zeta function. The hope is that if a satisfactory theory
is developed for this case, it can be generalised to other symbols.
In this section, we shall therefore concentrate on the particular case when f .n/ D
n , when the symbol is . i t/. Throughout we write ' (equivalently, M. /)
for 'f .
From Section 3 we see that for 1, ' is unbounded. It is interesting to see to
what extent properties of ' are related to properties of . The above theory is only
valid for absolutely convergent Dirichlet series, when the symbols are bounded. But
. i t/ is unbounded for 1.
How to measure unboundedness? We shall investigate two different measures.
The first case can be considered as restricting the range, while in the second case we
shall restrict the domain.
'
4.1 First measure

the function .N / With bn defined by a D .an / 7!
P
.bn /, i.e., bn D
d jn
d an=d , let
.N / D sup
X
N
1=2
jbn j
kakD1 nD1
Theorem 4.1. We have the following asymptotic formulae for large N :

. D 1/
1 .N / D e log log N C O.1/

1
.log N /
1
<<1
log .N /
log log N
2

log N
12
1
:
D
log 1 .N /
2
log log N
2
Sketch of proof. .For the proof see [17]/. We start with upper bounds.
First we note that for any positive arithmetical function g.n/,

X
X
g.n/
1
2
.N /
max
:
nN
n
g.d /d
nN
(3.10)
d jn
This is because
p
X

X
X
g.d /an=d 2
g.d /jan=d j2
1
1
2

;
jbn j D
p

g.d /d
d
d2
g.d /d 2
d jn
d jn
d jn
100
Titus Hilberdink
by CauchySchwarz. Writing G.n/ D

X
jbn j2
nN
G.n/
nN
d jn
X g.d /jan=d j2
d
d jn
g.d /1d , we have

max G.n/
nN
X g.d / X
jan j2 :
d
d N
nN=d
Taking kak2 D 1 yields (3.10). The idea is to choose g appropriately, so that the
RHS of (3.10) is as small as possible.
For 12 < 1, choose g.n/ to be the following multiplicative function: for
a prime power pk let
(
1;
if pk M;
g.pk / D
M
. pk / ; if pk > M .
Here M D .2 1/ log N and is a constant satisfying 1 < < . Note that
g.pk / g.p/ for every k 2 N and p prime.
We estimate the expressions in (3.10) separately. First

Y
1
nX g.p/ o
X
X g.n/ Y
g.p/
g.pk /

exp
1
C

1
C

n
p 1
p 1
pk
p
p
p
nN
kD1
(3.11)
and, after some manipulations using the Prime Number Theorem, one finds for the
case < 1
X g.n/
M 1
log
.
:
(3.12)
n
.1 /. C 1/ log M
nN
Now consider G.n/, which is multiplicative because g.n/ is. At the prime powers we
have
G.pk / D
k
X
1
D
r g.p r /
p
rD0
1C
X
r0
pr M
1
1
C
pr
M
X
rk
pr > M
1
p. /r
1
1
:
C
1
M .1 p /
(Here we require < .) Note that this is independent of k. It follows that

X
1 X
1
1
C
:
G.n/ exp
p 1
M
1 p
pjn
pjn
The right-hand side is maximised when n is as large as possible (i.e. N ) and N is of

the form N D 2:3 : : : P . For such a choice, log N D .P / P , so that (using the
prime number theorem)
log max G.n/ .
nN
X
pP
.log N /1
1 X
log N
1
1

C
C
:
p 1
M
.1 / log log N
M log log N
pP
(3.13)
101
From (3.12) and (3.13) it follows that M should be of order log N for optimality. So
taking M D log N (with > 0), (3.10), (3.12) and (3.13) then imply

1
1 .log N /1
1
log .N / .
C
C
2.1 /. C 1/ 2.1 /
2
log log N
decreases with , the optimal

for every 2 .1 ; / and > 0. Since C
1
choice is to take arbitrarily close to . Hence we require inf
>0 h./, where
h./ D
1
1
1
C
C :
.1 /.2 1/
.1 /

. 21
1/, we see that the optimal choice is indeed D 2 1.
Since h0 ./ D
C1
Substituting this value of gives
log .N / .
.1 C .2 1/ / .log N /1

:
2.1 /
log log N
For D 1, we use the same function g.n/ as before (though with possibly different values of M and ). From (3.11) it follows that

X g.n/
Y 1 Y
M
:

1
C

1
.p 1/
n
p
1

p
nN
pM
p>M
P
By Mertens Theorem, the first product is e log M CO.1/, while M p>M p1 D
O.1= log M /, and so
X g.n/
e log M C O.1/ expfO.1= log M /g D e log M C O.1/: (3.14)
n
nN
For the G.n/ term we have, as for the < 1 case,

G.pk /
1
1
Thus, with N D 2:3 : : : P ,
1
p
1
:
M.1 p 1 /

1 1=p
1
M.1 p 1 /
p
pP

P

:
D e log P C O.1/ 1 C O
M log P
G.N /
Y
1
1
1C
Taking M D log N and noting that P log N , the right-hand side is e log log N C
O.1/. Combining with (3.14) shows that
1 .N / e log log N C O.1/:
102
Titus Hilberdink
The case D 12 . The function g as chosen for 2 . 12 ; 1 is not suitable for

an upper bound as we would require 12 < < 12 ! Instead we take g to be the
multiplicative function following: for a prime power pk , let
n
g.pk / D min 1;
12 o
M
:
pk .log p/2
Here M > 0 is independent of p and k and will be determined later. Thus g.pk / D 1
if and only if pk .log p/2 M . Note that g.pk / g.p/ 1 for all k 1 and all
primes p. Thus (3.11) holds with D 12 and (using the prime number theorem)
p
X g.n/
X
X
p
1
1
M
log
p .
C M

: (3.15)
p
p1
p log p
log M
n
M
M
nN
p.
p&
.log M /2
.log M /2
p
(The first sum is of order M =.log M /2 and the main contribution comes from the
second term.)
Regarding G.n/, this time we have2
G.n/ D
Y
G.p /
p k kn
p k kn

k
k
X
1
1 X
1C
Cp
log p ;
pr=2
M rD1
rD1
so that
log G.n/
X
pjn
log n X
1 X
1
1
k log p p C
Cp
:
p
p
p1
p
1
M k
M
pjn
p kn
The right-hand side above is maximal when n D N D 2:3 : : : P , hence

p
X 1
2 log N
log N
log N
C
C
:
log max G.n/ . p
p p
nN
p
log log N
M
M
pP
Combining with (3.15), (3.10) then gives

p
p
log N
log N
M
log 1 .N / .
C p C
:
2
2 log M
log log N
2 M
The optimal choice for M is easily seen to be M D log N log log N , and this gives
the upper bound in (iii).
Now we proceed to give lower bounds.
For a fixed n 2 N, let
1
ad D p
d.n/
2
if d jn, and zero otherwise.
Here as usual, p k jjn means p k jn but p kC1 6 jn.
103
Then kak2 D 1, while for d jn

1 X 1
.d /
:
D p
bd D p
d.n/ cjd c
d.n/
Hence for N n,
X
jbk j2
kN
X
d jn
bd2 D
1 X
.d /2 DW
.n/:
d.n/
d jn
With this notation .N / maxnN

.n/, and the lower bounds follow from
the maximal order of
.n/. For 12 < < 1 this can be found easily. Since
.p/ D
1 C p C 12 p2 for p prime, we find for n D 2:3 : : : P (so that log n P ) that

1
Y
X 1
1
.n/ D
1 C C O 2
D exp .1 C o.1//
p
p
p
pP
pP

.1 C o.1//.log n/1
.1 C o.1//P 1
D exp
:
D exp
.1 / log P
.1 / log log n
Now, if tk is the k th number of the form 2:3 P (i.e., tk D p1 pk ), then log tk
k log k log tkC1 . Hence for tk N < tkC1 , log N k log k. It follows that

p
.1Co.1//.log N /1
.1Co.1//.log tk /1
D exp
.N /
.tk / exp
:
2.1 / log log tk
2.1 / log log N
p
For D 1, we have to be a little subtler to obtain maxnN
1 .n/ D e log log N C
O.1/. We omit the details, which can be found in [17].
For the case D 12 , the above choice doesnt give the correct order and we lose
a power of log log N . Instead, we follow an idea of Soundararajan [31]. Let f be the
multiplicative function supported on the squarefree numbers whose values at primes
p is
M 1=2 1
. p / log p ; for M p R;
f .p/ D
0;
otherwise.
Here M D log N.log log N / as before and log R D .log M /2 .P
2
Now take an D f .n/F .N /1=2, where F .N / D
so that
nN f .n/
P
2
a
D
1.
Then
by
H
o
lders
inequality
nN n
X
N
nD1
1=2
bn2
N
X
nD1
a n bn D
N
1 X f .n/ X p
p
d f .d /
F .N / nD1 n
1 X f .n/
p
D
F .N /
n
nN
d jn
X
d N=n
.n; d / D 1
f .d /2 :
(3.16)
104
Titus Hilberdink
Now using Rankins trick3 we have, for any > 0

X f .n/ X
X f .n/ X
2
f .d / D
f .d /2
1=2
1=2
n
n
d N=n
d 1
nN
nN
.n; d / D 1
.n; d / D 1

f .d /
d > N=n
.n; d / D 1

Y

X f .n/ Y
n
2
2
1 C f .p/ C O
1 C p f .p/
:
D
N
n1=2
nN
p n
p n
(3.17)
The O-term in (3.17) is at most a constant times
Y
1 Y
1 X
1=2
2
1=2
f
.n/n
f
.p/
f
.p/
Cp
f
.p/
;
1Cp

1Cp
N
N p
nN
p n
while the main term in (3.17) is (using Rankins trick again)

Y
f .p/
1 Y
2
2
1=2
f .p/ :
1 C f .p/ C 1=2 C O
1 C f .p/ C p
p
N p
p
Hence (3.16) implies
X
N
1=2
bn2
nD1
Y
1
f .p/
1 C f .p/2 C 1=2

F .N / p
p

1 Y
2
1=2
:
CO
f .p/
1 C p f .p/ C p
N p
The ratio of the O-term to the main term on the right is less than

X
f .p/
2
exp log N C
.p 1/ f .p/ C 1=2 ;
p
M pR
which equals

exp log N C
X
M pR
M 1=2
M
.p 1/
C
p.log p/2
p.log p/

:
Take D .log M /3 . The term involving M 1=2 is at most .log N /1=2C" for every
" > 0, while the remaining terms in the exponent are (by the
3 If
cn > 0, then for any > 0,
P
n>x
cn x
P1
nD1 n cn .
105
prime number theorem in the form .x/ D li.x/ C O.x.log x/A / for all A)

Z R
t 1
log N
dt C O
log N C M
3
.log log N /A
M t.log t/

Z R
Z R
dt
dt
2
C
O
M
D log N C M
2
M t.log t/
M t log t
log N log log log N
;

log log N
after some calculations. Q
Finally, since F .N / p .1 C f .p/2 /, this implies
1=2 .N /
1
2
1C
M pR
f .p/
;
p1=2 .1 C f .p/2 /
for all N sufficiently large. Hence

log 1=2 .N / & M 1=2
X
M pR
log N
1=2
1
;

p.log p/
log log N
as required.
Remark. The result for
1
2
< < 1 is
.log N /1
.1 C .2 1/ / .log N /1
. log .N / .
:
2.1 / log log N
2.1 /
log log N
It would be nice to obtain an asymptotic formula for log .N /. Indeed, it is possible
to improve the lower bound at the cost of more work by using the method for the case
D 12 , but we have not been able to obtain the same upper and lower limits.
4.2 Connections between .N / and the order of j.Cit/j The lower

bounds obtained for .N / for 12 < 1 can be used to obtain information regarding the maximum order of .s/ on the line <s D .
P
Proposition 4.2. With bn D d jn d an=d we have, for any ,
X
jbn j2 D
nN
X am an .m; n/2
m n
m;nN
X
N
k m;n
1
:
k 2
Proof. We have
jbn j2 D bn bn D
1 X
1 X
c
d
a
a
D
c d ac ad ;
c
d
n2
n2
cjn;d jn
c;d jn
106
Titus Hilberdink
since cjn; d jn if and only if c; d jn. Hence

X
jbn j2 D
nN
c d ac ad
c;d N
nN;c;d jn
X c d ac ad
1
D
n2
c; d 2
c;d N
X
N
k c;d

1
;
k 2
by writing n D c; d k. Since .c; d /c; d D cd , the result follows.
It follows that if an 0 for all n and > 12 , then

X
X am an .m; n/2
:
.mn/
jbn j2 .2/
nN
(3.18)
m;nN
Theorem 4.3. Let 12 < 1 and let a 2 l 2 with kak2 D 1. Let AN .t/ D
PN
2
1
it
nD1 an n . Let N T , where 0 < < 3 . 2 /. Then for some

> 0,
1
T
j. C i t/j2 jAN .t/j2 dt D .2/

1
X am an .m; n/2
C O.T /: (3.19)
.mn/
m;nN
Proof. We shall assume 12 < < 1, adjusting the proof for the case D 1 afterwards. For 1, we can integrate from 0 to T since the error involved is at most
O.N=T / D O.T /.
P
Starting from the approximation . C i t/ D nt ni t C O.t /, we have
X 1 2
C O.t 12 /:
j. C i t/j D
nCi t
2
nt
Let k; l 2 N such that .k; l/ D 1. Let M D maxfk; lg < T . The above gives
Z
j. C i t/j
0
k
i t
l
Z
dt D
0
T X
nt
k it
dt C O.T 22 /:
nCi t l
1
The integral on the right is

Z
0
X
m;nt
Z T
km
i t
X
1 km
i t
1
dt
D
dt:
.mn/ ln
.mn/ maxfm;ng ln
m;nT
The terms with km D ln (which implies m D rl; n D rk with r integral) contribute

1
.kl/
M 21 T 22
X T rM
.2/
:
D
T
C
O
r 2
.kl/
.kl/
rT =M
107
The remaining terms contribute at most

2
X
m; n T
km ln
1
.mn/ j log
km
j
ln
2M 2
1
.kmln/ j log km
j
ln
m; n T
km ln
2M 2
m1 kT; n1 lT
m1 n1
1
.m1 n1 / j log m
j
n1
2M 2
m1 ; n1 M T
m1 n1
1
.m1 n1 / j log m
j
n1
D O.M 2 .M T /22 log.M T //

D O.M 2 T 22 log T /;
using Lemma 7.2 from [33]. Hence
Z T
k
i t
.2/
j. C i t/j2
dt D
T C O.M 2 T 22 log T /:
l
.kl/
0
It follows that for any positive integers m; n < T ,
Z T
m
i t
.2/.m; n/2
j. C i t/j2
dt D
T C O.maxfm; ng2 T 22 log T /:
n
.mn/
0
P
it
Thus, with AN .t/ D N
nD1 an n ,
Z
j. C i t/j2 jAN .t/j2 dt D

0
Z
0
m;nN
D .2/T
j. C i t/j2
am an
m
i t
n
dt
X am an .m; n/2
.mn/
m;nN
CO T
22
log T

2
maxfm; ng jam an j :
m;nN
P
The sum in the O-term is at most N 2 . nN jan j/2 N 3 , using CauchySchwarz.
Hence
Z
N 3 log T
X am an .m; n/2
1 T
j. C i t/j2 jAN .t/j2 dt D .2/
C
O
:
T 0
.mn/
T 21
m;nN
Since N 3 T 3
and 3 < 2 1, the error term is O.T / for some
> 0.
108
Titus Hilberdink
If D 1 we integrate from 1 to T instead and the O-term above will contain an

extra log T factor, but this is still O.T /.

We note that with more care the N 3 could be turned into an N 2 , so that we can
take < 12 in the theorem. This is however not too important for us.
Corollary 4.4. Let
1
2
< 1. Then for every " > 0 and N sufficiently large,

2
max j. C i t/j .N 3 . 2 /" / C O.N /

t N
(3.20)
for some
> 0.
Proof. Let an 0 be such that kak2 D 1, and take N D T
with < 23 . 12 /. By
(3.18) and (3.19),
Z
X
1 T
2
jbn j
j. C i t/j2 jAN .t/j2 dt C O.T /
T 0
nN
Z T
2 1
jAN .t/j2 dt C O.T /
max j. C i t/j
t T
T 0
X
jan j2 .1 C O.N=T // C O.T /
D max j. C i t/j2
t T
nN
using the Montgomery and Vaughan mean value theorem. The implied constants in
the O-terms depend only on T and not on the sequence fan g. Taking the supremum
over all such a, this gives
X
jbn j2 max j. C i t/j2 C O.T /;
.N /2 D sup
kak2 D1 nN
t T
for some
> 0, and (3.20) follows.
In particular, this gives the (known) lower bounds

n c.log T /1 o
max j. C i t/j exp
t T
log log T
for 12 < < 1 and maxt T j.1 C i t/j e log log T C O.1/ (obtained by Levinson
in [25]).
Morever, we can say more about how often j. C i t/j is as large as this. For
A 2 R and c > 0, let

FA .T / D t 2 1; T W j.1 C i t/j e log log T A :
(3.21)

n c.log T /1 o
:
(3.210 )
F;c .T / D t 2 0; T W j. C i t/j exp
log log T
109
We outline the argument in the case 12 < < 1. We have

Z
Z
X
1
j. C i t/j2 jAN .t/j2 dt C O.T /:
jbn j2
C
T
F;c .T /
0;T nF;c .T /
nN
(3.22)
The second integral on the right is at most

n
n 2c.log T /1 o 1 Z T
2c.log T /1 o

;
jAN .t/j2 dt D O exp
exp
log log T
T 0
log log T
while, by choosing an D d.N /1=2 for njN and zero otherwise, the LHS of (3.22) is
=3
T
; T
contains an N of the form 2:3:5 : : : P . As
at least
.N /. Every
o
n 0 interval
1
T/
such,
.N / exp c .log
for some c 0 > 0. Hence, for 2c < c 0 ,
log log T
1
T
n c 0 .log T /1 o
j. C i t/j2 jAN .t/j2 dt exp
:
2 log log T
F;c .T /
We have j. C i t/j D O.T / for some and jAN .t/j2 d.N / D O.T " /, so
Z
1
j. C i t/j2 jAN .t/j2 dt T 21C" .F;c .T //:
T F;c .T /
Thus .F;c .T // T 12" for all c sufficiently small.
In particular, since < 1
, we have:
3
Theorem 4.5. For all A sufficiently large .and positive/,

log T
.FA .T // T exp a
log log T
for some a > 0, and for all c sufficiently small, .F;c .T // T .1C2/=3 for all
sufficiently large T . Furthermore, under the Lindelof Hypothesis, the exponent can
be replaced by 1 ".
Addendum: There has been much recent activity in this field. Aistleitner [1], in
essence restricting () to N rows and columns (rather than just the first N ) used
an ingenious idea based
to improve these -results for j. C i t/j and
n on GCD-sums
o
.log T /1
1
Theorem 3.5 to exp c .log log T / for 2 < < 1, thereby improving Montgomerys
result. More recently still, Bondarenko and Seip [4] used a similar method for the
case D 12 , obtaining
s
n
log T log log log T o
Z 1 .T / exp c
2
log log T
for any c <
p1 .
2
110
Titus Hilberdink
4.3 Second measure ' on M2 and the function M .T / For 1,
' is unbounded on l 2 and so ' .l 2 / 6 l 2 (by the closed graph theorem4 see [32],
p. 183). However, if we restrict the domain to M2 , the set of multiplicative elements
of l 2 , we find that '.M2 / l 2 . More generally, if f is multiplicative then, as we
shall see, 'f .M2 / l 2 in many cases (and hence 'f .M2 / M2 ).
Notation. Let M2 and M2c denote the subsets of l 2 of multiplicative and completely
multiplicative functions, respectively. Further, write M2 C for the non-negative members of M2 , and similarly for M2c C.
Let M20 denote the set of M2 functions f for which f g 2 M2 whenever
g 2 M2 ; that is,
M20 D ff 2 M2 W g 2 M2 H) f g 2 M2 g:
Thus for f 2 M20 , 'f .M2 / M2 .
It was shown in [18] that M2 is not closed under Dirichlet convolution, so M20
2
M . A criterion for f 2 M2 to be in M20 was given, namely:
P
k
Proposition 4.6. Let f 2 M2 be such that 1
kD1 jf .p /j converges for every prime
P1
k
p and that kD1 jf .p /j A for some constant A independent of p. Then f 2 M20 .
On the other hand, if f 2 M2 with f 0 and for some prime p0 , f .p0k /
P
k
2
decreases with k and 1
kD1 f .p0 / diverges, then f 62 M0 .
The proof is based on the following necessary and sufficient condition: Let f; g 2
M2 be non-negative. Then f g 2 M2 if and only if
1
X X X
f .pm /g.pn /f .pmCk /g.pnCk /
converges:
p m;n1 kD0
This can be proven in a direct manner.

Thus, in particular,
M2c M20 . For f 2 M2c if and only if jf .p/j < 1 for all
P
primes p and p jf .p/j2 < 1. Thus
1
X
jf .pk /j D
kD1
jf .p/j
A;
1 jf .p/j
independent of p.
For example, .n / 2 M20 for > 12 .
The quasi-norm Mf .T /. Let f 2 M20 . The discussion above shows that
'f .M2 / M2 but, typically, 'f is not bounded on M2 (if f 62 l 1 ) in the sense
4 Being
a matrix mapping, ' is necessarily a closed operator, and so ' .l 2 / l 2 implies ' is bounded.
111
that5 k'f ak=kak is not bounded by a constant for all a 2 M2 . A natural question
is: how large can k'f ak become as a function of kak? It therefore makes sense to
define, for T 1,
k'f ak
:
Mf .T / D sup
kak
a 2 M2
kak D T
We shall consider only the case f .n/ D n , although the result below can be extended without any significant changes to f completely multiplicative and such that
f jP is regularly varying of index with > 1=2 in the sense that there exists
a regularly varying function fQ (of index ) with fQ.p/ D f .p/ for every prime p.
We shall write Mf .T / D M .T / in this case.
Theorem 4.7. As T ! 1
M1 .T / D e .log log T C log log log T C 2 log 2 1 C o.1//;
while for
1
2
(3.23)
< < 1,

log M .T / D

1
B. 1 ; 1 2
/
.log T /1
C
o.1/
:
.1 /2
.log log T /
Here B.x; y/ denotes the Beta function
R1
0
(3.24)
t x1 .1 t/y1 dt.
Sketch of proof for the case 12 < < 1 (for the full proof see [18]). We consider first
upper bounds. The supremum occurs for a 0, which we now assume. Write
a D .an /, ' a D b D .bn /. Define p and p for prime p by
p D
1
X
ap2 k
and
p D
kD1
1
X
bp2 k :
kD1
By the multiplicativity of a and b, T 2 D kak2 D p .1 C p / and kbk2 D

p /. Thus
s
k' ak Y 1 C p
:
D
kak
1 C p
p
Now for k 1
bp k D
k
X
pr apkr D apk C p bpk1 ;
rD0
whence
5 Here,
bp2 k D ap2 k C 2p apk bpk1 C p2 bp2 k1 :

and throughout this section k k D k k2 is the l 2 -norm.
p .1
112
Titus Hilberdink
Summing from k D 1 to 1 and adding 1 to both sides gives

1 C p D 1 C p C 2p
1
X
apk bpk1 C p2 .1 C p /:
(3.25)
kD1
By CauchySchwarz,
1
X
apk bpk1
X
1
kD1
ap2 k
kD1
1
X
1=2
bp2 k1
q
D
p .1 C p /;
kD1
so, on rearranging,
p
2p p .1 C p /
1 C p
.1 C p /

:
1 p2
1 p2
Completing the square we obtain
q
1 C p
p
p p 2
1 C p

:
2
1p
.1 p2 /2
The term on the left inside the square is non-negative for every p since 1 C p
1Cp
,
1p 2
which is greater than

s
q
Let p D
p
.
1Cp
p 2 p
.1p 2 /2
for > 12 . Rearranging gives

r
1
1
1 C p
p
1C
:

1 C p
1 p2
p
1 C p
Taking the product over all primes p gives
nX o
Y
p
k' ak
p
1 C .2/ exp
:
.2/
kak
p
p
p
p
(3.26)
Q
1
2
Note that 0 p < 1 and p 1
2 D T . The idea is to show now that the main
p
contribution to the above sum comes from the range p log T log log T .
Let " > 0 and put P D log T log log T . We split up the sum on the right-hand
side of (3.26) into p aP , aP < p AP , and p > AP (for a small and A large).
First,
X
paP
p p
X
paP
p
a1 P 1
.log T /1
;
<"
.1 / log P
.log log T /
(3.27)
113
Q
P 2
1
for a sufficiently small. Next, using the fact that log T 2 D log p 1
2
p p ,
p
we have
1=2 12 12
X

X
X
P
log T 1=2
2A

2
2
p p
p
p
.
.2 1/ log P
p>AP
p>AP
p>AP
.log T /1
.log log T /
<"
p
.log log T /
A1=2 1=2
.log T /
1
(3.28)
for A sufficiently large. This leaves the range aP < p AP and the problem
therefore reduces to maximising
X
p
aP <pAP
subject to 0 p < 1 and
1
p 1 2
p
D T 2 . The maximum clearly occurs for p
decreasing (if p0 > p for primes p < p0 , then the sum increases in value if we
swap p and p0 ). Thus we may assume that p is decreasing.
By interpolation we may write p D g. Pp /, where gW .0; 1/ ! .0; 1/ is continuously differentiable and decreasing. Of course, g will depend on P . Let h D
1
log 1g
2 , which is also decreasing. Note that
X p
X p

h.a/.aP / cah.a/ log T;
2 log T D
h
h
P
P
p
paP
for P sufficiently large, for some constant c > 0. Thus h.a/ Ca (independently of
T ).
Now, for F W .0; 1/ ! 0; 1/ decreasing, it follows from the Prime Number
Theorem in the form .x/ D li.x/ C O. .logxx/2 / that
X
ax<pbx
x
D
log x
F CO
a
xF .a/
;
.log x/2
where the implied constant is independent of F (and x). Thus

Z A
Z A
p
X
P

h
h log T
h:
2 log T
P
log P a
a
aP <pAP
Since a and A are arbitrary,

X
aP <pAP
1
p
D
p
P
R1
0
h must exist and is at most 2. Also, by (3.29),

Z
p
p

X
P 1 A g.u/
g

du:
P P
log P a u
aP <pAP
As a; A are arbitrary, it follows from above and (3.26), (3.27), (3.28) that

Z 1
k' ak
g.u/
.log T /1
log
du
C
o.1/
:

kak
u
.log log T /
0
(3.29)
114
Titus Hilberdink
R1
R1
Thus we need to maximise 0 g.u/u du subject to 0 h 2 over all decreasing
gW .0; 1/ ! .0; 1/. Since h is decreasing, one finds that xh.x/ ! 0 as x ! 1 and
as x ! 0C .
For the supremum, we can consider only those g (and h) which are continuously
differentiable and strictly decreasing, since we can approximate
arbitrarily closely by
p
x
such functions. On writing g D s h, where s.x/ D 1 e , we have
Z 1
Z 1
h g.u/u1 i1
1
g.u/
du D

g 0 .u/u1 du
u
1 0
1 0
0
Z 1
1
s 0 .h.u//h0 .u/u1 du
D
1 0
Z h.0C /
1
s 0 .x/l.x/1 dx;
D
1 0
p
where l D h1 , since ug.u/ ! 0 as u ! 1. The final integral is, by Holders
inequality, at most
Z h.0C /
Z h.0C / 1
0 1=
s
l
:
(3.30)
R h.0C /
R1
R1
uh0 .u/du D 0 h 2, so

Z 1
Z 1
21
g.u/
0 1=
du
s
:
u
1 0
0
R1
1
/. This gives the
A direct calculation shows that6 0 .s 0 /1= D 21= B. 1 ; 1 2
upper bound.
The proof of the upper bound leads to the optimal choice for g and the lower
0 1=
bound. We note that we have equality in (3.30) if l=.s
is constant, i.e., l.x/ D
R 1/
0
1=
cs .x/
for some constant c > 0 chosen so that 0 l D 2. This means that we
take
r

x

c
2
1
1
0 1
C
D log
;
1C
h.x/ D .s /
c
2
2
x
from which we can calculate g. In fact, the required lower bound can be found by
taking an completely multiplicative, with ap for p prime defined by
p
a p D g0
;
P
But
l D
where P D log T log log T and g0 is the function

v
u
2
u
q
;
g0 .x/ D t1
1 C 1 C . xc /2
6
The integral is 21=
R1
0
e x= .1 e x /1=2 dx D 21=
R1
0
t 1=1 .1 t /1=2 dt .
with c D 21C1= =B. 1 ; 1

kak D T 1Co.1/ and
1
/.
2
115
As such, by the same methods as before, we have
k' ak X p
P 1
p g0
log
D
C O.1/
kak
P
log P
p
By the choice of g0 , the integral on the right is
g0 .u/
du:
u
1
B. 1 ; 1 2
/
, as required.
.1 /2
Remark. These asymptotic formulae bear a strong resemblance to the (conjectured)

maximal order of j. C iT /j. It is interesting to note that the bounds found here are
just larger than what is known about the lower bounds for Z .T / (see the interlude
on upper and lower bounds on .s/, especially items (b) and (c)). We note that the
constant appearing in (3.24) is not Lamzouris C./ since, for near 12 , the former is
roughly q 1 1 , while C./ p 1 .
21
2
Lower bounds for ' and some further speculations. We can study lower bounds
of ' via the function
k' ak
:
m .T / D inf
2
a2M
kak
kak D T
Using very similar techniques, one obtains results analogous to Theorem 4.7:
6e
1
D 2 .log log T C log log log T C 2 log 2 1 C o.1//
m1 .T /

and
log
1
/ .log T /1
B. 1 ; 1 2
1

m .T /
.1 /2 .log log T /
for
1
2
< < 1:
We see that m .T / corresponds closely to the conjectured minimal order of j. C

iT /j (see [13] and [27]).
The above formulae suggest that the supremum (respectively infimum) of
k' ak=kak with a 2 M2 and kak D T are close to the supremum (resp. infimum) of j j on 1; T . One could therefore speculate further that there is a close
connection between k' ak=kak (for such a) and j. C iT /j.
Heuristically, we could argue as follows. Consider
1
2
Z
X
1 T
2
it
j. i t/j
an n dt:
(3.31)
T 0
nD1
This is less than
Z .T /2
1
T
Z
0
1
T X
nD1
an ni t dt Z .T /2 kak2 ;
116
Titus Hilberdink
by the MontgomeryVaughan mean value theorem (under appropriate conditions).

On the other hand, (3.31) is expected to be approximately
2
Z 1
1
X
1 T X
it
b
n
dt

jbn j2 D k' ak2 :
n
T 0 nD1
nD1
Putting these together gives
k' ak
. Z .T /:
kak
The left-hand side, as a function of kak, can be made as large as F .kak/, where
.log x/1
g. If the above continues to hold for kak as large as T , then
F .x/ D expfc .log
log x/
M .T / Z .T / would follow. Even if it holds for kak as large as a smaller power
of T , one would recover Montgomerys -result.
Alternatively, considering (3.31) over T; 2T ,
1
2
2
Z
Z 2T X
X
1 2T
2
it
2 1
it
j. i t/j
an n dt D j. Ci t0 /j
an n dt (3.32)
T T
T T nD1
nD1
for some t0 2 T; 2T and, using the MontgomeryVaughan mean value theorem
(assuming it applies), this is approximately
j. C i t0 /j
1
X
jan j2 D j. C i t0 /j2 kak2 :
nD1
On the other hand, formally multiplying out the integrand, by writing . i t/ D

P1 ni t
nD1 n and formally multiplying out the integrand, the left-hand side of (3.32)
becomes (heuristically)
1
2
Z
1
X
1 2T X
it
bn n dt
jbn j2 D k' ak2 :
T T nD1
nD1
Equating these gives
k' ak
j. C i t0 /j:
kak
Clearly there are a number of problems with this. For a start, we need ' a 2
2
. More importantly, the error term in the MontgomeryVaughan theorem contains
lP
1
2
nD1 njan j , which may diverge. Also, an and hence kak may depend on T , and
finally, the series for . i t/ doesnt converge for 1.
If an D 0 for n > N , the above argument can be made to work, even for N
a (small) power of T (see for example [17]), but difficulties arise for larger powers
of T .
There seem to be some reasons to believe that the error from the Montgomery
Vaughan theorem should be much smaller when considering products. These occur
117
Q
when an is multiplicative. For example (with Q D pP p so that log Q D .P /
P by the Prime Number Theorem),
2
X
Z TY
Z T X 2
X
1
1
1
it
it
.1 C p / dt D
d dt D
1CO
d :
2T T
2T T
T
pP
d jQ
d jQ
d jQ
. However the leftThe main term is d.Q/ D 2.P / , while the error is at least Q
T
.P /
hand side is trivially at most 4
, so the error dominates the other terms if P >
.1 C / log T . If, say, P is of order log T log log T (which is the range of interest),
then .P / log T , so 2.P / is like a power of T , but Q is roughly like T log log T
far too large.
Thus it may be that for an completely multiplicative, it holds that
Y
2
Z
Y
1
1
1 2T
dt j. C i t0 /j
j. i t/j2
i
t
T T
1 ap p
1 jap j2
pP
pP
for P up to c log T log log T . This suggests the following might be true:
(a) given a 2 M2 with kak D T , there exists t 2 T; 2T such that
k' ak
j. C i t/j:
kak
(b) given T 1, there exists a 2 M2 with kak D T such that
k' ak
j. C iT /j:
kak
Here, means something like log-asymptotic, , or possibly even D. Thus (a)
implies M .T / . Z .T /, while (b) implies the opposite. Together they would imply
we can encode real numbers into M2 -functions with equal l 2 -norm, such that ' has
a similar action as .
Closure of MBN2 ? We finish these speculations with a final plausible conjecture
regarding the closure under multiplication of functions in BN2 with multiplicative coefficients.
Let M0 BN2 denote the subset MBN2 of functions f for which fO 2 M0 . Recall
that M20 is the subset of M2 for which g 2 M2 ) f g 2 M2 . This suggests the
following conjecture:
Conjecture. Let f 2 MBN2 and g 2 M0 BN2 . Then fg 2 MBN2 .
In particular, MBN2 Mc BN2 D MBN2 . Since 2 Mc BN2 for > 12 , this would
imply k 2 MBN2 for every k 2 N and > 12 , which implies the Lindelof hypothesis.
118
Titus Hilberdink
5 Connections to matrices of the form

.f .ij =.i; j /2 //i;j N
The asymptotic formulae for .N / in Theorem 4.1 can be used to obtain information on the largest eigenvalue of certain arithmetical matrices. Various authors have
discussed asymptotic estimates of eigenvalues and determinants of arithmetical matrices (see for example [6], [7], [26] to name just a few).
Let AN .f / denote the N
N matrix with ij th -entry f .i=j / if j ji and zero otherwise. As noted in the introduction, these matrices behave much like Dirichlet series
with coefficients f .n/; namely,
AN .f /AN .g/ D AN .f g/:
In particular, AN .f / is invertible if f has a Dirichlet inverse, i.e., f .1/ 0, in which
case AN .f /1 D AN .f 1 /.
Suppose for simplicity that f is a real arithmetical function. (For complex values
we can easily adjust.) Let
f .N / D sup
X
N
jbn j
12
kak2 D1 nD1
where bn D
matrix
P
d jn
f .d /an=d . Observe that f .N /2 is the largest eigenvalue of the

AN .f /T AN .f /:
Indeed, we have
bn2 D
i;j jn
n
n
f
ai aj ;
i
j
so that, on noting i; j jn if and only if i; j jn (where i; j denotes the lcm of i and j )
N
X
nD1
bn2
N X
X
nD1 i;j jn
n
n
X .N /
f
ai aj D
bij ai aj ;
i
j
i;j N
where (using .i; j /i; j D ij )

.N /
bij
X
N
k i;j

ki
kj
f
:
.i; j /
.i; j /
But bij.N / is also the ij th -entry of AN .f /T AN .f /, as an easy calculation shows. Thus

f .N /2 D
sup
2
a12 CCaN
D1 i;j N
bij.N / ai aj
(3.33)
119
is the largest eigenvalue of AN .f /T AN .f /, i.e., f .N / the largest singular value7

of AN .f /. Thus an equivalent formulation of Corollary 3.2 for f supported on N is:
For f 2 l 1 non-negative, the largest singular value of AN .f / tends to kf k1 .
Now if f is completely multiplicative, then
.N /
bij

Df
ij
X
f .k/2 ;
.i; j /2
N
k i;j
which for large N is roughly kf k22 f . .i;jij /2 / for f 2 l 2 . This suggests that the matrix

ij
f . .i;j
/
has its largest eigenvalue close to f .N /2 =kf k22 . This is indeed
/2 i;j N
the case.
Corollary 5.1. Let f 2 l 2 be non-negative

and completely multiplicative. Let N
ij
denote the largest eigenvalue of f . .i;j /2 / i;j N . Then
f .N /2
f .N 3 /2

:
N
P
N
2
kf k22
kD1 f .k/
In particular, for f 2 l 1 ,
lim N D
N !1
Proof. We have
N D
kf k21
:
kf k22
sup
2
a12 CCaN
D1 i;j N
ij
ai aj
.i; j /2
(3.34)
When f 0, the supremums in (3.33) and (3.34) are reached for an 0. Thus,
f .N /2 kf k22 N
follows immediately.
On the other hand, for i; j N , i; j N 2 so
f .N 3 /2
X
i;j N
X
ij
a
a
f .k/2 :
i
j
.i; j /2
kN
Taking the supremum over all such an gives, f .N 3 /2 N

required.
Finally, if f 2 l 1 , then f .N / ! kf k1 and so N !
kf k2
1
kf k2
2
P
kN
f .k/2 , as
follows.
singular values of a matrix A are the square roots of the eigenvalues of AT A (or A A if A has
complex entries).
7 The
120
Titus Hilberdink
The approximate formulae for .N / in Theorem 4.1 lead to:

5.2. Let f .n/ D n and let N ./ denote the largest eigenvalue of
Corollary
ij
f . .i;j /2 / i;j N . Then
6
.e log log N C O.1//2 ;
2
.log N /1
for 12 < < 1;
log N ./
log log N
s
1
log N
log N

:
2
log log N
N .1/ D
Bibliography
[1] C. Aistleitner, Lower bounds for the maximum of the Riemann zeta function along vertical
lines, arXiv:1409.6035.
[2] R. Balasubramanian and K. Ramachandra, On the frequency of Titchmarshs phenomenom
for .s/. III, Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. 86 A (1977), 341351.
[3] A. S. Besicovitch, Almost Periodic Functions. Dover Publications, 1954.
[4] A. Bondarenko and K. Seip, Large GCD sums and extreme values of the Riemann zeta function, arXiv:1507.05840v1.
[5] A. Bottcher and B. Silbermann, Introduction to Large Truncated Toeplitz Matrices. SpringerVerlag, 1999.
[6] K. Bourque and S. Ligh, Matrices associated with classes of arithmetical functions. J. Number
Theory 45 (1993), 367376.
[7] D. A. Cardon, Matrices related to Dirichlet series. J. Number Theory 130 (2010), 2739.
[8] D. W. Farmer, S. M. Gonek and C. P. Hughes, The maximum size of L-functions. J. Reine
Angew. Math. 609 (2007), 215236.
[9] I. Gohberg, On an application of the theory of normed rings to singular integral equations.
Usp. Mat. Nauk 7 (1952), 149156.
[10] I. Gohberg, S. Goldberg and M. A. Kaashoek, Classes of Linear Operators Vol. I. Birkhauser,
1990.
[11] S. M. Gonek, Finite Euler products and the Riemann Hypothesis, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 364
(2012), no. 4, 21572191.
[12] S. M. Gonek and J. P. Keating, Mean values of finite Euler products. J. London Math. Soc. 82
(2010), 763786.
[13] A. Granville and K. Soundararajan, Extreme values of j.1 C it/j. In Ramanujan Math. Soc.
Lect. Notes Ser 2, Ramanujan Math. Soc., Mysore, 2006, 6580.
[14] P. Hartman, On completely continuous Hankel operators. Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 9 (1958),
862866.
121
[15] E. Hewitt and J. H. Williamson, Note on absolutely convergent Dirichlet series. Proc. Am.
Math. Soc. 8 (1957), 863868.
[16] T. W. Hilberdink, Determinants of multiplicative Toeplitz matrices. Acta Arith. 125 (2006),
265284.
[17] T. W. Hilberdink, An arithmetical mapping and applications to -results for the Riemann zeta
function. Acta Arith. 139 (2009), 341367.
[18] T. W. Hilberdink, Quasi-norm of an arithmetical convolution operator and the order of the
Riemann zeta function. Funct. Approx. 49 (2013), 201220.
[19] M. Huxley, Exponential sums and the Riemann zeta function V. PLMS 90 (2005), 141.
[20] T. J. Jarvis, A dominant negative eigenvalue of a matrix of Redheffer. Linear Algebra Appl.
142 (1990), 141152.
[21] B. Jessen and H. Tornehave, Mean motions and zeros of almost periodic functions. Acta Math.
77 (1945), 137279.
[22] J. Keating and N. Snaith, Random matrix theory and some zeta-function moments. Lecture at
the Erwin Schrodinger Institute (1998).
[23] M. Krein, Integral equations on a half-line with kernel depending upon the difference of the
arguments. Am. Math. Soc. Transl. (2) 22 (1962), 163288.
[24] Y. Lamzouri, On the distribution of extreme values of zeta and L-functions in the strip
< 1. Int. Math. Res. Nat., to appear; arXiv:1005.4640v2 [math.NT].
1
2
<
[25] N. Levinson, -theorems for the Riemann zeta function. Acta Arith. 20 (1972), 319332.
[26] P. Lindqvist and K. Seip, Note on some greatest common divisor matrices. Acta Arith. 84
(1998), 149154.
[27] H. L. Montgomery, Extreme values of the Riemann zeta-function. Comment. Math. Helv. 52
(1977), 511518.
[28] Z. Nehari, On bounded bilinear forms. Ann. Math. 65 (1957), 153162.
[29] R. M. Redheffer, Eine explizit losbare Optimierungsaufgabe. Int. Schriftenr. Numer. Math. 36
(1977).
[30] L. Rodman, I. M. Spitkowsky and H. J. Woerdeman, Fredholmness and Invertibility of
Toeplitz operators with matrix almost periodic symbols. Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 130 (2001),
13651370.
[31] K. Soundararajan, Extreme values of zeta and L-functions. Math. Ann. 342 (2008), 467486.
[32] A. E. Taylor, Introduction to Functional Analysis. Wiley and Sons, 1958.
[33] E. C. Titchmarsh, The Theory of the Riemann Zeta-function. Second edition, Oxford University Press, 1986.
[34] O. Toeplitz, Zur Theorie der quadratischen und bilinearen Formen von unendlichvielen
Veranderlichen. Math. Ann. 70 (1911), 351376.
[35] O. Toeplitz, Zur Theorie der Dirichletschen Reihen. Am. J. Math. 60 (1938), 880888.
Chapter 4
Arithmetical topics in algebraic graph theory

Jurgen Sander
Contents
1
2
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Some (algebraic) graph theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1
Basics and some specialities on graphs . . . . . .
2.2
Some algebraic graph theory . . . . . . . . . . .
3
The prime number theorem for graphs . . . . . . . . . .
3.1
Primes in friendly graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2
Iharas zeta function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3
The determinant formulae for Iharas zeta function
3.4
The prime number theorem for graphs . . . . . .
3.5
Some remarks on Ramanujan graphs . . . . . . .
4
Spectral properties of integral circulant graphs . . . . . .
4.1
Basics on integral circulant graphs . . . . . . . .
4.2
Ramanujan integral circulant graphs . . . . . . .
4.3
The energy of a graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
123
124
124
130
136
136
138
149
155
158
159
159
162
173
183
1 Introduction
In comparison with geometry, number theory, analysis, or even algebra and topology,
graph theory is a rather young mathematical discipline. It has undergone crucial
developments with important theoretical advances as well as closer connections to
other mathematical fields and applications in extra-mathematical areas only within
the last 80 years. The term graph was introduced by Sylvester in 1878 in an article
published in Nature, the by far most influential scientific magazine worldwide.
By now graph theory is without any doubt an important mathematical discipline
in its own right with prestigious topics, results and open questions, as for instance
the four color problem, just to name the most famous one. At the same time, it
is influential for many other mathematical fields, not only in discrete mathematics,
but also for areas such as algebra, topology and even probability theory. Naturally,
the development of graph theory benefited from the rapid progress in computers and
computer science in the 20th century.
However, graph theory has yet another facet to it, namely it may serve as a mathematical playground in the following sense. Quite a few mathematical concepts in
124
Jurgen Sander
other fields, as for instance topological items or the variety of zeta functions, related
to number theory, algebra, differential geometry, or other subjects, have a counterpart
in the world of (finite) graphs. Looking at and experimenting with these somewhat
discrete relatives sometimes helps to better understand the original objects.
Algebraic graph theory nomen est omen connects algebra and graph theory. Cayley graphs, encoding structural features of groups in correlated graphs, are
a prominent example studied in this rather young mathematical field. Besides the necessary basics of algebraic graph theory, these lecture notes will present three topics
connecting graph theory and arithmetic.
2 Some (algebraic) graph theory

Here we give a short introduction to the concepts of graph theory that will be used
in the sequel. Besides some standard basics like cycle graphs, trees, regular graphs,
spanning subgraphs, etc., which can be found in almost any introductory book on
graph theory (e.g. [12]) and are mainly included to set up the notation, the reader will
find more specialized results on circulant graphs and Cayley graphs. The introduction
to algebraic graph theory deals with the adjacency matrix and the spectrum of graphs,
in particular the spectrum of circulant and integral circulant graphs.
2.1 Basics and some specialities on graphs

Definition 2.1.
A .finite/ graph G D .V; E/ consists of a (finite) non-empty set V of vertices
and a set E V
V of edges. The order of G is the number of vertices jV j in
G.
We usually write v1 v2 rather than .v1 ; v2 /, and for v1 v2 2 E we say that v1
and v2 are adjacent or neighbors in G, written v1 v2 .
The graph G is called undirected if E is symmetric, i.e., if v1 v2 , v2
v1 for all v1 ; v2 2 V , and otherwise directed. For undirected graphs we shall
not distinguish between v1 v2 and v2 v1 (here v1 v2 represents a set rather than
an ordered pair).
Edges of type vv 2 E are called loops. A loopfree graph has no loops.
For several applications it is useful to allow graphs with multiple edges between
vertices, so-called multigraphs. We call graphs without loops or multiple edges simple.
Assumption. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the graphs G D .V; E/ we consider
are always simple, finite, and undirected.
4 Arithmetical Topics in Algebraic Graph Theory
125
Figure 4.1. Directed multigraph with loop and double edge
Example 2.2. Let n be a positive integer.

(i) The complete graph Kn D .V; E/ of order n has jV j D n and E D V
V n
fvv W v 2 V g. Clearly, jEj D n.n1/
.
2
(ii) The cycle graph Cn D .V; E/ of order n has V D fv1 ; v2 ; : : : ; vn g, say, and
E D fv1 v2 ; v2 v3 ; : : : ; vn1 vn ; vn v1 g.
(iii) The graph .Z10 ; Ef1;3;7;9g/ with Z10 WD Z=10Z (cf. Fig. 4.2) is defined by
Efc1 ;:::;cr g WD fab 2 Z10
Z10 W ab cj mod 10 for some j 2 f1; : : : ; rgg:
It is an example of a circulant graph (see Example 2.19), as well as of a Cayley
graph (see Example 2.12 (iii)).
The structure of a graph does not depend on how the vertices are named. We
already made use of this in the preceding examples by speaking of the complete
graph and the cycle graph of order n, respectively, without specifying the elements of
V . Accordingly, two graphs G1 D .V1 ; E1 / and G2 D .V2 ; E2 / are called isomorphic,
written G1 ' G2 , if there is a bijective map ' W V1 ! V2 such that v1 v2 in G1
if and only if '.v1 / '.v2 / in G2 . From now on, we shall not distinguish between
isomorphic graphs.
Definition 2.3. Let G D .V; E/ and G 0 D .V 0 ; E 0 / be graphs with V 0 V .
G 0 is called a subgraph of G if E 0 .V 0
V 0 / \ E.
In the special case where E 0 D .V 0
V 0 / \ E, we say that G 0 is induced by its
vertex set V 0 .
A subgraph G 0 of G is called a spanning subgraph if V 0 D V (cf. Fig. 4.3).
126
Jurgen Sander
Figure 4.2. Circulant Cayley graph .Z10 ; Ef1;3;7;9g /
Figure 4.3. Graph with (disconnected) spanning subgraph (solid lines)
127
An important type of subgraph in a given graph is a clique, i.e., a subgraph which

is a complete graph.
Definition 2.4. Let G D .V; E/ be a (directed) graph.
A (directed) path or walk from u 2 V to v 2 V of length k in G is a sequence of
k C 1 vertices u D v0 ; v1 ; v2 ; : : : ; vk1 ; vk D v 2 V such that vi 1 vi 2 E for
i D 1; 2; : : : ; k (or, equivalently, the sequence of the corresponding k edges).
The path is called simple if vi vj for i D 1; 2; : : : ; k 1 and all j . For
a path P D .v0 ; v1 ; v2 ; : : : ; vk1 ; vk /, its length is denoted by .P / WD k.
A (directed) cycle or closed walk in G is a (directed) path from v to v for some
v 2V.
If C D .v0 ; v1 ; : : : ; vk1 ; v0 / is a cycle in G, then
C n WD .v0 ; v1 ; : : : ; vk1 ; v0 ; v1 ; : : : ; vk1 ; : : : ; v0 ; v1 ; : : : ; vk1 ; v0 /
n times
is called the n-th power of C .

Definition 2.5. Let G D .V; E/ be a graph.
G is called connected if there is a path from u to v for any vertices u v in G;
otherwise G is called disconnected.
If G is disconnected, its inducedS
connected subgraphs Gi D .Vi ; Ei / with pairwise disjoint Vi V satisfying Vi D V are called the components of G.
All graphs in Example 2.2 are connected and contain cycles.
Example 2.6. The graph .Z10 ; Ef2;8g / is disconnected with two components.
If a graph G contains a cycle, we call G cyclic, otherwise we call it acyclic. We
introduce the very important subclass of graphs which are connected, but acyclic.
Definition 2.7. A tree is a connected acyclic graph (cf. Fig. 4.5).
Exercise 2.8. Show that the following assertions are equivalent for a graph T D
.V; E/:
(i) T is a tree.
(ii) There is a unique path in T between any two distinct vertices of T .
(iii) T is maximally acyclic, i.e., T is acyclic, but T 0 WD .V; E [ feg/ is cyclic for
all e 2 .V
V / n E.
(iv) T is minimally connected, i.e., T is connected, but T 00 WD .V; E n feg/ is
disconnected for every e 2 E. This means that jEj D jV j 1.
128
Jurgen Sander
Figure 4.4. Disconnected Cayley graph .Z10 ; Ef2;8g / with two components
Proposition 2.9. Every connected graph G contains a spanning tree, which by definition means that there is a spanning subgraph of G which is a tree.
Proof. G contains a connected spanning subgraph, e.g., G itself. Now assume that G 0
is a connected spanning subgraph of G with a minimal number of edges. Then the

equivalence of (i) and (iv) in Exercise 2.8 tells us that G 0 is a tree.
Definition 2.10. Let G D .V; E/ be a graph.
The degree of v 2 V is d.v/ WD jfu 2 V W u vgj, i.e., the number of
neighbors of v.
A vertex of degree 1 is called a leaf.
If all vertices in V have the same degree (lets say k), then G is called regular
or, more precisely, k-regular.
Exercise 2.11. Every tree with more than two vertices has at least two leaves.
Example 2.12.
(i) Each cycle graph Cn is 2-regular.
(ii) The complete graph Kn is .n 1/-regular.
(iii) The circulant graph .Z10 ; E/ from Example 2.2 is 4-regular.
129
Figure 4.5. Tree
Definition 2.13. Let G be a finite group and S G. We usually assume that S is

a generating set of G and that S is symmetric, i.e., s 2 S implies s 1 2 S .
(i) Then the corresponding Cayley graph Cay.G; S / D .V; E/ is defined by V WD
G and E WD f.g; gs/ W g 2 G; s 2 S g.
(ii) A Cayley graph Cay.Zn ; Zn / is called unitary, where Zn WD Z=nZ is the
additive group of residues mod n for some positive integer n and Zn D f1
a n W .a; n/ D 1g is the multiplicative unit group in the residue class ring
Zn .
Example 2.14. Clearly, .Z10 ; Ef1;3;7;9g/ D Cay.Z10 ; f1; 3g/ (cf. Example 2.2
(iii)) is a unitary Cayley graph, and .Z10 ; Ef2;8g / D Cay.Z10 ; f2g/ (cf. Example
2.6) is a disconnected Cayley graph.
Exercise 2.15. Show that
(i) Cay.G; S / is connected if and only if S is a generating set.
(ii) Cay.G; S / is undirected if and only if S is symmetric.
(iii) Cay.G; S / is regular of degree jS j.
Definition 2.16. A graph G D .V; E/ is called bipartite if V is the union of two
disjoint subsets V1 and V2 such that E .V1
V2 / [ .V2
V1 / (cf. Fig. 4.6).
Exercise 2.17.
(i) Show that a bipartite graph cannot contain a cycle of odd length.
(ii) Prove that bipartite graphs are characterized by the property in (i).
Hint: Assume the graph is connected and consider a spanning tree.
130
Jurgen Sander
Figure 4.6. A bipartite graph
2.2 Some algebraic graph theory Much more than what we need from algebraic graph theory can be found in [7] of [14]. A tool which uniquely determines
a graph and, more importantly, enables us to apply (linear) algebra to examine the
graph and its properties is the adjacency matrix.
Definition 2.18. Let G D .V; E/ be a graph with V D fv1 ; : : : ; vn g, which may be
directed and is allowed to have loops. The adjacency matrix AG D .aij /n
n of G is
defined by setting
8
< 0; if vi 6 vj ,
1; if vi vj for i j ,
aij D
: 2; if v v for i D j .
i
i
Example 2.19. Consider the Cayley graph Cay.Z10 ; f1; 3g/ with Z10
f0; 1; 2; : : : ; 9g from Example 2.2 (iii). Then
1
0
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1
B1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0C
C
B
B0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1C
C
B
B1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0C
C
B
B0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0C
ACay.Z10 ;f1;3g/ D B
C
B0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0C
B0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1C
C
B
B1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0C
C
B
@0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1A
1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
'
Exercise 2.20. Let G be an undirected graph, hence AG is a real symmetric matrix.
131
Figure 4.7. Two non-isomorphic cospectral graphs
(i) Let x and y be eigenvectors of AG corresponding to different eigenvalues.

Show that x and y are orthogonal.
(ii) Show that all eigenvalues of AG are real.
(iii) Verify that all rational eigenvalues of AG are integers.
Definition 2.21. Let G D .V; E/ be a graph. The eigenvalues of G are the eigenvalues of AG . We call the multiset (= set with repetitions) of all eigenvalues of G the
spectrum Spec.G/ WD Spec.AG / of G (where Spec.G/ R by Exercise 2.20).
We have seen in Section 2.1 that renaming the vertices of a graph G1 gives an
isomorphic graph G2 . Usually AG1 AG2 , but we have
Proposition 2.22. If two graphs G1 and G2 are isomorphic, then Spec.G1 / D
Spec.G2 /.
Proof. Isomorphic graphs have the same number of vertices, thus assume that the
sets V1 and V2 of vertices of G1 and G2 , respectively, are V1 D fv1 ; : : : ; vn g and
V2 D fu1 ; : : : ; un g. Since G1 ' G2 , we have ui D v.i / for i D 1; : : : ; n with some
permutation on f1; 2; : : : ; ng. If P denotes the n
n permutation matrix of ,
we have Pt AG1 P D AG2 . So AG1 and AG2 are similar matrices, and therefore they
have the same characteristic polynomial, hence the same eigenvalues.

Exercise 2.23.
(i) Show that Spec.G1 / D Spec.G2 / (therefore G1 and G2 are called cospectral, or
isospectral), but G1 6' G2 for the two graphs G1 and G2 in Fig. 4.7. This means
that the spectrum of a graph does not determine the structure of the graph. In
other words, you cannot hear the shape of a graph, varying a famous question
of Marc Kac posed in 1966.
In particular, the graph on the right obviously is planar, i.e., it can be embedded
in the plane, while the graph on the left is not planar.
132
Jurgen Sander
(ii) What was the famous question of Marc Kac referred to in (i)?
(iii) Look at some examples to find out that isomorphic graphs usually do not have
the same eigenspaces!
A nice property of the adjacency matrix and its powers for a directed graph is
given by the following result, which is proved by straightforward induction.
Proposition 2.24. If G D .V; E/ is a directed graph, then the number of (simple and
nonsimple) directed paths of length ` from u 2 V to v 2 V is .A`G /uv .
Exercise 2.25. Let G be a graph (loopfree and undirected) with e edges and t triangles.
P
(i) Show that
2Spec.G/ D trAG D 0, where tr denotes the trace of a matrix.
P
The sum of the absolute values of the eigenvalues E.G/ WD
2Spec.G/ jj is
called the energy of G.
(ii) Use Proposition 2.24 to prove that trA2G D 2e and trA3G D 6t.
(iii) What about the corresponding problem for quadrilaterals?
The spectrum of a graph reflects quite a few of its properties. We are particularly
interested in regular graphs.
Proposition 2.26. Let G be a k-regular graph.
(i) Then k 2 Spec.G/, and jj k for all 2 Spec.G/.
(ii) If G is connected, then k has multiplicity 1 in Spec.G/.
(iii) If G is connected, then k 2 Spec.G/ if and only if G is bipartite.
Proof. Let G D .V; E/ with V D fv1 ; : : : ; vn g. Since G is k-regular, every row of
AG contains k entries 1 and n k entries 0. Hence
0 1
0 1 0 1
1
k
1
B1C
B1 C Bk C
B C
C B C
AG B
@ ::: A D @ ::: A D k @ ::: A ;
1
i.e., k 2 Spec.G/.
Let 2 Spec.G/ be arbitrary, hence AG x D x for some x D .x1 ; : : : ; xn / 0.
Assume that jxm j is the largest among all jxi j. Then
xi kjxm j;
(4.1)
jxm j D j.AG x/m j D
vi vm
thus jj k, which proves (i).

To verify (ii), it remains to show that k has multiplicity 1 in Spec.G/. Assume that AG x D kx for some x 0. Let again jxm j be the largest and w.l.o.g.
133
x
Pm > 0 (otherwise consider x). It follows from (4.1) (without absolute values) that
vi vm xi D kxm . Since vm has k neighbors, the sum has k terms and thus all
corresponding summands xi must be equal to xm . Since G is connected, iteration of
the argument finally yields xi D xm for all i . This means that .1; 1; : : : ; 1/t spans the
eigenspace corresponding to D k.
We are left with (iii). First assume that AG x D kx for some x 0. Again
we may assume w.l.o.g. that some xm > 0 has maximal jxm j. Moreover, we may
also assume that xi > 0 for 1 i s and xi < 0 for t C 1 i n, while
xsC1 D xsC2 D : : : D xt D 0. As in (4.1) we conclude that
kxm D
s
X
i D1
vi vm
xi C
n
X
i Dt C1
vi vm
xi
n
X
xi kxm :
i Dt C1
vi vm
This means we have in fact equality everywhere, hence vi 6 vm for 1 i s

and xi D xm for all vi vm . Iterating this argument, each neighbor vj , say, of
a neighbor vi of vm has again xj D xi D xm . Since G is connected, V splits into
two sets, V1 WD fvi W xi D xm g and V2 WD fvi W xi D mg, such that u 6 v for any
u; v 2 V1 or any u; v 2 V2 . This means that G is bipartite.
To prove the opposite direction of (iii) we observe that after reordering the vertices
a connected bipartite graph G typically has an adjacency matrix of type
1
0
0 0 0 0 0 0
B 0 0 0 0 0 0 C
C
B
B 0 0 0 0 0 0 C
C
B
B 0 0 0 0 0 0 C
C
B
B 0 0 0 0 0 0 C
AG D B
C;
B 0 0 0 0 0 0 C
B 0 0 0 0 C
C
B
B 0 0 0 0 C
C
B
@ 0 0 0 0 A
0 0 0 0
where the entries in the positions are 0 or 1. Now it is easy to see that
AG .1; : : : ; 1; 1; : : : ; 1/t D .k; : : : ; k; k; : : : ; k/t
D .k/.1; : : : ; 1; 1; : : : ; 1/t ;
i.e., k 2 Spec.G/.
Beyond the results of Proposition 2.26 the following facts are well known:
A k-regular graph has as many components as the multiplicity of its eigenvalue
k.
Spec.G/ is symmetric about the origin, i.e., the multiplicities of and
in Spec.G/ are the same, if and only if G is bipartite (this uses the Perron
Frobenius Theorem: see e.g. [14], Theorem 8.8.1 on the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of nonnegative matrices; also cf. Theorem 3.24).
134
Jurgen Sander
Exercise 2.27. We know that k 2 Spec.G/ for a k-regular graph G. Show that G
necessarily is connected if k has multiplicity 1 in Spec.G/.
Definition 2.28. A graph G is called circulant if AG is a circulant matrix (briefly:
a circulant, cf. [11]), i.e. a square matrix whose rows are obtained by cylic right shifts
of the first row.
Example 2.29. Clearly, Cay.Z10 ; f1; 3g/, the cycle graphs Cn and the complete
graphs Kn are examples of circulant graphs.
/
Proposition 2.30 (Spectrum of Cn ). Let n be a positive integer and !j WD exp. 2ij
n
for j D 0; 1; : : : ; n 1. We have

(i) Spec.Cn / D !j C !1 W j D 0; 1; : : : ; n 1 .
j
(ii) The largest eigenvalue of Cn is 2 .with multiplicity 1/, and the second largest
.with multiplicity 2/. The smallest eigenvalue is 2 .with mulis 2 cos .n1/
n
.with multiplicity 2/ for odd n.
tiplicity 1/ for even n, and it is 2 cos .n1/
n
(iii) Cn is bipartite if and only if n is even.
Proof. A helpful observation is that ACn D P C P 1 , where P is the permutation
matrix of the permutation defined by a cyclic left shift. If ! is any n-th root of unity,
then it is obvious that the vector .1; !; ! 2 ; : : : ; ! n1 /t is an eigenvector of P with
eigenvalue ! as well as an eigenvector of P 1 with eigenvalue !1 . Since there are
exactly n n-th roots of unity, namely ! D !j for j D 0; 1; : : : ; n 1, identity (i)
follows.
By (i), the largest eigenvalue is !0 C !10 D 2 (with multiplicity 1), and the
D !1 C
second largest is 2 cos .n1/
n
1
!1
D !n1 C
1
!n1
(with multiplicity 2).
The smallest eigenvalue is 2 (with multiplicity 1) for even n, and it is 2 cos .n1/
n
(with multiplicity 2) for odd n.
(iii) follows from (ii) and Proposition 2.26 (iii).

Arguing as in the preceding Proposition 2.30 one can show
Proposition 2.31. If A is a circulant n
n matrix with first row a0 ; a1 ; : : : ; an1 , say,
then the eigenvalues j are given by
j WD
n1
X
ak !jk
.j D 0; 1; : : : ; n 1/;
kD0
with corresponding eigenvectors vj WD .1; !j ; !j2 ; : : : ; !jn1 /t , where !j WD

exp. 2ij
/.
n
A class of graphs which are interesting with respect to arithmetic consists of the
so-called integral graphs.
135
Definition 2.32. A graph G is called integral if Spec.G/ Z.

In 1974 Frank Harary and Allen Schwenk introduced this concept and published
a volume of Springer Lecture Notes entitled Which graphs have integral spectra?
[16]. A graph theoretical classification of all integral graphs is still unknown. An
important subclass of the integral graphs is considered in the following theorem and
is thus much better understood than integral graphs in general.
Theorem 2.33 (Wasin So [46], 2005). Every integral circulant graph G is uniquely
characterized by a so-called gcd graph gcd.n; D/ D ICG.n; D/ defined as follows:
n is the order of G and gcd.n; D/ D .Zn ; E/ is a Cayley graph on Zn , where D is
a set of positive divisors of n and E WD f.a; b/ W a; b 2 Zn ; .a b; n/ 2 Dg.
Sketch of proof. Let G be any circulant graph. Circulant graphs are obviously regular,
more precisely they are Cayley graphs on cyclic groups, i.e., w.l.o.g. G ' Cay.Zn ; S /
for the order n of G and a suitable set S . By Proposition 2.31 we know that each
eigenvalue 2 Spec.G/ is an integral linear combination of n-th roots of unity.
By a famous result of Lam and Leung [26] published in 2000, one has a clear understanding of when sums of roots of unity vanish, and one could apply this result here. However, it luckily turns out in our situation that if S is a union of sets
Sd WD fd; 2d; : : : ; . dn 1/d g for some divisors d j n satisfying .d; dn / D 1, then
each eigenvalue can be expressed as a sum of Ramanujan sums, a special sum
well known in analytic number theory and, in particular, always with integral values. Consequently, we have Spec.G/ Z. Of course, it remains to check that
Spec.G/ Z imposes
the above mentioned structure on S . It is then not difficult to
S
check that S D Sd yields the asserted edge set E.

In Section 4 we shall study arithmetical properties of integral circulant graphs.
Over the last decades the theory of expander graphs has attracted quite a lot of
interest. These graphs with strong connectivity properties have a lot of applicatory
consequences, e.g., the resolution of an extremal problem in communication network
theory (cf. [6]), and they are also of importance in theoretical computer science
(cf.[19]). A special class of expanders are Ramanujan graphs, which were introduced
by Lubotzky, Phillips, and Sarnak [31] in 1988.
Definition 2.34. A k-regular graph G D .V; E/ is called a Ramanujan graph or
simply
Ramanujan, if .G/ WD maxfjjW 2 Spec.G/; jj < kg satisfies .G/
p
2 k 1.
As we shall see in Theorem 3.20 below, these graphs are intimately linked with the
theory of primes on graphs (see [35]). In Section 4 we shall examine which integral
circulant graphs are Ramanujan graphs.
136
Jurgen Sander
Exercise 2.35. Which of the cycle graphs Cn and the complete graphs Kn are Ramanujan?
3 The prime number theorem for graphs

We denote by P the set of prime numbers and, as usual, by
X
.x/ WD
1
px; p2P
the function counting the prime numbers up to x in the set of positive integers. There
is indeed a concept of primality in graphs, and this will be defined for arbitrary finite,
undirected and connected graphs G. We introduce a corresponding prime counting
function G .x/ and relate it to the Ihara zeta function. This reveals analogies to other
zeta functions, in particular the classical Riemann zeta function with its application
to .x/ (cf. [4], [23] or [37]). We shall derive determinant formulae and functional
equations and consider a Riemann hypothesis, which is related to the Ramanujan
property of a graph (cf. Def. 2.34). Finally, the Ihara zeta function is used to prove
a graph-theoretic prime number theorem. Most of the material covered in this section
is taken from Audrey Terras book Zeta Functions of Graphs A Stroll through the
Garden [48].
3.1 Primes in friendly graphs

Assumption. The graphs G D .V; E/ we consider always are finite, undirected, and
connected.
Unless otherwise stated, we also assume that G has no leaves (= vertices of degree 1) and is not a cycle graph with or without leaves (i.e., G n fleavesg Cn for
all n, in other words G is not unicyclic).
A graph is called friendly if it satisfies the above assumption.
Exercise 3.1. Show that every friendly graph with at least one edge contains a cycle
and, therefore, is multicyclic.
Let G D .V; E/ be a friendly graph with jEj D m. We orient the m edges of G
arbitrarily to obtain directed edges e1 ; e2 ; : : : ; em (with arbitrary labelling). Then we
label the inverse edges by setting emCj WD ej1 , where ej1 D .v; u/ for ej D .u; v/.
E with EE WD E [ E 1 is called an orientation of G.
The graph GE D .V; E/
137
Figure 4.8. An orientation of K4 e
Example 3.2 (An orientation of K4 e).

E be an orientation of
Definition 3.3. Let G D .V; E/ be a graph, and let GE D .V; E/
1 E
G. For m WD jEj D 2 jEj, the 2m
2m matrix WGE D .wij / is defined as follows:
E but not e1 D ej , and
Set wij D 1 if ei ej is a directed path (of length 2) in G,
i
otherwise wij WD 0. Then WGE is called the edge adjacency matrix of G.
Definition 3.4. Let C D e1 e2 : : : es be a path of edges in an orientation GE of
a graph G.
C is said to have a backtrack if ej C1 D ej1 for some j 2 f1; 2; : : : ; s 1g or
es D e11 .
If C is closed but not the power of a shorter cycle, then we call it a primitive
or prime path if it has no backtracks.
Two cycles are said to be equivalent if we get one from the other just by changing the starting vertex. For C closed,
C WD fC; e2 e3 : : : es e1 ; e3 : : : es e1 e2 ; : : : ; es e1 e2 : : : es1 g
is called the equivalence class of C .
A prime in G is an equivalence class P of prime paths, i.e., P is a primitive
path.
P WD .P / is called the length of the prime P .
138
Jurgen Sander
Example 3.5.
(i) Primes in K4 e are (Ex. 3.2 contd) :
C1 for C1 WD e2 e3 e5 and e10 e8 e7 D C11 with lengths C1 D
C11 D 3;
C2 for C2 WD e1 e2 e3 e4 with length C2 D 4;
C2n C3 for C3 WD e1 e10 e4 and each n 0, hence there are infinitely
many primes in K4 e.
(ii) In naughty graphs one could also look for primes, but the example at the beginning of this section shows that there are only two primes, namely the two
orientations of the unique cycle.
Exercise 3.6.
(i) Check that equivalence between cycles is in fact an equivalence relation.
(ii) Let C be a prime path. Show that each closed path equivalent with C is also
a prime path.
(iii) Verify that powers of primes are the only non-primes among cycles.
(iv) If C is a cycle, we can factorize it into subcycles C1 and C2 if C1 and C2 have
a common vertex v and, starting from v, we obtain C by concatenation of C1
and C2 . Give examples of the fact that we do not have unique factorization of
cycles into primes, e.g., in Example 3.5.
Definition 3.7. Let G be a friendly graph, and let PG be the set of primes in G. Then
G .k/ WD #fP 2 PG W P D kg
is called the prime counting function. (Observe the D sign as opposed to in the
prime counting function for integers).
An important parameter will be the greatest common divisor of the prime path
lengths
G WD gcdfP W P 2 PG g
(4.2)
in a friendly graph G.
Proposition 3.8. Let G be a friendly graph. Then G .k/ D 0 if G k.
Proof. Since G j P for each prime P , there is no prime P with P D k for
G k.
3.2 Iharas zeta function The Riemann zeta function encodes information
about the distribution of primes in the set of positive integers and can be used to
prove the prime number theorem (cf. [4], [23] or [37]). Other zeta functions have
been defined and studied in order to obtain information about mathematical objects
139
like prime numbers in arithmetic progressions (Dirichlet L-functions), prime ideals

in rings of algebraic integers (Dedekind zeta functions), primitive closed geodesics
in manifolds (Selberg zeta function), and many more (see [24], [27], [33], [38]). We
shall look at a zeta function related to primes in graphs and will uncover analogies
with the other zeta functions.
The Ihara zeta function was first defined by Yasutaka Ihara [21] in the 1960s in the
context of discrete subgroups of the two-by-two p-adic special linear group. JeanPierre Serre suggested 1977 in his book Arbres, Amalgames, SL2 (DTrees [43])
that Iharas original definition could be reinterpreted graph-theoretically, namely as
a zeta function related to closed geodesics in graphs (compare with the Selberg zeta
function). In 1985 Toshikazu Sunada [47] put this suggestion into practice.
Definition 3.9. Let G be a friendly graph. The Ihara zeta function is the complex
function
1
Y
G .u/ D .u; G/ WD
;
(4.3)
1 uP
P 2PG
where u 2 C is supposed to have sufficiently small absolute value. Recall that we

distinguish between the primes P and P 1 . The question of convergence will be
postponed until after Proposition 3.11.
Example 3.10. Although the cycle graph Cn is not friendly (with only two primes =
cycle in two orientations), we still can evaluate its Ihara zeta function:
!2
1
X
n 2
kn
Cn .u/ D .1 u / D
u
:
kD0
Let us explain at the outset why the Ihara zeta function of a friendly graph G is
useful in dealing with primes in G. To this end, let Nm .G/ be the number of cycles of
length m without backtracks in G.
Proposition 3.11. For all u 2 C with sufficiently small absolute value juj it holds
that
1
X
Nm .G/ m
log G .u/ D
(4.4)
u :
m
mD1
Proof. Taking logarithms in (4.3) we obtain

1
Y
X
D
log 1 uP
log G .u/ D log
1 uP
P 2PG
1
X
P 2PG j D1
P 2PG
1 j P
u
D
j
1
X
P primitive j D1
X
P primitive
1
j
u.P / ;
j
.P /
1
1 X 1 j .P /
u
.P /
j
j D1
140
Jurgen Sander
since there are exactly .P / elements in a prime P and trivially .P j / D j .P /.
As seen in Exercise 3.6 (iii), any cycle without backtrack in G is a power of some
primitive cycle. Hence
X
1
log G .u/ D
u.C /
.C
/
C cycle w/o backtr.
D
1
X
Nm .G/ m
u :
m
mD1
Now let us verify that G .u/ does indeed converge inside some circle in the complex plane with positive radius centered at 0. By Proposition 2.24, .Am
G /jj equals the
number of directed paths of length m from vj 2 V to vj , which in turn is the number
of directed cycles of length m containing vj . Hence .Am
G /jj is greater than or equal
to the number of cycles of length m containing vj . Therefore, setting n WD jV j for
the number of vertices in G, we have
n
X
.Am
G /jj Nm .G/:
j D1
Since AG has only non-negative entries 0 and 1, it is easy to see that

m
.Am
G /ij . /ij ;
where denotes the n

n-matrix with all entries 1. Obviously, m D nm1 , hence
Nm .G/
n
X
nm1 D nm :
jD
For juj <
1
n
the sum
1
X
Nm .G/ m
u
m
mD1
converges absolutely. By Proposition 3.11, this implies that log G .u/ is well defined
for juj < n1 , and thus the same is true for G .u/ itself.

We introduce the notion of the radius of convergence RG such that G .u/ converges inside juj < RG and has a singularity on the border juj D RG , called circle of
convergence.
One might like to compare formula (4.4) with related identities for the classical Riemann zeta function and the von Mangoldt function or other characteristic
functions for primes in Z (cf. [4] or [23]).
We are lucky to have explicit formulae which allow us to compute G .u/. One of
them is called the two-term determinant formula (Theorem 3.31) and relates G .u/ to
141
the determinant of the edge adjacency matrix WGE (cf. Definition 3.3). This formula
can be used to obtain the so-called Ihara three-term determinant formula (Theorem
3.15).
In order to formulate the latter result, we should consider the fundamental group
of a graph and its rank. The fundamental group, in general associated to any given
pointed topological space, provides a way to determine when two paths, starting and
ending at a fixed base point, hence called loops, can be continuously deformed into
each other. Such loops are considered equivalent. Two loops can be combined by just
wandering around the first one and afterwards around the second one. The elements
of the fundamental group are the equivalence classes of loops and the operation is the
combination of these.
One of the simplest examples is the fundamental group of the circle, which is
obviously isomorphic to the group .Z; C/. This corresponds to the fundamental group
of any of the cycle graphs Cn (with or without leaves). In general, it turns out that the
fundamental group .G; v1 / of a graph G D .V; E/ relative to the base vertex v1 2 V
is a free group on r generators, where r is the rank of the group. .G; v1 / and, in
particular, its rank r can easily be determined by the following
Algorithm 3.12. Let G D .V; E/ be a graph (possibly directed with multi-edges and
loops).
E
(1) Choose any orientation of G to obtain G.
(2) Choose any spanning tree T D .V; E 0 / of G (which exists by Proposition 2.9).
(3) For each edge vi vj 2 E n E 0 , construct a path from v1 to vi and from vj back
to v1 (all these paths are unique by Exercise 2.8) to obtain a cycle starting from
v1 via vi and vj back to v1 .
Proposition 3.13. Let G D .V; E/ be a graph with v1 2 V .
(i) The equivalence classes of the cycles obtained in (3) of Algorithm 3.12 form
a free basis of .G; v1 /.
(ii) The rank r of .G; v1 / satisfies r D jEj jV j C 1.
Proof. The fundamental group .G; v1 / consists of sequences of cycles (more precisely, equivalence classes of cycles) starting from v1 . The spanning tree constructed
in step (2) of Algorithm 3.12 does not have any cycles. However, each edge in E n E 0
completes a unique cycle, and different edges in E n E 0 yield inequivalent cycles.
This proves (i).
By (i) we know that r D jEj jE 0 j, where E 0 is the edge set of a spanning tree
of G. By Exercise 2.8, a tree on jV j vertices has jV j 1 edges. This proves (ii).
Example 3.14. We determine a free basis and the rank of the fundamental group of
the graph G below:
142
Jurgen Sander
Figure 4.9. How to determine the fundamental group of a graph
143
(1) We first choose a vertex v1 , any orientation of G, and any spanning tree T of
G.
(2) For each directed edge e in G not belonging to T , we construct the unique
directed cycle in G starting from v1 through e.
(3) These cycles are a free basis of .G; v1 / and their number is the rank of the
fundamental group.
Now we are able to formulate the three-term determinant formula, first proved by
Y. Ihara [21] in 1966 and later generalized by K. Hashimoto [18] in 1989 and H. Bass
[5] in 1992.
Theorem 3.15 (Iharas three-term determinant formula). Let G D .V; E/ be a friendly
graph with V D fv1 ; : : : ; vn g. Let QG D .qij / be the n
n diagonal matrix with
diagonal entries qjj D d.vj / 1, where d.vj / is the degree of vj . Then
G .u/1 D .1 u2 /r1 det.I AG u C QG u2 /;
where I is the unit matrix and r D jEj jV j C 1 is the rank of the fundamental group
of G.
Before proving Theorem 3.15 in Section 3.3, let us deduce a variety of consequences of the three-term determinant formula.
Example 3.16. (cf. Fig. 4.10 and 4.11) Consider the complete graph K4 with r D
6 4 C 1 D 3,
1
0
0 1 1 1
B1 0 1 1C
AK4 D @
1 1 0 1A
1 1 1 0
and QK4 D 2I , because K4 is 3-regular. The three-term determinant formula yields
1
0 2
2u C 1
u
u
u
B u
u
u C
2u2 C 1
C
K4 .u/1 D .1 u2 /2 detB
2
@ u
u A
u
2u C 1
u
u
u
2u2 C 1
D .1 u2 /2 .1 u/.1 2u/.1 C u C 2u2 /3 :
located as follows:
Hence the five poles of K4 .u/ with different multiplicities are p
three real poles at 1 and 12 , and two complex poles at 14 .1 i 7/ (with absolute
p
value 22 ). Since the pole closest to the origin lies at 12 , we have RK4 D
of convergence.
1
2
as radius
144
Jurgen Sander
Figure 4.10. Iharas zeta function for K4 in the u-variable: z D jK4 .x C iy/j1 . This figure is
taken from [48] with permission of the author.
Figure 4.11. Iharas zeta function for K4 in the s-variable: z D jK4 .2.xCiy/ /j1 . This figure is
taken from [48] with permission of the author.
Exercise 3.17. Show that the irregular graph K4 e (cf. Example 3.2) satisfies
K4 e .u/1 D .1 u2 /.1 u/.1 C u2 /.1 C u C 2u2 /.1 u2 2u3 /
p
with nine roots: 1; i; 14 .1 i 7/ and three cubic roots u1 ; u2 ; u3 , say, satisfying js1 j 0:657 and js2 j D js3 j 0:872. Hence the radius of convergence is
RK4 e 0:657.
We shall now specialize on regular graphs. For this graph class a lot of the concepts we are interested in are partly easier to understand, but most results can be
generalized to irregular graphs.
Reconsider the regular graph K4 (cf. Example 3.16) with
K4 .u/1 D .1 u2 /2 .1 u/.1 2u/.1 C u C 2u2 /3 :
We take a look at z D jK4 .x C iy/j1 (Fig. 4.10), depicting the five zeros (not
counting multiplicities).
145
Figure 4.12. Riemanns zeta function z D j.x C iy/j. This figure is taken from [48] with
permission of the author.
To catch another (logarithmic) sight of z D jK4 .u/j1, we make the change

of complex variable u 7! 21u and display the landscape of z D jK4 .2.xCiy/ /j1
(Fig. 4.11).
This bears some resemblance to the landscape z D j.x C iy/j of Riemanns zeta
function .s/ (Fig. 4.12).
In fact, the resemblance between the zeta functions of Riemann and Ihara is striking. The classical Riemann hypothesis (see e.g. [23] or [37]) conjectures the location of the non-trivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function.
Definition 3.18. Let G be a friendly .q C 1/-regular graph and consider the Ihara zeta
function G .q s / as a complex function in s 2 C. We say that G .q s / satisfies the
Riemann hypothesis if G .q s /1 can vanish in the critical strip 0 < Re s < 1 only
for Re s D 12 , i.e., for juj D jq s j D p1q .
Exercise 3.19. Check that K4 .2s / satisfies the Riemann hypothesis (cf. Example
3.16).
Theorem 3.20. Let G be a friendly .q C 1/-regular graph. Then G .q s / satisfies the
Riemann hypothesis if and only if G is a Ramanujan graph .cf. Definition 2.34/.
Proof. By the determinant formula in Theorem 3.15, we have
G .q s /1 D .1 q 2s /r1 det.I AG q s C QG q 2s /:
(4.5)
Since AG is a real symmetric matrix, it is diagonalizable (even by means of orthonormal matrices). Hence there is an invertible matrix T such that T 1 AG T D LG , where
146
Jurgen Sander
LG is a diagonal matrix with the eigenvalues of G on the diagonal. Since G is assumed

to be .q C 1/-regular, we have QG D qI . Altogether

det.I AG q s C QG q 2s / D det T I T 1 T .q s LG /T 1 C T .q 12s I /T 1

D det T det I q s LG C q 12s I det T 1

D det I q s LG C q 12s I
Y

D
1 q s C q 12s ;
2Spec.G/
hence
G .q s /1 D .1 q 2s /r1

1 q s C q 12s :
2Spec.G/
Fix some 2 Spec.G/ and write

1 q s C q 12s D .1 1 q s /.1 2 q s /;
i.e., 1 and 2 are reciprocals of poles of G .q s / satisfying 1 C 2 D and
1 2 D q. This implies the quadratic equation 12 1 D q, leading to
1 D
p
p

1
1
and 2 D 2 4q ;
C 2 4q
2
2
(4.6)
or vice versa.
By Proposition 2.26 we know that q C 1 2 Spec.G/ and jj q C 1 for all
p
2 Spec.G/. We distiguish three cases, namely D .q C 1/, jj 2 q, and
p
2 q < jj < q C 1.
Case 1: D .q C 1/.
By (4.6), we immediately obtain 1 D q and 2 D 1, or vice versa.
p
Case 2: jj 2 q.
p
2

4q

0,
thus
2
C
and
2 4q D i
It
follows
that

1
2
p
2
4q . This implies that
p
1p
1
p
2 C .4q 2 / D q;
i 4q 2 D
2
2
p
and similarly j2 j D q.
p
Case 3: 2 q < jj < q C 1.
p
Now 1 ; 2 2 R. Observing that C 2 4q is increasing in , we obtain
p
p
by (4.6) for positive , i.e., for 2 q < < q C 1, that q < 1 < q. Since
p
1 2 D q, this implies 1 < 2 < q. Checking the vice versas and < 0,
p
we conclude that 1 < ji j < q, but ji j q for i D 1; 2.
j1 j D
147
Figure 4.13. Possible locations for poles of G .u/ for regular G. This figure is taken from [48] with
permission of the author.
To complete the proof we just have to remember that the poles of G .q s /, other
than those coming from the first factor in (4.5) and having < s D 0, are the reciprocals
of some i , i.e., i D q s and ji j D jq < sCi = s j D q < s . The eigenvalues .q C 1/ 2
Spec.G/ are maximal in absolute value and therefore irrelevant for the Ramanujan
property. At the same time, they do not affect the Riemann hypothesis, because they
correspond to poles having < s D 1 or < s D 0 (see Case 1). The eigenvalues
considered in Case 2 satisfy the Ramanujan condition and the corresponding i all
have < s D 12 , satisfying the Riemann hypothesis, as shown in Case 2. If there existed
an eigenvalue 2 Spec.G/ belonging to Case 3, it would violate the Ramanujan
condition. At the same time, Case 3 has revealed the existence of a pole with 0 <
< s < 1, but < s 12 , thus contradicting the Riemann hypothesis.

The preceding proof immediately implies
Corollary 3.21. Let G be a friendly .q C 1/-regular graph.
(i) The figure above shows the possible locations for the poles of G .u/. Poles
satisfying the Riemann hypothesis are those on the circle.
(ii) The radius of convergence satisfies RG D q1 .
Setting again u D q s , there are several functional equations for the Ihara zeta
function on a regular graph, relating the value at s to that at 1 s (corresponding to
1
u $ qu
), just as in the case of the Riemann zeta function.
Theorem 3.22 (Functional equations for Ihara zeta functions). Let G be friendly
.q C 1/-regular graph of order n and rank r of its fundamental group. Then, among
other similar identities, we have
n
1
(i) G.1/ .u/ WD .1 u2 /r1C 2 .1 q 2 u2 / 2 G .u/ D .1/n G.1/ . qu
/;
.2/
.2/
1
/;
(ii) G .u/ WD .1 C u/r1 .1 u/r1Cn .1 qu/n G .u/ D G . qu
.3/
.3/
1
/.
(iii) G .u/ WD .1 u2 /r1 .1 C qu/n G .u/ D G . qu
148
Jurgen Sander
Proof of (i): The determinant formula in Theorem 3.15 and the transformation u 7!
1
imply
qu
n
G.1/ .u/ D .1 u2 / 2 .1 q 2 u2 / 2 det.I AG u C qu2 I /1

2
n2
n2

1
1
q
1
q
D
1
1
det I
AG C 2 2 I
q 2 u2
q 2 u2
qu
q u
1
D .1/n G.1/
:
qu
Exercise 3.23.
(i) Check (ii) and (iii) in Theorem 3.22.
1
1
if it has one at u. Verify that qu
is the complex
(ii) Show that G has a pole at qu
1
lies in the interval
conjugate of u if u lies on the circle of radius p1q , and that qu
. q1 ; p1q / for u 2 . p1q ; 1/.

Most of the results in this section can be generalized to irregular graphs. All we
shall present here is a theorem showing the possible location of the poles of G for
irregular G.
Theorem 3.24 (Motoko Kotani and Toshikazu Sunada [25], 2000). Let G D .V; E/
be a friendly graph with p C 1 WD minfd.v/ W v 2 V g and q C 1 WD maxfd.v/ W
v 2 V g, and let RG be the radius of convergence of G .
(i) We have
1
q
RG
1
p,
and every pole u of G .u/ satisfies RG juj 1.
(ii) Every non-real pole u 2 C of G .u/ lies in the ring
p1
q
juj
p1 .
p
(iii) The poles u of G .u/ lying on the circle juj D RG have the form
u D RG e
2 i k
G
.k D 1; 2; : : : ; G /;
(4.7)
where G D gcdfP W P 2 PG g, as defined in (4.2).

The most interesting part of the preceding theorem is the characterization in (iii).
It is a rather straightforward consequence of an advanced result in linear algebra
called the PerronFrobenius theorem (cf. [20]), which essentially states:
Let M be an n
n matrix with non-negative real entries and irreducible,
i.e. .I C M /n1 has only positive entries. Then the eigenvalues k 2
Spec.M / .k D 1; : : : ; K/, say, of maximal absolute value are given by
2 i k
k D max Spec.M / e K .
Applying this to the edge adjacency matrix M WD WGE proves (iii).
149
Example 3.25. The irregular graph G on the left below is obtained by adding four
vertices to each edge of the complete graph K5 . Clearly, p C 1 D 2 and q C 1 D 4.
On the right, all poles u 1 of G .u/ are depicted (observe

5-fold rotational
p
p
3
1
symmetry). The circles centered at 0 have inverse radii pq D 3 0:577, RG D
rq
5 1
1 5
0:896, and p1p D 1, coming from G .u/1 D K
.u / D .1 u10 /5
3
5
.1 3u5 /.1 u5 /.1 C u5 C 3u10 /. (The figures are taken from [48] with permission
of the author.)
Exercise 3.26. Prove that in our case K D G (cf. [48], p. 95).
We shall see in Exercise 3.34 how to produce pictures like Figure 4.14.
3.3 The determinant formulae for Iharas zeta function A proof of

Iharas three-term determinant formula has still to be given. We shall proceed by
first showing the two-term determinant formula (Theorem 3.31) mentioned above
and derive Theorem 3.15 from it. First we have to introduce the exponential function
and the logarithmic function for square matrices (as one usually does in the theory of
Lie groups).
Definition 3.27. For an n
n matrix X over R or C, the matrix
exp X WD
1
X
1 k
X
k
kD0
is called the matrix exponential of X .

Proposition 3.28. Let X; Y be n
n matrices over R or C.
(i) The series defining exp X converges absolutely.
(ii) For the zero matrix O we have exp O D I .
150
Jurgen Sander
Figure 4.14. Locations of poles of G .u/ for an irregular random graph G with 800 vertices:
p
p
violet circle of radius p, blue circle of radius q;
1
green (Riemann hypothesis) circle of radius p .
RG
RH says spectrum should lie inside green circle almost true!
This figure is taken from [48] with permission of the author.
(iii) If X D .xij / is diagonal, then exp X D .xQ ij / with xQ i i D exi i and xQ ij D 0 for
i j.
(iv) If X Y D YX , then .exp X /.exp Y / D .exp Y /.exp X / D exp.X C Y /.
(v) If Y is invertible, then exp.Y 1 X Y / D Y 1 .exp X /Y .
(vi) det.exp X / D etrX .
Proof of (vi). For any X there is an invertible matrix Y such that YX Y 1 is an upper
triangular matrix T , say (see any book on linear algebra). Hence
.v/
det.exp X / D det.exp.Y 1 T Y // D det.Y 1 .exp T / Y /

D det.Y 1 / det.exp T / det Y D det.exp T /:
Since T D .tij / is upper triangular, so is T k D .tij.k/ / for all k. In particular, ti.k/
i D
tiki for all i and k. This implies, by the definition of the matrix exponential, that
exp T D .tQij / is upper diagonal with tQi i D eti i for all i . Hence
det.exp T / D et11 etnn D etrT D etrX ;
since trT D tr.Y .X Y 1 // D tr..X Y 1 /Y / D trX .
Exercise 3.29. Prove Proposition 3.28 (i)(v).

Definition 3.30. If the n
n matrices X and Y over R or C satisfy exp Y D X , then
Y D log X is called a matrix logarithm of X .
151
log X does not exist for every matrix X , and if it exists it is usually not unique.
For X D .xij /,
v
uX
n
u n X
kX kFrob WD t
jxij j2
i D1 j D1
is called the Frobenius norm or Schur norm of X . If kX kFrob < 1, then

log.I X / D
1
X
1 k
X
k
(4.8)
kD1
is a matrix logarithm of X .
Theorem 3.31 (Two-term determinant formula). Let G be a friendly graph and let GE
be an orientation of G with edge adjacency matrix WGE . Then
G .u/1 D det.I WGE u/:
Proof. Let G D .V; E/ and m WD jEj. Recall that Nm .G/ is the number of backtrackless cycles of length m in G. We first claim that
Nm .G/ D tr W Em :
(4.9)
.k/
/ for all positive k. By induction,
To prove this, let WGE D .wij / and W Ek D .wij
G
.m/
wij
D
XX
`1
`2
:::
wi `1 w`1 `2 : : : w`m1 j ;
`m1
hence
tr W Em D
G
X
i
wi.m/
i D
XXX
i
`1
`2
:::
wi `1 w`1 `2 : : : w`m1 i :
`m1
Since we have wi `1 w`1 `2 : : : w`m1 i D 1 if and only if ei e`1 e`2 : : : e`m1 is a closed
path of length m starting with edge ei , tr W Em apparently counts all these paths, and
G
just the ones without backtracks due to the definition of wij . This proves (4.9).
By virtue of identities (4.4) in Proposition 3.11 and (4.9), we have for sufficiently
small juj
!
1
1
1
X
X
X
Nm .G/ m
um
1
m
m
; (4.10)
u D
tr W E D tr
.W u/
log G .u/ D
G
m
m
m GE
mD1
mD1
mD1
where the last identity follows from the fact that tr is continous and linear.
152
Jurgen Sander
If juj is sufficiently small, we clearly have kWGE ukFrob < 1, and consequently
1
X
1
.WGE u/m D log.I WGE u/
m
mD1
by (4.8). This and (4.10) imply

G .u/
1
De
tr log.I WGE u/

D det exp log.I WGE u/ D det.I WGE u/; (4.11)
thanks to Proposition 3.28 (vi).
Corollary 3.32. For a friendly graph G with orientation GE and edge adjacency matrix
WGE , we have
Y
.1 u/:
G .u/1 D
2Spec.WGE /
In particular, the poles of G .u/ are the reciprocals of the eigenvalues of WGE .
Proof. det.zI WGE / is the monic characteristic polynomial of WGE , i.e.,
Y
det.zI WGE / D
.z /:
2Spec.WGE /
For the number m of edges in G, we consequently have

1
1
Y
det.I WGE u/ D det u
I WGE D u2m

u
u
2Spec.WGE /
Y
D
.1 u/:
2Spec.WGE /
The last ingredients we need to verify Theorem 3.15 are a few identities for the
following block matrices related to an orientation GE of a graph G D .V; E/ with
n WD jV j and m WD jEj:
The 2m
2m matrix

Om Im
;
J WD
Im Om
where Om denotes the m

m zero matrix and Im is the m
m unit matrix;
the n
2m start matrix SGE D .sij /, derived by

sij WD
E
1; if vi is the starting vertex of ej in G,
0; otherwiseI
153
the n
2m terminal matrix TGE D .tij / defined by

tij WD
E
1; if vi is the terminal vertex of ej in G,
0; otherwise:
Note that, upon numbering directed edges in our orientation GE of G by the rule
ej Cm WD ej1 , we have S D .M jN / and T D .N jM / for two suitable n
m
matrices M and N .
Proposition 3.33. Let G D .V; E/ be a graph with n WD jV j and m WD jEj, and
let GE be an orientation of G. Let J , SGE , and TGE be defined as above, AG be the
E and QG be as defined
adjacency matrix of G, WGE be the edge adjacency matrix of G,
in Theorem 3.15. Then
(i) SGE J D TGE and TGE J D SGE ;
(ii) AG D SGE T Et and QG C In D SGE S tE D TGE T Et ;
G
(iii) WGE C J D T Et SGE .

G
Partial proof. The proofs of (i) and the second identity in (ii) are left as exercises. By
the definition of matrix multiplication,
2m
X

sij tkj ;
SGE T Et i k D
G
(4.12)
j D1
where sij tkj D 1 if and only if the edge ej has starting vertex vi and terminal vertex
vk , and sij tkj D 0 otherwise. Hence the right-hand side of (4.12) equals the number
of oriented edges from vi to vk , and precisely this is the entry Aij . This proves the
first identity in (ii).
Similarly, we have
n
X
t
T E SGE i k D
tj i sj k ;
G
j D1
where tj i sj k D 1 if and only if the edge ei feeds via the vertex vj directly into the
edge ek (and this is even true in case ek D ei1 ), and tj i sj k D 0 otherwise. Hence
n
X
j D1

tj i sj k D
1;
0;
if ei feeds directly into ek ,

otherwise.
(4.13)
By definition, this equals the entry wi k of WGE for ek ei1 . Recalling our labeling
E we see that the right-hand side of (4.13) equals wi k C1
convention ej Cm WD ej1 in G,
1

in case ek D ei . Putting everything together, (iii) follows.
154
Jurgen Sander
Exercise 3.34.
(i) Prove (i) and the relation QG C In D SGE S tE D TGE T Et from Proposition 3.33.
G
(ii) Show that AG D
SGE T Et
G
even holds if G is allowed to have loops.
(iii) Use Prop. 3.33 to create random graphs (see figure at the end of Section 3.2):
Take random permutation matrices P1 ; : : : ; Pk and define M WD P1 Pk .
Similarly, build N , and then define SGE WD .M jN / and TGE WD .N jM /. Finally,
obtain WGE by Proposition 3.33 (iii).
Proof of the three-term determinant formula Theorem 3.15. Let n D jV j and m D
jEj, and let A WD AG , Q WD QG , W WD WGE , S WD SGE and T WD TGE . All four-block
matrices in the following calculations are of size .n C 2m/
.n C 2m/ with blocks
of size n
n in the upper left corner. Then

In O
In .1 u2 /
Su
M1 WD

T t I2m
O
I2m W u

2
In .1 u /
Su
D
T t .1 u2 / T t S u C I2m W u
and

O
In
Su
In Au C Qu2
M2 WD

T t S t u I2m
O
I2m C J u

Su
I Au C Qu2 C S T t u S S t u2
:
D n
.I2m C J u/.T t S t u/
I2m C J u
We claim that M1 D M2 . For the upper left corner of M2 we have, by Proposition

3.33,
.ii/
In Au C Qu2 C S T t u S S t u2 D In S T t u C .S S t In /u2 C S T t u S S t u2
D In .1 u2 /:
Similarly, the lower left corner of M2 equals
.I2m C J u/.T t S t u/ D T t S t u C J T t u JS t u2
D T t S t u C .TJ /t u .SJ /t u2
.i/
D T t S t u C S t u T t u2 D
D T t .1 u2 /;
and finally the lower right corner of M1 is
.iii/
T t S u C I2m W u D T t S u C I2m .T t S J /u
D I2m C J u;
155
which proves our claim. Consequently, det M1 D det M2 with

det M1 D det.In .1 u2 // det.I2m W u/
D .1 u2 /n det.I2m W u/ D .1 u2 /n G .u/1
by the two-determinant formula Theorem 3.31. On the other hand,
det M2 D det.In Au C Qu2 / det.I2m C J u/;
which implies
G .u/1 D .1 u2 /n det M1 D .1 u2 /n det M2
D .1 u2 /n det.In Au C Qu2 / det.I2m C J u/:
(4.14)
Observe that

I
Im u
O
O
Im u
I
Im
Im
;
.I2m CJ u/ D
m
D m
Im u Im
Im u Im
Im u Im
O Im .1 u2 /
hence

Im u
Im
det.I2m C J u/ D det
D .1 u2 /m :
O Im .1 u2 /
By (4.14), this yields

G .u/1 D .1 u2 /mn det.In Au C Qu2 / D .1 u2 /r1 det.In Au C Qu2 /
for connected graphs, by Proposition 3.13 (ii).
3.4 The prime number theorem for graphs For a friendly graph G, we defined PG as the set of primes in G, the greatest common divisor G D gcdfP W
P 2 PG g and the prime counting function
G .k/ WD #fP 2 PG W P D kg:
Recall that RG denotes the radius of convergence of G and is the reciprocal of the
modulus of the largest eigenvalue of WGE (cf. Corollary 3.32), while the second largest
modulus of the eigenvalues is .WGE / WD maxfj jW 2 Spec.WGE /; j j< RG1 g
(cf. Definiton 2.34).
Theorem 3.35. Let G D .V; E/ be a friendly graph, and let k be a positive integer.
If G k, then G .k/ D 0. For G j k, we have
k
R 2
.W E /k
RGk
G
CO G :
G .k/ D G
CO
k
k
k
In particular, we have G .k/ G
k
RG
k
(4.15)
asymptotically for G j k with k ! 1.
156
Jurgen Sander
Proof. This proof somewhat imitates the proof of the analogous result for zeta functions of function fields introduced by Emil Artin where the Riemann hypothesis
is known to be true by works of Helmut Hasse, Andre Weil and Pierre Deligne (cf.
[38]).
By Proposition 3.8, the case G k has already been treated, and we may assume
that G j k. By our definitions,
G .u/ D
1 uP
1
D
P 2PG
1
Y
1 uk
G .k/
kD1
This implies that

log G .u/ D
D
1
X
G .k/ log.1 uk /
kD1
1
X
1
X
uk`
kD1
`D1
G .k/
k`Dm
1
X
um
mD1
G .k/
kjm
k
;
m
and consequently
u
1
1
X
X
X
X
d
k
log G .u/ D u
D
mum1
G .k/
um
kG .k/:
du
m
mD1
mD1
kjm
(4.16)
kjm
On the other hand, we know from (4.4) in Proposition 3.11 that

1
1
X
d
d X Nm .G/ m
log G .u/ D u
u
D
u
Nm .G/um ;
du
du mD1 m
mD1
which combined with (4.16) yields

Nm .G/ D
kG .k/:
(4.17)
(4.18)
kjm
Using Mobius inversion formula, we obtain that

1 X k
1

Nd .G/ D
Nk .G/ C
G .k/ D
k
d
k
d jk
X
d jk; d k2

Nd .G/ :
d
(4.19)
Applying the two-term determinant formula in terms of Corollary 3.32, we deduce

d
log G .u/, namely
a third identity for u du
1

Y
d
d
u
.1 u/
log G .u/ D u
log
du
du
2Spec.WGE /
D u
d
du
2Spec.WGE /
log.1 u/
157
Du
d
du
2Spec.WGE /
1
X
1
X
.u/m
m
mD1
.u/m
2Spec.WGE / mD1
1
X
mD1
m um :
2Spec.WGE /
By comparing with (4.17), we see that

X
Nm .G/ D
m :
(4.20)
2Spec.WGE /
For large m the dominant terms in the last sum are the ones coming from 2
Spec.WGE / with maximal absolute value, i.e., from the poles u of G .u/ with minimal
absolute value, as follows from Corollory 3.32. By Theorem 3.24 (i), these have
absolute value jj D RG1 . By Theorem 3.24 (iii), we even know them exactly and
they have the form
D RG1 e
2 i k
G
.k D 1; : : : ; G /:
Hence, by (4.20),
Nm .G/ D
G
X
RGm e
2 i km
G
kD1
m :
(4.21)
2Spec.WGE /; j
j.WGE /
For the main term in (4.21) we obtain

G
X
RGm e
2 i km
G
RGm
kD1
G
X
kD1
2 i km
G

D
RGm G ;
0;
if G j m,
if G m,
and the error term can be bounded as
m
m
m

jSpec.WGE /j.G/ D 2jEj.WGE / :
(4.22)
(4.23)
2Spec.WGE /; j
j.WGE /
Combining (4.21), (4.22), and (4.23), we obtain in case G j k, as we may assume,

that
Nk .G/ D RGk G C 2jEj.WGE /k D RGk G C O..WGE /k /;
(4.24)
158
Jurgen Sander
and for all d
jNd .G/j RGd G C 2jEj.WGE /d D O.RGd /;
(4.25)
since jRG1 j > .WGE / by definition. Inserting (4.24) and (4.25) into (4.19) yields
G .k/ D
1 k
RGd
RG G C O..WGE /k / C O
k
k
1d 2
k
.W E /k
R 2
Rk
G
CO G :
D G G C O
k
k
k
Example 3.36. Reconsider the graph K4 e (cf. Example 3.2 and Exercise 3.17) with
K4 e .u/1 D .1 u2 /.1 u/.1 C u2 /.1 C u C 2u2 /.1 u2 2u3 /:
Using (4.17), we obtain after a little computation
1
X
Nm .G/um D u
mD1
d
log G .u/
du
D 12u3 C 8u4 C 24u6 C 28u7 C 8u8 C 48u9 C 120u10C

C 44u11 C 104u12 C 416u13 C 280u14 C O.u15 /:
P
Now we apply the formula Nm D Nm .K4 e/ D
kjm kK4 e .k/ in (4.18) to
compute small values of .k/ WD K4 e .k/:
H) .3/ D 4I
12 D N3 D 1 .1/ C 3 .3/ D 3.3/
8 D N4 D .1/ C 2.2/ C 4.4/ D 4.4/
H) .4/ D 2I
H) .5/ D 0I
0 D N5 D .1/ C 5.5/ D 5.5/
24 D N6 D .1/ C 2.2/ C 3.3/ C 6.6/ D 12 C 6.6/
H) .6/ D 2I
28 D N7 D .1/ C 7.7/ D 7.7/
H) .7/ D 4I
H) .8/ D 0I
8 D N8 D .1/ C 2.2/ D 4.4/ C 8.8/ D 8 C 8.8/
48 D N9 D .1/ C 3.3/ C 9.9/ D 12 C 9.9/
H) .9/ D 4I
120 D N10 D .1/ C 2.2/ C 5.5/ C 10.10/ D 10.10/ H) .10/ D 12:
Exercise 3.37.
(i) Identify the different primes in K4 e according to Example 3.36.
(ii) Use Example 3.16 to find K4 .k/ for k D 3; 4; 5; : : : ; 11.
3.5 Some remarks on Ramanujan graphs At the end of Section 2.2 we introduced Ramanujan graphs as special expander graphs having applications in communication network theory (cf. [6]), and theoretical computer science (cf. [19]) in
general. In this section we emphasize their importance regarding the Riemann hypothesis for graphs, i.e., the distribution of primes in graphs.
159
The asymptotic formula (4.15) has a good error term if the second largest
eigenvalue of the edge adjacency matrix of the graph G is small. For .q C 1/regular graphs, in particular, this is true when the graph is a Ramanujan graph with
p
.G/ 2 q, and this in turn is equivalent with the fact that the corresponding
Riemann hypothesis is satisfied (see Theorem 3.20). The following theorem in fact
shows that in this case the error term will be best possible if we consider a family of
.q C 1/-regular graphs whose vertex numbers go to infinity.
Theorem 3.38 (Alon [2] and Boppana [8], 198687). Let .Gn /n2N be a sequence of
.q C 1/-regular graphs Gn D .Vn ; En / with limn!1 jVn j D 1. Then
p
lim inf .Gm / 2 q:
n!1 mn
In 1988 Lubotzky, Phillips, and Sarnak [31] constructed such an infinite family
of .q C 1/-regular Ramanujan graphs for q 1 mod 4 prime. Their proof uses the
Ramanujan conjecture, which led to the name of Ramanujan graphs. Morgenstern
[34] extended the construction of Lubotzky, Phillips, and Sarnak to all prime powers
in 1994. The problem is open for general q.
In Section 4.2 we shall take up the topic of Ramanujan graphs once again.
4 Spectral properties of integral circulant graphs

A graph is called integral if its spectrum is integral (cf. Definition 2.32). Up to now
no handy criterion for this property is known (cf. [16]). Yet many classes of integral
graphs have been identified and studied recently, in particular in the case when the
graph is circulant (cf. Definition 2.28), meaning its adjacency matrix is circulant (see
e.g. [1], [3], [22], [42], [45]). The class of integral circulant graphs displays rich
algebraic, arithmetic and combinatorial features. In this section we shall focus on
some arithmetical aspects of spectra of these graphs, including open problems and
conjectures. Our main topics will be the Ramanujan property (see Definition 2.34)
discussed in Section 3.5, and the concept of the energy of a graph.
4.1 Basics on integral circulant graphs By Theorem 2.33 we know that integral circulant graphs ICG.n; D/ D .Zn ; E/ are Cayley graphs characterized by their
order n and a set D of positive divisors of n and
E WD f.a; b/ W a; b 2 Zn ; .a b; n/ 2 Dg:
The unitary Cayley graphs (cf. Definition 2.13 (ii)) are the integral circulant graphs
with D D f1g.
Let us recall some general facts about ICG.n; D/ for arbitrary positive integers n
and arbitrary divisor sets D D.n/ WD fd > 0 W d j ng.
160
Jurgen Sander
Figure 4.15. Subclasses of graphs among Cayley graphs
Proposition 4.1.
(i) Since ICG.n; D/ is circulant, its eigenvalues k .n; D/ .1 k n/, say, can
be calculated by using Proposition 2.31, yielding
X n
k .n; D/ D
c k;
.1 k n/;
(4.26)
d
d 2D
where
c.k; n/ WD
X
j mod n
.j;n/D1
exp
2 i kj
is the well-known Ramanujan sum .cf. [4] or [44]).

(ii) ICG.n; D/ is regular, more precisely .n; D/-regular, where
X n
.n; D/ WD n .n; D/ D
'
;
d
(4.27)
d 2D
with Eulers totient function '. This follows from Exercise 2.15 (iii), saying
that a Cayley graph Cay.G; S / is jS j-regular.
161
(iii) By the observation of So [46] that ICG.n; D/ with D D fd1 ; : : : ; dr g, say,

is connected if and only if gcd.d1 ; : : : ; dr / D 1, connectivity can readily be
checked. If ICG.n; D/ is connected, then .n; D/ is the largest eigenvalue
of ICG.n; D/, the so-called spectral radius of the graph, and it occurs with
multiplicity 1 (cf. Proposition 2.26 (ii)).
Exercise 4.2.
(i) Show that ICG.n; D/ has loops if and only if n 2 D. For that reason, we shall
usually require that D D .n/ WD f0 < d < n W d j ng.
(ii) Deduce (4.26) from Proposition 2.31.
(iii) Prove Proposition 4.1 (ii).
Recently, Le and the author [28] observed that (4.26) can be rewritten as
k .n; D/ D . D c.k; //.n/
.1 k n/;
(4.28)
where is the constant function and D denotes the so-called D-convolution of arithmetic functions introduced by Narkiewicz [36], which is a generalisation of the classical Dirichlet convolution. This representation of the eigenvalues will be of great
importance for our purpose.
In general, given non-empty sets A.n/ D.n/ for all positive integers n, the
(arithmetical) convolution A or the A-convolution of two arithmetic functions f; g 2
CN is defined as
n
X
f .d /g
:
.f A g/.n/ D
d
d 2A.n/
All convolutions considered in the literature are required to be regular, a property

which basically guarantees that f A g is multiplicative for multiplicative functions
f and g, and the inverse of with respect to A , i.e., an analogue of the Mobius
function , exists. Narkiewicz [36] proved that regularity of an A-convolution is,
besides some minor technical requirements, essentially equivalent with the following
two conditions:
(i) A is multiplicative, i.e., A.mn/ D A.m/A.n/ WD fab W a 2 A.m/; b 2 A.n/g
for all coprime m; n 2 N.
(ii) A is semi-regular, i.e., for every prime power ps with s 1 there exists a divisor
t D tA .ps / of s, called the type of ps , such that A.ps / D f1; pt ; p2t ; : : : ; pjt g
with j D st .
Both of these properties will occur in a natural fashion along our way, but for our
purposes concerning the eigenvalues of ICG.n; D/ the multiplicativity of the divisor
sets D will be the guiding feature.
The product of non-empty sets A1 ; : : : ; At of integers is defined as
t
Y
i D1
Ai WD fa1 at W ai 2 Ai .1 i t/g:
162
Jurgen Sander
For infinitely many such sets A1 ; A2 ; : : :, we require that Ai D f1g for all but finitely
many i and define
1
1
Y
Y
Ai WD
Ai
i D1
i D1
Ai f1g
Let us call a set A of positive integers a multiplicative set if it is the product of nonempty finite sets Ai f1; pi ; pi2 ; pi3 ; : : :g, 1 i t say, with pairwise distinct
primesQp1 ; : : : ; pt . In other words, a given set A is multiplicative if and only if
A D p2P Ap , where Ap WD fpep .a/ W a 2 Ag for each prime p, and ep .a/
denotes the order of the prime p in a. Observe that Ap f1g only for those finitely
many primes dividing at least one of the a 2 A.
If D is a multiplicative divisor set, then this property is extended to the spectrum
of the corresponding integral circulant graph.
Proposition
4.3 (Le and Sander [28], 2012). For a multiplicative divisor set D D
Q
D

D.n/,
pjn p
Y
k .pep .n/ ; Dp /;
(4.29)
k .n; D/ D
p2P; pjn
where for each prime p dividing n the integers k .pep .n/ ; Dp /, 1 k pep .n/ , are
the eigenvalues of ICG.pep .n/ ; Dp /, and k .pep .n/ ; Dp / is defined for all integers k
by periodic continuation mod pep .n/ .
4.2 Ramanujan integral circulant graphs In 2010 Droll [13] classified all
Ramanujan unitary Cayley graphs ICG.n; f1g/. We extend Drolls result by drawing
up a complete list of all graphs ICG.ps ; D/ having the Ramanujan property for each
prime power ps and arbitrary divisor set D. In order to do this we shall have to check
for which D D .ps / the Ramanujan condition
p
(4.30)
.ps ; D/ WD .ICG.ps ; D// 2 .ps ; D/ 1
is satisfied (cf. Definition 2.34 and Proposition 4.1 (ii)). Since Ramanujan graphs
are required to be connected, we necessarily have 1 2 D for a Ramanujan graph
ICG.ps ; D/ due to the criterion of So (cf. Proposition 4.1 (iii)). While (4.27) provides
an explicit formula for .ps ; D/, it is just as important to have such a formula for
.ps ; D/. As a tool to prove such a formula we first show
Lemma 4.4. Let ps be a prime power and D D fpa1 ; pa2 ; : : : ; par1 ; par g with
integers 0 a1 < a2 < < ar1 < ar s. Then
k .p ; D/ D
s
r
X
'.p
sai
i D1
ai sj
for k 2 f1; 2; : : : ; ps g, where j WD ep .k/.
/
r
X
i D1
ai Dsj 1
psai 1
(4.31)
163
Proof. By (4.26) in Proposition 4.1, we have for k 2 f1; 2; : : : ; ps g that

k .ps ; D/ D
r
X ps
X
c k;
c.k; psai /:
D
d
(4.32)
i D1
d 2D
We use two well-known properties of Ramanujan sums (cf. [4] or [44]), namely
c.k; n/ D c.gcd.k; n/; n/ for all k and n, and
8
< '.pv /; if u v,
u
v
pv1 ; if u D v 1,
c.p ; p / D
:
0;
if u v 2,
for primes p and non-negative integers u and v. On setting m WD
with 0 j s and m 1; p m, it follows that
k
pj
, i.e. k D pj m
c.k; psai / D c.pj m; psai /
8
< '.psai /;
minfj;sai g
sai
;p
/D
D c.p
psai 1 ;
:
0;
if j s ai ,
if j D s ai 1,
if j s ai 2.
Inserting this into (4.32), we obtain (4.31).
Exercise 4.5. Check the identities for Ramanujan sums stated in the preceding proof.
Proposition 4.6. Let ps 3 be a prime power, and let D D.ps / with 1 2 D.
Then .2s ; f1g/ D 0 for s 2, and in all other cases
X ps
'
.ps ; D/ D ps1
;
d
d 2D
d 1
where the empty sum for D D f1g vanishes.

Proof. Since 1 2 D, we have D D fpa1 ; pa2 ; : : : ; par g, say, for suitable integers
0 D a1 < a2 < < ar1 < ar s. Writing k D pj m; p m; with suitable
integers j , 0 j s, and m 1 for each k 2 f1; 2; : : : ; ps g, we obtain, by Lemma
4.4 (D 4.2 in [29]), that
k .ps ; D/ D
r
X
i D1
ai sj
'.psai /
r
X
psai 1 :
i D1
ai Dsj 1
(4.33)
We distinguish several cases. If j D s, that is k D ps , we have k .ps ; D/ D

.ps ; D/, which is the largest eigenvalue of ICG.ps ; D/ (see (iii)) and thus irrelevant
for the determination of .ps ; D/. Hence we are left with the following three cases,
the last two of which correspond with the cases in the proof of Proposition 4.1 in [29]:
164
Jurgen Sander
Case 0: 0 j s ar 2.
Observe that this only occurs if ar s 2. Then (4.33) implies
k .ps ; D/ D 0:
Case 1: s a` j s a`1 2 for some 2 ` r.
Then
k .ps ; D/ D
r
X
'.psai / D .ps ; D.pa` // > 0
i D1
ai a`
with D.x/ WD fd 2 D W d xg.

Case 2: j D s a` 1 for some 1 ` r.
Then, on setting arC1 WD s C 1 and consequently .ps ; D.parC1 // D 0,
we have
k .ps ; D/ D
r
X
'.psai / psa` 1
i D1
ai a` C1
D .ps ; D.pa`C1 // psa` 1 0;

such that jk .ps ; D/j D psa` 1 .ps ; D.pa`C1 //.
Let us start by looking at the special case r D 1, i.e., D D f1g, a1 D 0 and s
1. This means that Case 1 never occurs. Case 2 does occur for j D s 1, with
corresponding k .ps ; D/ D ps1 . This value equals .2s ; f1g/ D '.2s / D 2s1 in
case p D 2 (and s 2, since s D 1 is outruled by our condition ps 3), hence
.2s ; f1g/ D 0 (originating from Case 0). For any p 3 and all s 1, we have
ps1 < .ps ; f1g/, which proves the proposition in this situation.
From now on, we assume that r 2. We define
8
1;
if D is uni-regular,
<
min `; otherwise.
(4.34)
m D mD WD
: 2`r
a` a`1 2
For mD D 1, Case 1 does not occur at all. Obviously,

.ps ; D/ .ps ; D.pa` // > .ps ; D.pa`C1 // > 0
for 1 ` r 1. If mD < 1, Case 1 occurs for ` D mD , but for no smaller `.
Therefore, the only candidate for .ps ; D/ originating from Case 1 is .ps ; D.pam //.
On the other hand, it is easily seen that
.ps ; D/ > psa` 1 .ps ; D.pa`C1 // psa`C1 1 .ps ; D.pa`C2 // 0
165
for 1 ` r 1. Hence, the only candidate for .ps ; D/ originating from Case 2
is psa1 1 .ps ; D.pa2 // D ps1 .ps ; D.pa2 //. Now let us compare the two
candidates for .ps ; D/ found above. By the definition of m D mD , we obtain
.p ; D.p // C .p ; D.p
s
a2
am
// D
r
X
'.p
sai
i D2
m1
X
/C
r
X
'.psai /
i Dm
'.psai / C 2
i D2
r
X
'.psai /
i Dm
D psa2 psam1 1 C 2
p
sa2
p
sam1 1
r
X
'.psai /
i Dm
sam
C 2p
ps1 :
This implies ps1 .ps ; D.pa2 // .ps ; D.pam //, and we have
X ps
:
.ps ; D/ D ps1 .ps ; D.pa2 // D ps1
'
d
d 2D
d 1
Corollary 4.7. Let ps 3 be a prime power, and let D D.ps / with 1 2 D.

(i) Then
s1
2 ; if p D 2, s 2 and D D f1g;
s
s
(4.35)
.p ; D/ C .p ; D/ D
ps ;
otherwise.
(ii) For all odd primes p, we have .ps ; D/ D 0 if and only if D D D.ps /.
Proof. The identity (4.35) follows right away from (4.27) and Proposition 4.6. The
second assertion is another consequence of Proposition 4.6, because
X ps
ps1 ;
'
d
d 2D
d 1
with equality if and only if D D D.ps /.
Corollary 4.8. Let ps 3 be a prime power, and let D D .ps / with 1 2 D. Then
ICG.ps ; D/ is Ramanujan if and only if either p D 2, s 2 and D D f1g or, in all
other cases,
X ps
p
'
(4.36)
ps1 2 ps C 2;
d
d 2D
d 1
where the empty sum for D D f1g vanishes.
166
Jurgen Sander
Proof. The special case p D 2, s 2 and D D f1g is an immediate consequence of

Proposition 4.6. From (4.30) and Proposition 4.6 it follows in all other situations that
P
s
ICG.ps ; D/ is Ramanujan if and only if 2 WD d 2D; d 1 '. pd / satisfies
p
p
ps1 2 2 .ps ; D/ 1 D 2 '.ps / C 2 1:
A short calculation reveals that this is equivalent with (4.36).
Expanding our definition of D.n/, we set D.nI m/ WD fd 2 D.n/ W d mg

for any positive integer m. Now we are able to show precisely which ICGs of prime
power order do have the Ramanujan property.
Theorem 4.9 ([30]). Let p be a prime and s a positive integer such that ps 3. Let
D D .ps / be an arbitrary divisor set of ps . Then ICG.ps ; D/ is a Ramanujan
graph if and only if D lies in one of the following classes:
s
s
(i) D D D.pd 2 e1 / [ D0 for some D0 D.ps1 I pd 2 e /;
(ii) D D f1g in case p D 2 and s 3;
s3
(iii) D D D.p 2 / [ D0 such that jDj 2 for some D0 D.ps1 I p

p 2 f2; 3g and s 3 odd;
s4
sC1
2
/ in case
(iv) D D D.2 2 / [ D0 for some D0 D.2s1I 2 2 / satisfying ; D0 f2s1 g

in case p D 2 and s 4 even;
(v) D D f1; 22 ; 23 ; 24 g in case p D 2 and s D 5;
s3
(vi) D D D.5 2 / [ f5
and s 5 odd;
(vii) D D D.2
s5
2
/ [ f2
sC1
2
g [ D0 for some D0 D.5s1I 5
s1
2
g [ D0 for some D0 D.2s1I 2

p
1
s1 X
1
3 2 2 C s3 2 2
d0
2 2
d 0 2D0
sC3
2
sC1
2
/ in case p D 5
/ satisfying
(4.37)
in case p D 2 and s 5 odd.

Theorem 4.9 tells us for each prime power in a simple way how to choose divisor
sets to obtain an integral circulant graph that is Ramanujan, except for the final case
(vii), where the construction is a little more intricate. In this situation, the binary
s3
2
expansion of the left-hand side of (4.37)
to the binary
p is obtained by adding 2
expansion of the real constant 3 2 2 D .0:0010101111101100001 : : :/2 . Obviously, the sum on the right-hand side of (4.37) is a binary expansion by construction,
and in order to generate a Ramanujan graph we just have to pick D0 appropriately.
Let us sketch an example that illustrates what to do explicitly in case (vii):
Consider the prime power 229 , for which condition (4.37) turns into
r
X
p
1
1
3 2 2 C 13 D .0:0010101111110100001 : : :/2
;
2
2ai 14
i D15
167
with D0 D f2a15 ; 2a16 ; : : : ; 2ar g, say. The parameter r 15 may be selected arbitrarily so that ar 28. Now for each choice of the ai , 15 i r, it is completely
obvious whether the corresponding divisor set D0 generates a Ramanujan graph or
not. For instance, the choice a15 D 17, a16 D 19, a17 D 21, a18 D 22, a19 D 23,
a20 D 24, a21 D 25, a22 D 26, a23 D 27 generates the Ramanujan graph
ICG.229 ; D.212/ [ f214 ; 217 ; 219 ; 221 ; 222 ; 223 ; 224 ; 225 ; 226 ; 227 g/;
while the divisor set of
ICG.229; D.212/ [ f214 ; 217 ; 219 ; 221 ; 222 ; 223 ; 224 ; 225 ; 226 ; 228 g/
violates (4.37), and thus the graph is not Ramanujan.
Theorem 4.9 (i) immediately implies the following statement.
Corollary 4.10. For each prime power ps 3 and all divisor sets D D
f1; p; : : : ; pr1 g with 2s r s, the graph ICG.ps ; D/ is Ramanujan. In particular, there is an integral circulant Ramanujan graph ICG.ps ; D/ for each prime
power ps 3.
We like to make the reader aware of the fact that the divisor sets ensuring the
Ramanujan property in Corollary 4.10 are uni-regular, as introduced in [29], where
a subset of D.ps / is called uni-regular if it consists of successive powers of p.
Proof of Theorem 4.9. Let us assume that D D fpa1 ; pa2 ; : : : ; par g for suitable integers 0 a1 < a1 < a2 < < ar1 < ar s 1. Since Ramanujan graphs have
to be connected by definition, i.e., 1 2 D, we necessarily have a1 D 0.
We consider the case r D 1, i.e., D D f1g separately. We know by Corollary 4.8
that ICG.2s ; f1g/ is Ramanujan for each s 2. For p 3, the Ramanujan property
requires ps1 2ps=2 C 2 0 by condition (4.36) of Corollary 4.8. It is easy to
check that this inequality holds if and only if s D 1 or s D 2. For r D 1, we thus
have exactly the following types of Ramanujan ICGs:
ps
A
B
C
2 .s 2/
p .p 3/
p2 .p 3/
D
f1g
f1g
f1g
In the sequel we may assume that r 2. Since ar s 1, we trivially have

r
X
'.psai / .psa2 psa2 1 /C.psa2 1 psa2 2 /C C.p1/ D psa2 1:
i D2
Hence, by Corollary 4.8, a necessary condition for ICG.ps ; D/ to be Ramanujan is

that
p
psa2 ps1 2 ps C 2:
(4.38)
168
Jurgen Sander
Let us first distinguish cases according to the value of a2 . If a2 3, thus s 4,

a simple calculation shows that (4.38) is never satisfied. Assume next that a2 D 2,
thus s 3. It is easily seen that (4.38) requires s 5, and we obtain only the pairs
.s; p/ 2 f.3; 2/; .3; 3/; .4; 2/; .5; 2/g satisfying (4.38). Checking our Ramanujan condition (4.36) explicitly for these pairs, we precisely obtain Ramanujan ICGs as listed
below:
D
E
F
ps
p3 ; 2 p 3
24
25
f1; p2 g
f1; 22 g or f1; 22 ; 23 g
f1; 22 ; 23 ; 24 g
We are left with the case a2 D 1. Using the notation introduced in (4.34), it
follows that mD 3, and we shall distinguish between mD D 1 and mD < 1. In
the first case, i.e. for uni-regular divisor sets D, we have s 2 and
r
X
'.p
i D2
sai
/D
r
X
'.ps.i 1/ / D '.ps1 / '.psr /:
i D2
Then Corollary 4.8 tells us that ICG.ps ; D/ is Ramanujan if and only if

p
psr C 2 2 ps :
(4.39)
For s 2r, this condition is satisfied for all primes p, hence we obtain a Ramanujan
graph ICG.ps ; D/ for each prime power ps with s 2 and uni-regular divisor sets
D D f1; p; : : : ; pr1 g, where 2s r s. For s 2r C 2, condition (4.39) does not
hold for any prime p. For the missing case s D 2r C 1, (4.39) yields the Ramanujan
p
2
condition p C ps=2
2, which is only satisfied for p D 2 or p D 3 and all odd
s 5. Therefore, we have two more types of Ramanujan ICGs:
G
H
ps
p .p 2 P; s 2/
ps .p 2 f2; 3g; s 5; 2 s/
f1; p; : : : ; pr1 g
s3
f1; p; : : : ; p 2 g
.minf2; 2s g r s/
Now let us consider the case m D mD < 1. We have

r
X
i D2
'.psai / D
m1
X
i D2
'.psai / C
r
X
'.psai /
i Dm
D ps1 psam1 1 C
r
X
i Dm
'.psai /:
169
Then, by Corollary 4.8, ICG.ps ; D/ is Ramanujan if and only if

r
X
p
'.psai /:
psam1 1 C 2 2 ps C
(4.40)
i Dm
For s 2.am1 C1/, i.e., 2s s am1 1, the Ramanujan condition (4.40) is satisfied for all primes p. By the definition of m D mD , we have am1 D m 2. Hence
ICG.ps ; D/ is Ramanujan for any prime power ps and D D f1; p; : : : ; pm2 ; pam ;
: : : ; par g, if 3 m r satisfies s 2.m 1/ and am m, which requires s 4.
Setting ` WD m 1, we have found the next type of Ramanujan ICGs:
ps
ps .p 2 P; s 4/
f1; p; : : : ; p`1 ; pa`C1 ; : : : ; par g
For s 2.am1 C 3/, i.e.

pC
s
2
s am1 3, we obtain for all primes p

s
2
psam1 1
> 2
hence
p
p 2 C1
psam1 2
sam1 1
C2Dp
. 2s ` a`C1 1/
sam1 2
> psam1 2
C1
pC
2p 2
psam1 2
C 1;
psam1 2
!
s
2p 2
s
C 1 D 2p 2 C psam1 2
sa
2
m1
r
X
p
s
2p 2 C psam > 2 ps C
'.psai /:
i Dm
This contradicts (4.40), which means that there are no Ramanujan graphs in this situation.
It remains to consider the three special cases s D 2.am1 C 1/ C j with j 2
f1; 2; 3g. This turns (4.40) into the Ramanujan condition
!
r
X
j
1
sa
p2 2
'.p i / 2 :
(4.41)
j
pam1 C1C 2 i Dm
By the definition of m D mD , we know that am am1 C 2. Since
r
X
i Dm
'.psai / psam 1 p2.am1 C1/Cj .am1 C2/ 1 D pam1 Cj 1;
170
Jurgen Sander
careful calculations reveal that condition (4.41) can only be satisfied for the pairs
.j; p/ 2 f.1; 2/; .1; 3/; .1; 5/; .2; 2/; .3; 2/g. For the first two pairs, corresponding
with am1 D s3
, the left-hand side of (4.41) is negative, while the right-hand
2
side is non-negative except for the special case p D 2 and am D ar D s
1. However, a closer look shows that in this latter situation (4.41) is still satisfied, and we obtain Ramanujan graphs ICG.ps ; D/ for p 2 f2; 3g, where D D
a sC1
s3
C 2 D sC1
,
f1; p; : : : ; p 2 ; p 2 ; : : : ; par g with a sC1 D am am1 C 2 D s3
2
2
2
thus s 5. Inserting the third pair j D 1 and p D 5 into (4.41), a short computation
discloses that the corresponding ICGs are Ramanujan if and only if am D am1 C 2,
sC1
s3
and then D D ff1; 5; : : : ; 5 2 ; 5 2 ; : : : ; 5ar g with s 5. To sum up, the Ramanujan ICGs for .j; p/ 2 f.1; 2/; .1; 3/; .1; 5/g are the following:
J
K
ps
p s .p 2 f2; 3g; s 5; 2 s/
f1; p; : : : ; p
5s .s 5; 2 s/
f1; 5; : : : ; 5
s3
2
s3
2
;p
;5
a sC1
; : : : ; p ar g
sC1
2
a sC3
;5
.a sC1
2
sC1
2 /
; : : : ; 5ar g
P
For j D p D 2, the Ramanujan condition (4.41) reads riDm '.psai / 2, and
this always holds unless am D ar D s 1, i.e., we obtain Ramanujan ICGs of type
ps
2s .s 6; 2 j s/
f1; 2; : : : ; 2
s4
2
;2
as
; : : : ; 2ar g
. 2s a 2s s 2/
We are left with the case j D 3 and p D 2, where s D 2am1 C 5 D 2.m 2/ C

5 D 2m C 1, and our Ramanujan condition (4.41) becomes
!
r
X
p
1
sai
2 22
'.2
/2
5
2am1 C 2 i Dm
!
!
r
r
X
X
1
1
1
1
sai 1
:
p
2
2 D p

D
2ai m 2m1
2m 2
2
i Dm
i Dm
p
P
1
Apparently, this is equivalent to 4 2 2 riDm 2ai1m 2m1
; where we know
that ai i for all i m. This immediately implies that the Ramanujan condition
necessarily requires that am D m. Then our condition reads
r
X
p
32 2
i DmC1
1
2ai m
1
2m1
r
X
i D sC1
2
1
2
ai s1
2

2
s3
2
(4.42)
171
and we have found our last type of Ramanujan ICGs:
ps
2s .s 5; 2 s/
f1; 2; : : : ; 2 2 ; 2 2 ; 2 2 ; : : : ; 2ar g
.a sC1 ; : : : ; ar satisfy (4.42)/
s5
s1
a sC1
To complete the proof of Theorem 4.9, it remains to show that the Ramanujan ICGs
of types AM exactly constitute the Ramanujan graphs listed in the assertion. The
following table provides the interrelations between types AM on one hand and cases
(i)(vii) on the other hand.
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
A .s D 2/, B (s D 1), C (s D 2), G (s 2), I (s 4)

A (s 3)
D (s D 3), H (s 5 odd), J (s 5 odd)
E (s D 4), L (s 6 even)
F (s D 5)
K (s 5 odd)
M (s 5 odd)
Applying the concept of multiplicative divisor sets introduced at the end of Section 4.1, Corollary 4.10 can be extended to integral circulant graphs whose order is
an arbitrary composite number. It has recently been shown that for every even integer
n 4 and a positive proportion of the odd integers n, namely those having a dominating prime power factor, there exists a divisor set D D .n/ such that ICG.n; D/
is Ramanujan. Unfortunately, the corresponding assertion cannot be confirmed for all
odd n by use of the tool of multiplicative divisor sets. In fact, it will transpire that
the set of odd n for which no Ramanujan graph ICG.n; D/ with multiplicative divisor
set D exists has positive density. This means that one would definitely need to study
integral circulant graphs with non- multiplicative divisor sets in order to finally settle
the matter.
At the end of this section we just state and discuss some further results and finally
ask a couple of questions.
Theorem 4.11 ([39] (2013)). For each even integer n 3 there is a .multiplicative/
divisor set D D .n/ such that ICG.n; D/ is a Ramanujan graph.
If n is an odd integer, a multiplicative divisor set D D .n/ such that ICG.n; D/
is Ramanujan can only exist if n has a comparatively large prime power factor. This
will be specified in detail by the following theorem. To this end, we define for every
integer n > 1 its largest prime power factor PP.n/ WD maxp2P; pjn pep .n/ , and we
3=2 Cn
shall say that n has a dominating prime power factor if PP.n/ n2.n1/
.
172
Jurgen Sander
Theorem 4.12 ([39] (2013)). Let n 3 be an odd integer.

(i) If n has a dominating prime power factor, then there is a .multiplicative/ divisor set D D .n/ such that ICG.n; D/ is a Ramanujan graph.
(ii) If n 8259 does not have a dominating prime power factor, then there is no
multiplicative divisor set D D .n/ such that ICG.n; D/ is a Ramanujan
graph.
There are a little less than 200 odd integers n < 8259 without dominating prime
power factor, the smallest being 315 D 32 5 7 and the largest 8211 D 3 7 17 23.
For each of these n we assured ourselves that
Q ICG.n; D/ is not Ramanujan for the
canonical multiplicative candidate D WD p2P; pjn Dp to produce a Ramanujan
integral circulant graph, namely by choosing Dq D D .q eq .n/ / for the largest prime
power q eq .n/ D PP.n/ of n and Dp D D.pep .n/ / for all other primes p j n. Checking, however, all possible multiplicative divisor sets for all those n would require an
enormous computational effort, which is not justified by whatever the result is.
While Theorem 4.11 confirms the existence of a Ramanujan graph ICG.n; D/ for
all even n, Theorem 4.12 leaves unanswered the question if for every odd n there is
a Ramanujan integral circulant graph of order n. However, Theorem 4.12 (ii) does tell
us that in order to deal with this problem one would have to study integral circulant
graphs with non-multiplicative divisor sets D for infinitely many n. Our final result
discloses the proportion between the odd n for which ICG.n; D/ is Ramanujan for
some multiplicative divisor set D D .n/ and those odd n without this property.
More precisely, it turns out that both cases occur with positive density among all odd
integers.
For this purpose, let .x/ denote
#fn x W 2 n; ICG.n; D/ Ramanujan for some multiplicative D D .n/g:
exists and is positive. Notice that the set of odd
It can be shown that limx!1 .x/
x
prime powers below x, for each of which there is some Ramanujan ICG by Corollary
1.1 in [30] (see also Proposition 4.10), does not suffice to warrant this result, since it
has density zero in the set of positive integers. By use of methods and results from
analytic number theory, one can show
Theorem 4.13 ([39] (2013)). For x ! 1,
.x/ D
log 2
xCO
:
2
log x
Corollary 4.14. We have

lim
x!1
.x/
x
2
D log 2;
i.e., the density of odd positive integers n for which ICG.n; D/ is Ramanujan for
some multiplicative divisor set D D .n/ in the set of all odd positive integers
equals log 2, while the corresponding density of odd positive integers n such that no
ICG.n; D/ with multiplicative D is Ramanujan equals 1 log 2.
173
Open problems:
Given a (sufficiently large) positive integer n, is there some D D .n/ such
that ICG.n; D/ is Ramanujan?
How do non-multiplicative divisor sets such that the corresponding integral
circulant graphs are Ramanujan look?
4.3 The energy of a graph In 1978 Gutman [15] introduced the mathematical
concept of the energy
E.G/ WD
jj:
2Spec.G/
of a graph G, though this concept is rooted in chemistry way back in the 1930s (see
[32] for connections between Huckel molecular orbital theory and graph spectral
analysis, and [9] for a mathematical survey).
We denote the energy of an integral circulant graph by
E.n; D/ WD E.ICG.n; D// D
2Spec.ICG.n;D//
jj D
n
X
jk .n; D/j:
(4.43)
kD1
It is of particular interest to determine for any fixed positive integer n the extremal
energies
Emin .n/ WD minfE.n; D/ W D D .n/g
and
Emax .n/ WD maxfE.n; D/ W D D .n/g;
as well as the divisor sets producing these energies. For prime powers n D ps this
problem was completely settled by the author and T. Sander in [40], Theorem 3.1,
and [41], Theorem 1.1, respectively. The basis of these results was an explicit formula evaluating E.ps ; D/ (cf. [40], Theorem 2.1). Due to the lack of a comparable
energy formula for arbitrary n, it seems much more difficult to deal with Emin .n/ and
Emax .n/ in general. Unfortunately, the energy reveals no sign of multiplicativity with
respect to n. We shall overcome that deficiency by using the concept of multiplicative divisor sets (cf. Section 4.1 and [28]), which is closely linked with the eigenvalue
representation in (4.28). This will at least provide us with good bounds for Emin .n/
and Emax .n/ as well as divisor sets producing the corresponding energies. In case
of the minimal energy, we even conjecture to have found Emin .n/ and its associated
divisor sets for all n.
By use of (4.28) and Proposition 4.3, Le and the author proved in [28], Theorem 4.2, that given a multiplicative divisor set D D.n/, we have for the energy of
ICG.n; D/, as defined in (4.43), that
Y
E.n; D/ D
E.pep .n/ ; Dp /;
(4.44)
p2P; pjn
174
Jurgen Sander
where the sets Dp are defined as in Proposition 4.3. We shall investigate minimal and
maximal energies of integral circulant graphs with respect to multiplicative divisor
sets. To this end, we define
EQmin .n/ WD minfE.n; D/ W D D .n/ multiplicativeg
and
EQmax .n/ WD maxfE.n; D/ W D D .n/ multiplicativeg:
Clearly,
Emin .n/ EQmin .n/ EQmax .n/ Emax .n/
(4.45)
for all positive integers n. Moreover, for prime powers ps any divisor set D D.ps /
is trivially multiplicative, hence EQmin .ps / D Emin .ps / and EQmax .ps / D Emax .ps /.
We shall first state all our results and provide the corresponding proofs later.
Theorem 4.15 ([29] (2012)). Let n 2 be an integer with prime factorisation n D
p1s1 ptst . Then
t
Y
s
EQmax .n/ D
.pi i /;
i D1
s
where for any prime power p

(

1
2
s
sC1

1/p
C
2.p

1/
;
.s
C
1/.p
2
s

2
.p / WD .pC1/
1
s
sC1
s1
p
C p2 p 1/ ;
s.p 1/p C 2.2p
.pC1/2
if 2 s,
if 2 j s.
Moreover,
sets D D .n/, we have E.n; D/ D EQmax .n/ if and only
Qt for multiplicative
.i /
if D D i D1 D with
D.i / D
8
s 3 s 1
if 2 si ; pi 3,
<f1; pi2; pi4; : : : ; pi i ; pi i g;
if 2 si ; pi D 2,
f1; 22; 24; : : : ; 2si 3; 2si 1 g or f1; 2; 23; : : : ; 2si 4; 2si 2; 2si 1 g;
:
s 4 s 2 s 1
s 3 s 1
f1; pi2; pi4; : : : ; pi i ; pi i ; pi i g or f1; pi ; pi3; : : : ; pi i ; pi i g; if 2 j si .
It should be observed that the maximising factor divisor sets D.i / are (almost)
semi-regular (cf. (ii) at the end of Section 4.1).
In order to describe the multiplicative divisor sets minimising the energy, let us
call D D.ps / for a prime power ps uni-regular, if D D fpu ; puC1 ; : : : ; pv1 ; pv g
for some integers 0 u v s, which is a special case of semi-regularity if u D 0
and v D s.
175
Theorem 4.16 ([29] (2012)). Let n 2 be an integer with prime factorisation n D

p1s1 ptst and p1 < p2 < < pt . Then

1
:
EQmin .n/ D 2n 1
p1
Moreover,
sets D D .n/, we have E.n; D/ D EQmin .n/ if and only
Qtfor multiplicative
.i /
.1/
if D D i D1 D with D D fp1u g for some u 2 f0; 1; : : : ; s1 1g and arbitrary
s
uni-regular sets D.i / with pi i 2 D.i / for 2 i t.
Remarks 4.17.
(i) According to Proposition 4.1 (iii), ICG.n; D/ is connected if and only if the
elements of D are Q
co prime. Assuming connectivity in Theorem 4.16, minimising sets D D ti D1 D.i / then necessarily have D.1/ D f1g and D.i / D
s
f1; pi ; pi2 ; : : : ; pi i g for 2 i t, i.e., all D.i / with 2 i t have to be
semi-regular sets of type 1.
(ii) The proof of Theorem 4.16 reveals that for D D.n/,
Qi.e., possibly n 2 D,
we would have EQmin .n/ D n with minimising sets D D ti D1 D.i / , where each
s
D.i / is an arbitrary uni-regular set containing pi i .
(iii) One could prove Theorem 4.16 by using the energy formula for ICG.ps ; D/
containing loops (cf. [28], Proposition 5.1). Instead we shall take a closer
look at the second largest jj with 2 Spec.ICG.n; D//. This provides more
insight into the underlying structure.
As a consequence of (4.45), we immediately obtain from Theorems 4.15 and 4.16
the desired bounds for the extremal energies of integral circulant graphs with arbitrary
divisor sets.
Corollary 4.18. Let n 2 be an integer with prime factorisation n D p1s1 ptst
and p1 < p2 < < pt . Then
Q
s
(i) Emax .n/ EQmax .n/ D ti D1 .pi i /;

(ii) Emin .n/ EQmin .n/ D 2n 1 p11 .
Examples show that, while equality between Emax .n/ and EQmax .n/ does occur occasionally, we usually have Emax .n/ > EQmax .n/ (cf. Example 4.20). This phenomenon
is due to the fact that maximising divisor sets normally are not multiplicative. Yet
EQmax .n/ falls short of Emax .n/ by less than a comparatively small factor. To state this
result, we denote by ' Eulers totient function, by .n/ the number of positive divisors of n, and by !.n/ the number of distinct prime factors of n. As before, ep .n/
denotes the order of the prime p in n.
176
Jurgen Sander
Theorem 4.19 ([29] (2012)). Let n be a positive integer. Then

X '.d / .d /
(i) Emax .n/ n
d
d jn
Y

1
1
1
.n/
C
1/.e
.n/
C
2/
C
1

.e
Dn
I
p
p
2
p
p
p2P; pjn
(ii) Emax .n/ <
3 !.n/
4
n .n/2I
(iii) Emax .n/ EQmax .n/ .n/.

The proof of Theorem 4.19 (ii) will show that
1 !.n/
4
.n/2 <
X '.d / .d /
d
d jn
<
3 !.n/
4
.n/2;
(4.46)
and (ii) is deduced from (i) by use of the upper bound in (4.46). We like to point
out that the constants 14 and 34 in the lower and upper bound of (4.46), respectively,
!.n/
P
.d /
cannot be improved for all n, although we expect d jn '.d /
12
.n/2 for
d
most n. Yet, each of the bounds is sharp for integers with certain arithmetic properties
(cf. Remark 1).
As far as the magnitude of Emax .n/ is concerned, it is well known that .n/ D
O.n" / for any real " > 0. In fact the true maximal order of .n/ is approximately
log 2
n log log n . On average, .n/ is of order log n, but for almost all n it is considerably
smaller, because the normal order of .n/ is roughly .log n/log 2 .log n/0:693. For
all these results as well as for the average and normal order of !.n/ the reader is
referred to [17], 18.118.2, 22.13, and 22.11.
As opposed to sets maximising the energy of integral circulant graphs, numerical
calculations suggest that divisor sets minimising the energy are always multiplicative.
According to that, equality in Corollary 4.18 (ii) should hold for all n. We shall
specify this observation in two conjectures at the end of this section.
Now we start to prove all results stated so far in this section.
Proof of Theorem 4.15. Let n D p1s1 ptst be fixed, and let D D .n/ be a
multiplicative set satisfying E.n; D/ D EQmax .n/. By (4.44) (cf. [28], Theorem 4.2),
EQmax .n/ D E.n; D/ D
E.pep .n/ ; Dp / D
t
Y
E.pi i ; Dpi /:
i D1
p2P; pjn
s
This implies that E.psi ; Dpi / D Emax .pi i / for 1 i t. From [41], Theorem 1.1,
s
s
we conclude that Emax .pi i / D .pi i / for all i , and the only corresponding divisor
sets D.i / are just the ones listed in our assertion.
177
While equality between Emax .n/ and EQmax .n/ does occur occasionally, we usually
have Emax .n/ > EQmax .n/. This is illustrated by
Example 4.20. We have .p/ D 2.p 1/ for each prime p. By use of Theorem 4.15,
we easily obtain EQmax .6/ D .2/ .3/ D 8, EQmax .105/ D .3/ .5/ .7/ D 384, and
EQmax .21/ D .3/ .7/ D 48. Numerical evaluation of (4.43) yields Emax .6/ D 10,
Emax .105/ D 520, but Emax .21/ D 48 D EQmax .21/.
In order to be able to compare Emax .n/ and EQmax .n/ and finally prove Theorem
4.19 completely, we start by establishing an upper bound for Emax .n/.
Proof of Theorem 4.19 (i) & (ii). (i) By (4.43), (4.28), and the well-known Holder
identity for Ramanujan sums (cf. [4], chapt. 8.3-8.4), we have for any n and any
divisor set D D.n/
n X
X
n
'. dn /
n ;

E.n; D/ D
.n; kd / ' .n;kd

/
kD1 d 2D
where denotes the Mobius function. Let n=D WD f dn W d 2 Dg D.n/ be the set
of complementary divisors of all d 2 D with respect to n. Then
n X
d
'.d /
X
E.n; D/ D

d
.d; k/ ' .d;k/
kD1 d 2n=D

n
X
X
kD1 d 2n=D
'
X
X
'.d /
'.d /
d D
.d;k/
d 2n=D
Since
n
X
kD1
.k;d /Dg
n
1D
d
d
X
rD1
.r;d /Dg
gjd
n
1D
d
g
X
1D
rD1
.r; d
g /D1
1
'. dg /
n
X
1:
kD1
.k;d /Dg
n d
'
;
d
g
we conclude that
E.n; D/ n
X '.d / .d /
X '.d / .d /
n
:
d
d
d 2n=D
d jn
Since this holds for all n, the inequality in (i) follows. Since ', and the identity
function id are all multiplicative, this property is carried over to '
and its summatory
id
function
X '.d / .d /
f .n/ WD
.n 2 N/:
(4.47)
d
d jn
178
Jurgen Sander
Given a prime power ps , we obviously have

s
s
X
X
'.pj / .pj /
.pj pj 1 /.j C 1/
D
1
C
pj
pj
j D0
j D1
1
1
1
1
.s C 1/.s C 2/ C :
D
2
p
p
f .ps / D
(4.48)
This completes the proof of (i).

(ii) Taking into account (i), it suffices to prove the upper bound in (4.46), but in
order to justify the remark following Theorem 4.19 we shall verify the lower bound
as well. By (4.48), we have for all primes p and all positive integers s that

1
3
1
1
f .ps /
2
3

1
<
1
< ;
(4.49)
4
2
p
.s C 1/2
4
3p
4
thus 14 .ps /2 < f .ps / < 34 .ps /2 . By the multiplicativity of .n/ and the additivity
of !.n/, which implies the multiplicativity of c !.n/ for any positive constant c, this
proves (4.46).

Remark 1. It is easy to see that
f .p s /
.sC1/2
comes close to the lower bound
1
4
in (4.49) for
3
4
p D 2 and large s and close to the upper bound for large p and s D 1. Hence, the
lower bound in (4.46) is approached for integers n that are high powers of 2, while
the upper bound is approached for squarefree integers n having large prime factors.
Proposition 4.21. Let p be a prime, and let s be a positive integer. Then
( pC1
.s C 2/
for 2 s,
ps f .ps /
s
2p
pC1
g.p / WD
.sC1/.sC2/

for 2 j s
EQmax .ps /
2p
s
for the function f defined in (4.47). More precisely, we have in particular g.2/ D 2,
g.p2 / 3 and g.24 / D 64
.
17
Proof. By [41], Theorem 1.1, we know that EQmax .ps / D Emax .ps / D .ps / as defined in Theorem 4.15.
Case 1: 2 s.
By use of (4.48) we obtain

1
1
1
1

.s
C
1/.s
C
2/
C
.p C 1/2
2
p
p
s
g.p /
.s C 1/.p2 1/ C 2p p2s

1 p1 .s C 1/.s C 2/.p C 1/2
pC1

D
.s C 2/:
2
2.s C 1/.p 1/
2p
Observe that the second inequality is an identity for p D 2 and s D 1.
179
Case 2: 2 j s.
Applying again (4.48), we conclude

1
1
1
.p C 1/2
1

.s
C
1/.s
C
2/
C
2
p
p
s
g.p /
2
2
s.p2 1/ C 4p p2 C ps2
ps1
p2s

1 p1 .s C 1/.s C 2/.p C 1/2
p C 1 .s C 1/.s C 2/

D

:
2
2s.p 1/
2p
s
The special values for g.ps / are the results of straightforward computations.
Corollary 4.22. Suppose that n is a positive integer with prime factorisation n D

p1s1 ptst . Then we have
t
t
t
Y
Emax .n/
pi C 1 Y
1
Y
2
.n/
1C
1C
:
2pi
si C 1
si
EQmax .n/
i D1
i D1
2si
i D1
2jsi
Proof. By Theorem 4.19 (i), Theorem 4.15, and Proposition 4.21,

t
Y
nf .n/
Emax .n/
s

D
g.pi i /
EQmax .n/
EQmax .n/ i D1
t
t
t
Y
Y
pi C 1 Y
.si C 1/.si C 2/
.si C 2/
:

2pi
si
i D1
Since .n/ D
Qt
i D1 .si
i D1
2si
(4.50)
i D1
2jsi
C 1/, the corollary follows.
Proof of Theorem 4.19 (iii). We cannot use Corollary 4.22 directly, but by (4.50) we
know that
Y
Emax .n/
g.pep .n/ /:

EQmax .n/
Q
p2P; pjn
Since .n/ D p2P; pjn .ep .n/ C 1/, it suffices to show that g.ps / s C 1 for any
prime power ps . This will be verified by use of the different bounds obtained in
Proposition 4.21.
Case 1: 2 s.
.s C 2/ s C 1 for all p and s except for p D 2,
We have g.ps / pC1
2p
s D 1, but g.2/ D 2 closes the gap.
Case 2: s D 2.
This case is settled by the fact that g.p2 / 3.
180
Jurgen Sander
Case 3: 2 j s and s 4.
.sC1/.sC2/
s C 1 for all p and s except for
Here we have g.ps / pC1
2p
s
4
5.

p D 2, s D 4, but we know that g.2 / D 64
17
Besides multiplicativity, our proofs concerning Emin .n/ will be based on knowledge about the second largest modulus of the eigenvalues of ICG.n; D/ (cf. Remark 4.17 (iii)), i.e., about
.n; D/ WD maxfjj W 2 Spec.ICG.n; D//; jj < .n; D/g;
(4.51)
which we only define if ICG.n; D/ has eigenvalues differing in modulus. It will be

crucial for us to gather some facts about .n; D/. The first step is
Lemma 4.23. Let n be a positive integer and D D.n/ with n 2 D.
(i) Then E.n; D/ n.
(ii) ICG.n; D/ has a negative eigenvalue if and only if E.n; D/ > n.
P
Proof. From linear algebra we know that nkD1 k .n; D/ equals the trace of the adjacency matrix of ICG.n; D/. Since n 2 D by hypothesis, ICG.n; D/ has a loop
at
Pnevery vertex, i.e., all diagonal entries of its adjacency matrix are 1. Hence,
kD1 k .n; D/ D n, and consequently
E.n; D/ D
n
X
n
X
jk .n; D/j

k .n; D/ D n;
kD1
kD1
(4.52)
which proves (i). Equality in (4.52) only holds if all k .n; D/ have the same sign.
We know that n .n; D/ D .n; D/ > 0, and this implies (ii).

Proposition 4.24. Let ps be a prime power and D D.ps / with ps 2 D, and set
r WD jDj.
(i) For r D 1, i.e., D D fps g, we have Spec.ICG.n; D// D f1g.
(ii) Let r 2. Then D is uni-regular if and only if .ps ; D/ D 0. In this case the
maximal eigenvalue .ps ; D/ D psa1 D pr1 has multiplicity pa1 .
(iii) If r 2 and D is not uni-regular, then E.ps ; D/ > ps .
Proof. Let D D fpa1 ; pa2 ; : : : ; par1 ; par g with 0 a1 < a2 < < ar1 <
ar D s. Hence in case r D 1, that is D D fps g, we trivially have k .ps ; D/ D
c.k; 1/ D 1 for all k, which proves (i).
Henceforth we assume r 2. On setting j WD ep .k/, we apply Lemma 4.4 and
distinguish two cases.
181
Case 1: s a` j s a`1 2 for some 1 ` r, where a0 WD 2.

Using the notation D.x/ WD fd 2 D W d xg, we obtain from Lemma 4.4
that
r
X
'.psai / D .ps ; D.pa` //;
(4.53)
k .ps ; D/ D
i D1
ai a`
with .n; D/ as defined in (4.27).

Case 2: j D s a` 1 for some 1 ` r 1.
Now Lemma 4.4 yields
k .ps ; D/ D
r
X
'.psai / psa` 1 D .ps ; D.pa`C1 // psa` 1 :
i D1
ai a` C1
(4.54)
In order to prove (ii), we first assume that D D fpsrC1 ; psrC2 ; : : : ; ps1 ; ps g
is uni-regular. We observe that for a` D a`1 C 1 (2 ` s) the corresponding
interval considered in Case 1 is empty. Hence Case 1 occurs only if ` D 1, i.e., for
s a1 j s, and then
k .ps ; D/ D .ps ; D.pa1 // D .ps ; D/ D ps .ps ; D/;
(4.55)
which is the largest eigenvalue. This reflects the phenomenon that the largest eigenvalue has multiplicity greater than 1 if a1 > 0, that is, the elements of D are not co
prime or, equivalently, ICG.n; D/ is disconnected (see Remark 4.17 (i)). More precisely, we have for each j D s u, 0 u a1 , exactly '.pu / integers k D pj m
with p m and 1 Pk ps . Hence the multiplicity of the largest eigenvalue
1
.ps ; D/ is precisely auD0
'.pu / D pa1 . By (4.55) we know that .ps ; D/ D
s
a1
.p ; D.p //, and since a1 D s r C 1 in D D fpsrC1 ; psrC2 ; : : : ; ps1 ; ps g,
the asserted formulas for .ps ; D/ in (ii) follow.
By the argument above, eigenvalues other than the largest one can only appear in
Case 2. For D D fpsrC1 ; psrC2 ; : : : ; ps1 ; ps g and j D r ` 1 (1 ` r),
we obtain by (4.54)
k .p ; D/ D .p ; D.p
s
srC`C1
// p
r`1
r`1
X
'.pi / pr`1 D 0:
i D0
This proves .ps ; D/ D 0.

To complete the proof of (ii), it remains to show that .ps ; D/ 0 for any nonregular set D. Such a divisor set can be written as D D fpa1 ; : : : ; pa` ; pa`C1 ; : : : ; par g
182
Jurgen Sander
with 0 a1 < a2 < < ar D s, a`C1 a` 2, and ai C1 ai D 1 for some

1 ` r 1 and all i D ` C 1; : : : ; r 1. Then for all k D psa` 1 m, p m, i.e.
j D s a` 1, have by (4.54) in Case 2
r
X
k .ps ; D/ D .ps ; D.pa`C1 // psa` 1 D
'.psai / psa` 1 < 0;
i D`C1
(4.56)
hence .ps ; D/ 0.
It remains to verify (iii). Since D is not uni-regular, we have negative eigenvalues
by (4.56), and Lemma 4.23 (ii) proves E.ps ; D/ > ps .

It was shown in 40, Theorem 3.1, that for a prime power ps

1
Emin .ps / D 2ps 1

:
p
(4.57)
Observe that the minimum is extended over divisor sets D D .ps /, i.e., over
loopless graphs. Moreover, the ps -minimal divisor sets were identified precisely as
the singleton sets D D fpj g with 0 j s 1. For our purpose we shall require
a corresponding result for graphs ICG.ps ; D/ containing loops, that is with ps 2 D.
Proposition 4.25. Let ps be a prime power. Then
EOmin .ps / WD minfE.ps ; D/ W ps 2 D D.ps /g D ps ;
(4.58)
where the minimising divisor sets are exactly the uni-regular ones.
The reader might notice that (4.57) implies EOmin .ps / Emin .ps /, where equality
only holds in case p D 2.
Proof of Proposition 4.25. For r D 1, the assertion follows immediately from
Proposition 4.24(i). Hence assume that r 2. By Proposition 4.24(iii), it suffices to show that we have E.ps ; D/ D ps for each uni-regular divisor set D D
fpa1 ; pa1 C1 ; : : : ; ps1 ; ps g. We know from Proposition 4.24(ii) that ICG.n; D/ has
only two different eigenvalues, namely .ps ; D/ D psa1 with multiplicity pa1 and
0 (consequently with multiplicity ps pa1 ). Therefore, E.ps ; D/ D pa1 psa1 D
ps , as required.

Proof of Theorem 4.16.
D .n/ be a multiplicative set such that E.n; D/ D
Qt Let D
s
.i /
Q
Emin .n/. Then D D i D1 D for certain divisor sets D.i / D.pi i / (1 i t),
Qt
s
i
.i
/
and EQmin .n/ D i D1 E.pi ; D / by [28], Corollary 4.1(ii). By the minimality of
E.n; D/ it follows from [40], Theorem 3.1, and our Proposition 4.25 that for 1
i t

s
s
2pi i .1 p1 /; if pi i D.i / ,
si
.i /
i
E.pi ; D / D
s
s
pi i ;
if pi i 2 D.i / ,
Bibliography
183
where D.i / is either a singleton set fpi i g for some 0 ui si 1, or a uni-regular

s
set containing pi i , respectively. This yields
t

Y
1
Q
2 1
Emin .n/ D n
;
(4.59)
pi
i D1
s
pi i D.i /
s
and our assumption n D implies that pi i D.i / for at least one i . Under this
restriction, and since p1 is the smallest of the primes involved, it is easily seen that
s
the right-hand side of (4.59) becomes minimal if p1s1 D.1/ and pi i 2 D.i / for

2 i t with the corresponding divisor sets D.i / just mentioned.
We confined our study of the energies of integral circulant graphs to the rather
restricted class having multiplicative divisor sets. Yet, somewhat unexpectedly, this
led to good bounds for Emin .n/ and Emax .n/. On top of that, the results obtained
by the study of multiplicative divisor sets, combined with some numerical evidence,
encourage us to make the following two conjectures.

Conjecture 4.26. For each integer n 2, we have Emin .n/ D 2n 1 p11 , where p1
denotes the smallest prime factor of n.
Conjecture 4.27. Let n 2 be an arbitrary integer. Then E.n; D/ D Emin .n/ implies
that D is a multiplicative divisor set.
Observe that Conjecture 4.26 is a consequence of Conjecture 4.27 by Theorem
4.16.
In 2005 it was conjectured by So that, given a positive integer n, two graphs
ICG.n; D1 / and ICG.n; D2 / are cospectral, that is Spec.ICG.n; D1 // D
Spec.ICG.n; D2 //, if and only if D1 D D2 . For n D ps this follows immediately
from (4.27) by straightforward comparison of the largest eigenvalues .ps ; D1 / and
.ps ; D2 / of the two graphs. Sos conjecture was also confirmed for the slightly more
general case n D ps q t with primes p q and t 2 f0; 1g (cf. [10] for details), but
its proof required the study of eigenvalues other than the largest one as well as their
multiplicities. For arbitrary positive integers n and arbitrary divisor sets the problem
is still open. Therefore, we suggest to study the following weaker conjecture, which
might be more accessible.
Conjecture 4.28. Let n be a positive integer, and let D1 ; D2 D .n/ be two multiplicative sets. If ICG.n; D1 / and ICG.n; D2 / are cospectral, then D1 D D2 .
Bibliography
[1] O. Ahmadi, N. Alon, I. F. Blake and I. E. Shparlinski, Graphs with integral spectrum. Linear
Algebra Appl. 430 (2009), 547552.
[2] N. Alon, Eigenvalues and expanders. Combinatorica, 6 (1986), 8396.
184
Jurgen Sander
[3] R. J. Angeles-Canul, R. Norton, M. Oppermann, C. Paribello, M. Russel and C. Tamon, Perfect state transfer, integral circulants and join of graphs. Quantum Inf. Comput. 10 (2010),
325342.
[4] T. M. Apostol, Introduction to Analytic Number Theory, Springer Verlag, Berlin
Heidelberg New York, 1976.
[5] H. Bass, The Ihara-Selberg zeta function of a tree lattice. Intl. J. Math. 3 (1992), 717797.
[6] F. Bien, Construction of telephone networks by group representations. Notices Am. Math. Soc.
36 (1989), No. 1, 522.
[7] N. L. Biggs, Algebraic Graph Theory. 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
1993.
[8] R. B. Boppana, Eigenvalues and graph bisection: an average case analysis. In Proc. 28th Ann.
Symp. Found. Comp. Sci., IEEE 1987, 280285.
[9] R. A. Brualdi, Energy of a graph. AIM Workshop Notes, 2006.
am property. Masters Thesis.
[10] C. F. Cusanza, Integral circulant graphs with the spectral Ad
Paper 2875. http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd theses/2875
[11] P. J. Davis, Circulant Matrices. John Wiley & Sons, New York Chichester Brisbane, 1979.
[12] R. Diestel, Graph Theory. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1997.
[13] A. Droll, A classification of Ramanujan unitary Cayley graphs. Electron. J. Combin 17 (2010),
#N29.
[14] C. Godsil and G. Royle, Algebraic Graph Theory. Vol. 207 of Graduate Texts in Mathematics,
Springer-Verlag, New York, 2001.
[15] I. Gutman, The energy of a graph. Ber. Math.-Stat. Sekt. Forschungszent. Graz 103, 1978.
[16] F. Harary and A. J. Schwenk, Which graphs have integral spectra? In Graphs and Combinatorics (Ed. R. Bari and F. Harary). Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 4551, 1974.
[17] G. H. Hardy, E. M. Wright and J. H. Silverman, An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers.
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008.
[18] K. Hashimoto, Zetas functions of finite graphs and representations of p-adic groups. Advanced Studies in Pure Math., vol. 15, Academic Press, New York, 1989, 211280.
[19] Sh. Hoory, N. Linial and A. Wigderson, Expander graphs and their applications. Bull. Amer.
Math. Soc. 43 (2006), no. 4, 439561.
[20] R. A. Horn and C. R. Johnson, Topics in Matrix Analysis. Cambridge University Press, 1991.
[21] Y. Ihara, On discrete subgroups of the two by two projective linear group over p-adic fields.
J. Math. Soc. Japon. 18 (1966), 219235.
[22] A. Ilic, Distance spectra and distance energy of integral circulant graphs. Linear Algebra Appl.
433 (2010), 10051014.
[23] A. Ivic, The Riemann Zeta Function: The Theory of the Riemann Zeta-Function with Applications. John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, 1985.
[24] H. Iwaniec and E. Kowalski, Analytic Number Theory. AMS Publications, Providence, 2004.
[25] M. Kotani and T. Sunada, Zeta functions of finite graphs. J. Math. Sci. Univ. Tokyo 7 (2000),
725.
[26] T. Y. Lam and K. H. Leung On vanishing sums of roots of unity. J. Algebra 224 (2000),
91109.
185
[27] S. Lang, Algebraic Number Theory. Addison-Wesley, Reading MA, 1968.

[28] T. A. Le and J. W. Sander, Convolutions of Ramanujan sums and integral circulant graphs.
Intl. J. Number Theory 7 (2012), 17771788.
[29] T. A. Le and J. W. Sander, Extremal energies of integral circulant graphs via multiplicativity.
Lin. Algebra Appl. 437 (2012), 14081421.
[30] T. A. Le and J. W. Sander, Integral circulant Ramanujan graphs of prime power order. Electronic J. Combinatorics 20(3) (2013), #P35, 12pp.
[31] A. Lubotzky, R. Phillips and P. Sarnak, Ramanujan graphs. Combinatorica 8 (1988), 261277.
[32] R. B. Mallion, Some chemical applications of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of certain
finite, planar graphs. In Applications of Combinatorics, R. J. Wilson (Ed.), Shiva Publishing
Ltd., Nantwich, Cheshire (England, United Kingdom), 1982, 87114.
[33] S. J. Miller and R. Takloo-Bigash, An Invitation to Modern Number Theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2006.
[34] M. Morgenstern, Existence and explicit constructions of q C 1 regular Ramanujan graphs for
every prime power q. J. Combinatorial Theory, Series B 62 (1994), 4462.
[35] M. R. Murty, Ramanujan graphs. J. Ramanujan Math. Soc. 18 (2003), 3352.
[36] W. Narkiewicz, On a class of arithmetical convolutions. Colloq. Math. 10 (1963), 8194.
[37] S. J. Patterson, An Introduction to the Theory of the Riemann Zeta Function. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988.
[38] M. Rosen, Number Theory in Function Fields. Springer-Verlag, New York, 2002.
[39] J. W. Sander, Integral circulant Ramanujan graphs via multiplicativity and ultrafriable integers, Linear Algebra Appl. 477 (2015), 2141.
[40] J. W. Sander and T. Sander, The energy of integral circulant graphs with prime power order.
App. Anal. Discrete Math. 5 (2011), 2236.
[41] J. W. Sander and T. Sander, The exact maximal energy of integral circulant graphs with prime
power order. Contr. Discr. Math. 8 (2013), 1940.
[42] N. Saxena, S. Severini and I. E. Shparlinski, Parameters of integral circulant graphs and periodic quantum dynamics. Int. J. Quantum Inf. 5 (2007), 417430.
[43] J.-P. Serre, Trees. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1980.
[44] W. Schwarz and J. Spilker, Arithmetical Functions. Lond. Math. Soc., Lect. Notes Math. 184,
Cambridge University Press, 1994.
[45] I. Shparlinski, On the energy of some circulant graphs. Linear Algebra Appl. 414 (2006),
378382.
[46] W. So, Integral circulant graphs. Discrete Math. 306 (2005), 153158.
[47] T. Sunada, Riemannian coverings and isospectral manifolds. Ann. Math. 121 (1985), 169186.
[48] A. Terras, Zeta Functions of Graphs. Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011.
Index
acyclic, 127
adjacency matrix, 124, 130, 132, 133,
137, 141, 148, 151153, 159,
180
adjacent, 14, 124
algebraic, 5, 14, 31, 34, 37, 38, 4549,
5156, 59, 63, 64, 66, 6872,
124, 130, 139, 159
almost holomorphic modular form, 26
almost mock modular form, 26
Andrews-Dragonette Conjecture, 20
average winding number, 95
convergent, 7, 39, 41, 4345, 63, 64, 66,

82, 90, 95, 99
convolution, 78, 110, 161
cospectral, 131, 183
crank, 20
cusp form, 2, 57, 19
cycle, 127, 129, 136141, 143, 151
cycle graph, 124, 125, 128, 134, 136,
139, 141
cyclic, 127, 134, 135
de Bruijn word, 39
Dedekind
-function, 12
backtrack, 137, 139, 140, 151
degree, 34, 38, 45, 46, 49, 51, 56, 59, 63,
Bernoulli number, 3
66, 6870, 72, 128, 129, 136,
bipartite, 129, 130, 132134
143
directed, 124, 130, 132, 136, 137, 140,
Cayley graph, 124, 125, 129, 135, 159,
141, 143, 153
160, 162
Dirichlet inverse, 118
circle of convergence, 140
disconnected, 126129, 181
circulant, 124, 125, 128, 134, 135, 159, dominating prime power factor, 171, 172
160, 162, 166, 167, 171176,
183
edge, 124, 125, 127, 128, 132, 135137,
circulant graph, 124, 125, 128, 134, 135,
141, 143, 148, 149, 151153,
159, 162, 171, 173, 174
159
circulant matrix, 134
edge adjacency matrix, 137, 141, 148,
clique, 127
151153, 159
closed walk, 127
eigenvalue, 5, 79, 118120, 131135,
complete graph, 125, 128, 134, 136, 143,
146148, 152, 155, 159163,
149
173, 180183
completely multiplicative, 97, 110, 111, Eisenstein series, 26, 9, 18
114, 117, 119
energy, 132, 159, 173176
complexity, 34, 36, 37, 68, 69, 71
equivalent, 137, 138, 141
component, 95, 127, 128, 133
essential spectrum, 82
connected, 127129, 132134, 136, 155, Euler product formula, 97
161, 162, 167, 175
expander graph, 135, 158
continuant, 42
continued fraction, 31, 33, 34, 3638, 40, Farey fractions, 14
Fourier coefficient, 2, 47, 9, 11, 21, 25,
43, 44, 56, 61, 68, 69
27, 78, 80, 81, 83, 89
continued fraction expansion, 31, 33, 34,
Fourier expansion, 24, 6, 9, 23, 28
3638, 40, 43, 44, 69
188
Index
J -Bessel function, 10, 13

Fredholm, 8284
friendly, 136, 138, 139, 143, 145, 147,
k-regular, 128, 132, 134, 135
148, 151, 152, 155
Kloosterman sums, 9, 13, 24, 27
Frobenius norm, 151
fundamental domain, 68
Laurent matrix, 81
fundamental group, 141143, 147
leaf, 128
length of the prime, 137
gamma function, 10, 19
Lindelof function, 92
incomplete, 19
graph, 110, 123139, 141, 144, 147, 149, Lindelof Hypothesis, 92, 94, 109, 117
151155, 158160, 162, 166 Liouvilles Theorem, 46
Lipschitz summation formula, 4
173, 175, 176, 182, 183
Cayley, 124126, 128130, 135, loop, 17, 124, 125, 130, 141, 154, 161,
175, 180, 182
159, 160, 162
loopfree,
124, 132
circulant, 124126, 128, 134, 135,
159, 160, 162, 171, 173, 174
complete, 125, 128, 134, 136, 143, Maass form, 1822, 25, 26
almost harmonic, 26
149
Maass-Poincar
e series, 21, 22
cycle, 124, 125, 128, 134, 136, 139,
matrix
exponential,
149, 150
141
matrix
logarithm,
150,
151
expander, 135, 158
mean
motion,
95
integral, 135
integral circulant, 135, 159, 160, meromorphic at the cusps, 1
mirror formula, 41
162, 167
mixed mock modular form, 26, 27
isomorphic, 131
Ramanujan, 135, 145, 147, 158, mock modular form, 17, 19, 25
mock theta function, 1921, 26
159, 162, 167, 172
modular form, 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 1719,
2527
Hankel loop integral formula, 17
almost holomorphic, 26
Hankel maTrices, 83
almost mock, 26
Hecke bound, 5
holomorphic, 2, 4
holomorphic modular form, 2, 4
mixed mock, 2, 2527
Hurwitz class number, 18
mock, 17, 19, 25
hyperbolic Laplacian, 17
weakly holomorphic, 11, 18
Ihara three-term determinant formula, multicyclic, 136
141, 143
multigraph, 124, 125
Ihara zeta function, 136, 138, 139, 145, multiple edges, 124
147
multiplicative, 9, 78, 79, 91, 95, 97, 99,
infinite word, 3437, 39, 48, 50, 51, 69
100, 102, 103, 110, 111, 114,
integral circulant graph, 135, 159, 160,
117, 119, 129, 161, 162, 171
162, 167
176, 182, 183
integral graph, 135
multiplicative set, 162, 174176, 182,
183
isomorphic graph, 131
multiplicative setting, 99
isospectral, 131
Index
Multiplicative Toeplitz Matrices, 78, 95

Nebentypus character, 22
neighbor, 124
normal number, 32, 33
operator norm, 80, 86
order, 10, 13, 14, 27, 34, 39, 92, 93, 101
103, 105, 115, 117, 124, 125,
135, 138, 141, 147, 159, 162,
166, 171, 172, 174178, 181
orientation, 136139, 141, 143, 151153
palindrome, 63
Parsevals identity, 90
partial quotient, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37, 41,
44, 51, 64, 66
partition, 2, 1113, 18, 20, 21, 25
without sequences, 25
path, 11, 14, 127, 132, 137, 138, 140,
141, 151
paths, 16
period integral, 21
PerronFrobenius theorem, 133, 148
Petersson coefficient formula, 7
Petersson inner product, 6, 7, 9
Petersson slash operator, 3
planar, 131
Poincare series, 69, 18, 23, 25
Poisson summation formula, 10
prime, 33, 44, 46, 47, 50, 5254, 67,
88, 92, 97, 100, 102104, 110
114, 135, 137140, 155, 158,
159, 162, 163, 165169, 171
175, 177183
prime counting function, 136, 138
Prime Number Theorem, 100, 102, 104,
113, 117, 136, 138, 155
prime path, 137, 138
primitive path, 137
principal part, 18, 28
189
Ramanujan graph, 135, 145, 158, 159,

162, 167, 172
Ramanujan property, 136
Ramanujan sum, 135, 160, 163, 177
Ramanujan-Petersson Conjecture, 5
Redheffers matrix, 78
regular, 124, 128, 129, 132, 135, 144,
147, 160, 161
regularized inner product, 7, 19
Ridouts Theorem, 46
Riemann Hypothesis, 78, 79, 92, 136,
145, 147, 150, 156, 158, 159
Riemann zeta function, 3, 77, 91, 99, 136,
145, 147
RieszFischer Theorem, 90
Roths Theorem, 46
Salie sum, 24
Schmidt Subspace Theorem, 47
Schur norm, 151
semi-regular, 161, 174, 175
sequence space, 79, 85
shadow, 19, 27
simple, 124, 127, 132
spanning subgraph, 124126
spanning tree, 128, 143
spectrum, 82, 124, 131, 132, 150, 159,
162
Sturmian word, 36
subgraph, 124128
symmetric, 1, 124, 129, 130, 133, 145
Toeplitz Matrices, 78, 80, 85, 95
transcendental, 14, 31, 38, 39, 4850, 62,
63, 66
tree, 124, 127129, 141, 143
two-term determinant formula, 140, 149,
151, 156
ultimately periodic, 3438, 43, 48, 55,

56, 63, 68
quotient, partial, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37, 41,
undirected,
124, 129, 130, 132, 136
44, 51, 64, 66
unitary, 129, 159, 162
radius of convergence, 140, 143, 144,
147, 148, 155
Valence formula, 8
190
Index
vertices, 124, 125, 127, 128, 131, 133, Whittaker function, 23, 24
136, 140, 141, 149, 150
Wiener Algebra, 82, 90
WienerHopf factorization, 84, 97
walk, 127
weakly holomorphic modular form, 11, winding number, 82, 95
average, 95
18
Series of Lectures in Mathematics
Kathrin Bringmann gives an introduction to the theory of modular forms and, in

particular, so-called Mock theta-functions, a topic which had been untouched
for decades but has obtained much attention in the last years. Yann Bugeaud
is concerned with expansions of algebraic numbers. Here combinatorics on
words and transcendence theory are combined to derive new information on
the sequence of decimals of algebraic numbers and on their continued fraction
expansions. Titus Hilberdink reports on a recent and rather unexpected approach
to extreme values of the Riemann zeta-function by use of (multiplicative)
Toeplitz matrices and functional analysis. Finally, Jrgen Sander gives an
introduction to algebraic graph theory and the impact of number theoretical
methods on fundamental questions about the spectra of graphs and the
analogue of the Riemann hypothesis.
ISBN 978-3-03719-142-2
www.ems-ph.org
Bringman | FONT: Rotis Sans | Farben: Pantone 287, Pantone 116 | 170 x 240 mm | RB: 10.4 mm
This book arises from courses given at the International Summer School
organized in August 2012 by the number theory group of the Department of
Mathematics at the University of Wrzburg. It consists of four essentially selfcontained chapters and presents recent research results highlighting the strong
interplay between number theory and other fields of mathematics, such as
combinatorics, functional analysis and graph theory. The book is addressed to
(under)graduate students who wish to discover various aspects of number theory.
Remarkably, it demonstrates how easily one can approach frontiers of current
research in number theory by elementary and basic analytic methods.
Kathrin Bringmann, Yann Bugeaud,

Titus Hilberdink and Jrgen Sander
Kathrin Bringmann
Yann Bugeaud
Titus Hilberdink
Jrgen Sander
Kathrin Bringmann
Yann Bugeaud
Titus Hilberdink
Jrgen Sander
Four Faces of
Number Theory

Four Faces of Number Theory

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Four Faces of Number Theory

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Series of Lectures in Mathematics

Four Faces of Number Theory

Kathrin Bringmann gives an introduction to the theory of modular forms and, in

Four Faces of Number Theory

Kathrin Bringmann, Yann Bugeaud,

EMS Series of Lectures in Mathematics

Previously published in this series:

Phone: +41 (0)44 632 34 36

1 Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and related functions

2 Expansions of algebraic numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 Multiplicative Toeplitz matrices and the Riemann zeta function

Arithmetical topics in algebraic graph theory . .

Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and

2 Classical modular forms

1 Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and related functions

M 21 nSL2 .Z/

d ` and Bk is the kth Bernoulli number, given by the generating

Due to the absolute convergence of the Eisenstein series we may reorder

This gives that the second term in (1.2) equals

which gives the claim.

We next turn to bounding Fourier coefficients of holomorphic modular forms. For

1 Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and related functions

where y > 0 can be chosen arbitrary. This yields that

e.x C iy/dx  cy k2 e2 ny

for some constant c > 0 (independent of y). Picking y D

Remark. The Ramanujan-Petersson Conjecture predicts that for f 2 Sk we have for

Remark. We have that

In particular, we have for k 4 that for f 2 Mk

1 Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and related functions

Theorem 2.7. The following is a fundamental domain of SL2 .Z/:

Definition. For f 2 Mk and g 2 Sk , formally define the Petersson inner product by

The following theorem may be easily verified.

Proof. We only argue formally and ignore questions of convergence. We have

M 21 nSL2 .Z/

M 21 nSL2 .Z/

M 21 nSL2 .Z/ M F

M F is a fundamental domain for the action of 1 on H

y is invariant under the action of 1 . Thus we may change

Now the claim follows by using that

a.n/q n with a .n0 / 0.

1 Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and related functions

Corollary 2.11. For k 2 N0 ,

This easily gives the basis property of the Poincare series.

For k 2 .mod 12/, we get

multiplicative inverse of a .mod c/. Moreover, we let Jr be the J -Bessel function

where .x/ denotes the usual gamma-function.

Proof. We again use that a set of representatives of 1 nSL2 .Z/ is given by

and change d 7! d C mc; where d runs .mod c/ and m 2 Z. This gives

where a is defined by ad 1 .mod c/ and

Now the classical Poisson summation formula yields

1 Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and related functions

.Re.w/ > 0/;

3 Weakly holomorphic modular forms

1 Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and related functions

Sometimes it is also useful to rewrite !h;k as [33]

Theorem 3.4. For n 1, we have

1 Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and related functions

Now exp. 2i

Using the Residue Theorem, we can write

where L and Ij denote the paths of integration in the picture

where Ak .n/ is defined as in (1.12) and

1 Asymptotic formulas for modular forms and related functions

e.x C iy/dx cy k2 e2 ny

A space orthogonal to Hk can be charaterized in terms of the holomorphic

One may show the following asymptotic bounds for k < g k:

Ik;g;b .z/ jzj 52

Otherwise, the sequence .p.n; ; b//n1 is bounded.

for any algebraic irrational number .

Furthermore, setting nC1 D anC1 I anC2 ; anC3 ; : : :, we have