THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF ROOTS OVER THE FIELD OF p-ADIC

NUMBERS

ROY SHMUELI

Abstract. We study the roots of a random polynomial over the field of p-adic numbers. For a
random monic polynomial with i.i.d. coefficients in Zp , we obtain an estimate for the expected
number of roots of this polynomial. In particular, if the coefficients take the values ±1 with equal
probability, the expected number of p-adic roots converges to (p − 1) / (p + 1) as the degree of
arXiv:2101.03561v1 [math.NT] 10 Jan 2021

the polynomial tends to ∞.

1. Intorduction
Consider the random polynomial
f (X) = ξ0 + ξ1 X + · · · + ξn−1 X n−1 + X n
where ξ0 , . . . , ξn−1 are i.i.d. random variables taking values in a ring R. We denote by CR (f ) the
number of roots of f without multiplicities, i.e.
(1) CR (f ) = # {r ∈ R : f (r) = 0} .
We ask the question: What is the expected value of CR (f ) for rings R of interest?
This question has been extensively studied when R = R is the field of real numbers, see for
example [BP32, LO38, Kac43, EO56, IM71, Sö17a, Sö17b]. In particular, Ibragimov and Maslova
[IM71] showed that ξ0 , . . . , ξn are i.i.d. with E [ξi ] = 0 and V [ξi ] = 1, then
" n
!#
X 2
E CR ξi X i ∼ log n
i=0
π
as n → ∞.
When R = Q is the field of rational numbers, we expect to have a few roots. For example,
assume the ξi are Rademacher random variables, i.e. taking the values ±1 with equal probabilities.
Then the only rational numbers that can be a root in this case are ±1. Moreover, we have
!
n−1
X  
n
P (f (±1) = 0) = P (±1) + ±1 = 0 = O n−1/2 ,
i=0


−1/2
so CQ (f ) = O n . This argument may be generalized to other coefficients using the Rogozin-
Kolmogorv inequality [Rog61].
Next we consider R = Fq , a finite field. We have
  X
E CFq (f ) = P (f (r) = 0) .
r∈Fq

Assume
  each ξi is a uniform element in Fq . Then P (f (r) = 0) = 1/q and consequently
that
E CFq (f ) = 1. This may be generalized to non-degenerate coefficients as follow. We restrict to
prime fields, that is, q = p is a prime number, to make the discussion cleaner. The probability that
f (r) = 0 is equal to the probability that the random walk whose steps are given by Xi+1 = rXi +ξi
reach 0 on the n-th step. It is known to expert, that if r 6= 0, these random walks are become
equidistributed as n grows exponentially fast (see Proposition 12 for a more general version).
Hence
  p−1
(2) E CFp (f ) = P (ξ0 = 0) + + O (exp (−cn))
p
1
2 ROY SHMUELI

for some c > 0.

This paper studies
 the case where R = Qp , the field of p-adic numbers. On the one hand, one
may guess that E CQp (f ) behaveslike E [CR (f )], since both
 fields are completions of Q. On the
other hand, one may expect that E CQp (f ) behaves like E CFp (f ) , since Qp and Fp are closely
related.    
Our main result shows that the E CFp (f ) is much closer to E CQp (f ) .

Theorem 1. Let f (X) = ξ0 + ξ1 X + · · · + ξn−1 X n−1 + X n where ξ0 , . . . , ξn−1 are i.i.d. ran-
dom variables taking values in Zp and distributed such that ξi mod p is non-degenerate. Denote
f0 (X) = f (pX). Then for any ε > 0
    p−1  
(3) E CQp (f ) = E CZp (f0 ) + + O n−1/4+ε ,
p+1
as n → ∞.
 
Let us compare equation (3) with equation (2), term by term. Note that E CFp (f (pX)) =
P (ξ0 = 0), so the first terms are analogues. The second terms correspond to the number of roots
6≡ 0 (mod p). There is a difference of ≈ 1/p between them due to subtle issues coming from
non-simple roots.
 Thosesame issues also cause the error term in (3) to be worse than in (2).
The term E CZp (f0 ) in equation (3) is easy to compute in many cases. It has the following
upper bound:
  P (ξ0 ≡ 0 (mod p))
(4) E CZp (f0 ) ≤ ,
P (ξ0 6≡ 0 (mod p))
 
see Section 7. In particular, E CQp (f ) is bounded as n → ∞ in contrast to E [CR (f )].
Assume that the ξi are distributed according to the Haar measure on Zp . In this case,
E CQp (f ) has an exact formula
  p
(5) E CQp (f ) = .
p+1
This result can be achieved by using methods of Evans [Eva06], who studied the expected number
of roots of random multivariate polynomials in a certain model, and Igusa’s
 zeta
 functions [Den91],
see Appendix A. This result is compatible with Theorem 1, since E CZp (f0 ) = 1/ (p + 1).
Next we apply Theorem 1 to interesting distributions.

Corollary 2. Let f (X) = ξ0 + ξ1 X + · · · + ξn−1 X n−1 + X n where ξ0 , . . . , ξn−1 are i.i.d. random
variables in Zp .
(1) Assume each ξi takes the values ±1 each with equal probability and p > 2. Then,
  p−1  
E CQp (f ) = + O n−1/4+ε , n → ∞.
p+1
(2) Assume each ξi takes the values 0 or 1 each with equal probability. Then,
  3p − 1  
E CQp (f ) = + O n−1/4+ε , n → ∞.
2 (p + 1)
(3) Assume each ξi takes the values {0, . . . , p − 1} uniformly. Then,
  p2 + 1  
E CQp (f ) = + O n−1/4+ε , n → ∞.
p (p + 1)
Corollary 2 follows immediately from Theorem 1 and from

Proposition 3. If ξi = 0 almost surely conditioned on p | ξi , then

 
E CZp (f0 ) = P (ξ0 = 0) .
 THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF ROOTS OVER THE FIELD OF p-ADIC NUMBERS 3

1.1. Outline of the proof of Theorem 1. From now on, we abbreviate and write
C (f ) = CZp (f ) .
For monic f , we have CZp (f ) = CQp (f ).
A first observation is that by grouping the roots according to their value modulo p we have
p−1
X
(6) C (f ) = C (fr ) ,
r=0
where fr (X) = f (r + pX). So we can treat each fr separately. The case of r = 0, gives the term
E [C (f0 )].
Take r 6= 0 and consider the set Υk of all polynomials of the form g (pX) mod pk , see equa-
tion (8). We prove that fr mod pk is distributed uniformly on Υk up to an exponentially small
error (see Lemma 19).

1
Applying Hensel’s lemma, this gives the estimate for E [C (fr )] = p+1 + O p−(1−ε)k/2 (see
Proposition 6). Taking k = Θ (log n) and summing over all r 6= 0, complete the proof of the
theorem.
Let us elaborate on the part of the uniform distribution of fr mod pk . We define a random walk

k
on the additive group Z/pk Z whose n-th step gives the first k coefficients of fr , see equation (33).
Then, we apply ideas from the works Diaconis [CDG87] and of Breuillard and Varjú [BV19], to
show that the random walk “mixes” in the group, for k ≪ log n (see Proposition 12).
The paper is structured as follows. Section 2 surveys the p-adic numbers. Section 3 introduces
Υk and proves Proposition 6. In Section 4, we study the random walks in general and in Section 5,
we connect the random walks to polynomials modulo pk . We prove Theorem 1 in Section 6. Finally,
in Section 7 we prove equation (4) and Proposition 3.

Proposition 12

Proposition 15

Proposition 6 Lemma 19

Theorem 1 Proposition 3

Corollary 2

Figure 1. Main Lemmas and Theorems diagram

Acknowledgements. I would like to thank my supervisor, Lior Bary-Soroker, for his guidance,
patience and time. Eli Glasner for his support in the research. Gady Kozma and Ron Peled for
their advices and comments on the research.
This research was partially support by a grant of the Israel Science Foundation, grant no.
702/19.

2. The p-adic numbers

a
For a fixed prime number p, we can write any non-zero rational number r ∈ Q× as r = pt · b
such that a, b, t ∈ Z and p ∤ a, b. We use this factorization to define the p-adic absolute value:
(
p−t , r 6= 0
|r|p =
0, r = 0.
4 ROY SHMUELI

The absolute value | · |p satisfies:

|r|p ≥ 0 and |r|p = 0 ⇐⇒ r = 0,
(7) |r1 r2 |p = |r1 |p |r2 |p ,
 
|r1 + r2 |p ≤ max |r1 |p , |r2 |p .
We define the field of p-adic numbers, denoted by Qp , as the completion of Q with respect to
| · |p . We define the ring of p-adic integers, denoted by Zp , as the topological closure of Z in Qp .
Then,
α ∈ Zp ⇐⇒ |α|p ≤ 1.
The ring Zp is local with maximal ideal pZp . All the non-zero ideals are of the form pk Zp
for some integer k ≥ 0. The quotient ring Zp /pk Zp is canonically isomorphic to the ring Z/pk Z.
Therefore we use the notation of reduction modulo pk as in the integers, i.e., for α, β ∈ Zp we
write
α ≡ β (mod pk ) ⇐⇒ α − β ∈ pk Zp .
Note that α ≡ β (mod pk ) ⇐⇒ |α − β|p ≤ p−k and that α = 0 ⇐⇒ α ≡ 0 (mod pk ) for all
k ≥ 1.
Our proof utilizes the following version of Hensel’s lemma, see [Bac64] or [Lan70]
Theorem 4. If f (X) ∈ Zp [X] and r ∈ Z/p2k Z satisfies
f (r) ≡ 0 (mod p2k ), f ′ (r) 6≡ 0 (mod pk )
then r can be lifted uniquely from Z/pk Z to a root of f in Zp , i.e., there is a unique α ∈ Zp such
that f (α) = 0 and α ≡ r (mod pk ).
Further, in this paper, we use the following proposition:


Proposition 5. If g 6≡ 0 (mod pk ) and deg g mod pk < m, then g has at most m − 1 roots in
Zp .
Qm
Proof. Let α1 , . . . , αm be roots of g in Zp and h (X) = i=1 (X − αi ). Dividing g by h with
remainder in Qp [X], gives
g (X) = h (X) q (X) .
Since h is monic, q ∈ Zp [X]. Reducing g = hq modulo pk gives the assertion. 

3. A space of polynomials modulo pk

Consider the subset Υk of Z/pk Z [X] defined by:
(k−1 )
X
i i k k−i
(8) Υk = ci p X ∈ Z/p Z [X] : ∀i < k, ci ∈ Z/p Z .
i=0

As Υk is in a natural bijection with Z/pk Z × · · · × Z/pZ → Υk , we have

k−1
Y
(9) #Υk = pk−i = pk(k+1)/2 .
i=0

Proposition 6. Let ε > 0 and let g ∈ Zp [X] be a random polynomial such that deg g ≤ p4k
almost surely and such that g mod pk is distributed uniformly in Υk . Then we have
1  
E [C (g)] = + O p−(1−ε)k/2
p+1
as k → ∞.
We first introduce a definition that allows us to connect between roots modulo pk and roots in
Zp .
 THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF ROOTS OVER THE FIELD OF p-ADIC NUMBERS 5

Definition 7. For a polynomial g ∈ Zp [X] we say that x ∈ Z/pk Z is a k-Henselian root of g if

g ′ (x) 6≡ 0 (mod pk ) and there is a lift y of x in Z/p2k Z such that g (y) ≡ 0 (mod p2k ).
We say that a k-Henselian root x ∈ Z/pk Z is primitive if g ′ (x) ≡ 0 (mod pk−1 ). Otherwise,
we say it is non-primitive.
We denote the number of all k-Henselian roots of g by Hk (g). By Hensel’s lemma (Theorem 4)
any k-Henselian root can be lifted uniquely to a root in Zp , so we get that
(10) Hk (g) ≤ C (g) .
We also denote the number of all primitive k-Henselian roots of g by Hk′ (g). So we get the
following relation between them:
Lemma 8. For any polynomial g ∈ Zp [X],
k
X
′
Hk (g) = Hm (g) .
m=1

Proof. Clearly H1 (g) = H1′ (g) because g (x) ≡ 0 (mod p0 ) for all x ∈ Z/pZ. So, it suffices to
′

show that
(11) Hk (g) = Hk−1 (g) + Hk′ (g) ,
and the rest follows by induction.
We write Hk−1 ⊆ Z/pk−1 Z for the set of all (k − 1)-Henselian roots of g, and H̃k ⊆ Z/pk Z
for the set of all non-primitive k-Henselian roots of g. We define a map θ : Hk−1 → H̃k in the
following manner. For x ∈ Hk−1 , by Hensel’s lemma (Theorem 4) there exists a unique lifting of
x to α ∈ Zp such that g (α) = 0, so we put θ (x) = α mod pk . The element θ (x) is a non-primitive
Henselian root. Indeed, g (α) ≡ 0 (mod p2k ) and g ′ (α) 6≡ 0 (mod pk ) because g ′ (α) ≡ g ′ (x) 6≡ 0
(mod pk−1 ).
The map θ is injective because we have that
θ (x) ≡ α ≡ x (mod pk−1 ).
Meaning the reduction map modulo pk−1 is the left inverse of θ.
Moreover, the map θ is surjective. Indeed, let y ∈ H̃k . By Hensel’s lemma (Theorem 4) y has
a unique lift β ∈ Zp such that g (β) = 0. Since y is non-primitive, we have g ′ (β) ≡ g ′ (y) 6≡ 0
(mod pk−1 ). Hence, x := β mod pk−1 = y mod pk−1 is a (k − 1)-Henselian root of g. From the
uniqueness of β we have that y = θ (x).
Therefore, θ is a bijection. Hence the number of non-primitive k-Henselian roots of g equals to
Hk−1 (g), which proves equation (11). 
Lemma 9. Let k > 0 and let g ∈ Zp [X] be a random polynomial such that g mod p2k is distributed
uniformly in Υ2k . Then
1 − p−2k+2
E [Hk (g)] = .
p+1
′
Proof. We start by computing E [Hm (f )] and applying Lemma 8. For m = 1, since g ′ ≡ 0 (mod p)
by the definition of Υ2k there are no 1-Henselian roots and E [H1′ (g)] = 0. For 1 < m ≤ k, we
′ ′ ′
write Hm as the set of all primitive m-Henselian roots of g, so that Hm (g) = #Hm . We use the
following counting technique
X
′ ′
(12) E [Hm (g)] = P (x ∈ Hm ).
x∈Z/pm Z

Define Gx to be the event that g (x) 6≡ 0 (mod pm ) and g ′ (x) ≡ 0 (mod pm−1 ). Assume Gx
′

occurs and let y, ỹ ∈ Z/p2m Z be two lifts of x. Then

(13) g (y) ≡ g (ỹ) (mod p2m ) ⇐⇒ y ≡ ỹ (mod pm+1 ).
Indeed, if y = ỹ + pm+1 z then

1
g (y) = g ỹ + pm+1 z = g (ỹ) + g ′ (ỹ) pm+1 z + g ′′ (ỹ) p2m+2 z 2 + · · · .
2
6 ROY SHMUELI

Reducing modulo p2m and using that g ′ (ỹ) ≡ g ′ (x) ≡ 0 (mod pm−1 ), we get that g (y) ≡ g (ỹ)
(mod p2m ). For the other direction, assume that g (y) ≡ g (ỹ) (mod p2m ). Write y = x + pm z
and ỹ = x + pm z̃ then
1
g (y) = g (x + pm z) = g (x) + g ′ (x) pm z + g ′′ (x) p2m z 2 + · · · ,
2
1
g (ỹ) = g (x + p z̃) = g (x) + g (x) p z̃ + g ′′ (x) p2m z̃ 2 + · · · .
m ′ m
2
Reducing modulo p2m , all terms in the right hand side expect the first two vanish. Plugging in
the assumption g (y) ≡ g (ỹ) (mod p2m ), we get that g ′ (x) pm z ≡ g ′ (x) pm z̃ (mod p2m ). Since
g ′ (x) 6≡ 0 (mod pm ) and g ′ (x) ≡ 0 (mod pm−1 ) we infer that z ≡ z̃ (mod p). Hence y ≡ ỹ
(mod pm+1 ), as needed.
Equation (13) means that when checking if x is an m-Henselian root, it suffices to check if lifts
of x to Z/pm+1 Z are roots of g modulo p2m .
We denote Lx the set of lifts of x to Z/pm+1 Z. We have that
′


P (x ∈ Hm ) = P ∃y ∈ Lx , g (y) ≡ 0 (mod p2m ) ∩ Gx
 
] 
= P g (y) ≡ 0 (mod p2m ) ∩ Gx 
(14)
y∈Lx
X 

= P g (y) ≡ 0 (mod p2m ) ∩ Gx .
y∈Lx

We write g (X) = ξ0 + ξ1 pX + ξ2 p X 2 + . . . . Then

2
 

 g (y) ≡ (mod p2m )
P g (y) ≡ 0 (mod p2m ) ∩ Gx = P  g ′ (y) 6≡ 0 (mod pm ) 
 ′ m−1
g (y) ≡ 0 (mod p )
 
 ξ0 ≡ − (ξ1 py + . . . )
(mod p2m )
= P  pξ1 6≡ − 2ξ2 p2 y + . . .
(mod pm ) 
(15)  2 m−1
pξ1 ≡ − 2ξ2 p y + . . . (mod p )
 2m

 ξ0 ≡ − (ξ1 py + . . . ) (mod p )
= P  ξ1 6≡ − (2ξ2 py + . . . ) (mod pm−1 ) 

ξ1 ≡ − (2ξ2 py + . . . ) (mod pm−2 )
= p−3m · p (p − 1) .
The last equality holds true because ξ0 mod p2m and ξ1 mod pm−1 are distributed uniformly in
Z/p2m Z and Z/pm−1 Z respectively.
Finally, plugging equations (14) and (15) into equation (12) gives
X X
′
E [Hm (g)] = p−3m · p (p − 1) = p−2m · p2 (p − 1)
x∈Z/pm Z y∈Lx

and by Lemma 8 we get

k
X 1 − p−2k+2
E [Hk (g)] = p−2m · p2 (p − 1) = . 
m=2
p+1

For x ∈ Z/pk Z we say that x is simple root of g modulo pk if g (x) ≡ 0 (mod pk ) and g ′ (x) 6≡ 0
(mod pk ). And, we say x ∈ Z/pk Z is non-simple root of g modulo pk if g (x) ≡ g ′ (x) ≡ 0 (mod pk ).
We denote by Mg the event that g has a non-simple root modulo pk .
Lemma 10. For any k > 0, let g ∈ Zp [X] be a random polynomial such that g mod pk is
distributed uniformly in Υk . Then we have that:
P (Mg ) = p−k+1
 THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF ROOTS OVER THE FIELD OF p-ADIC NUMBERS 7

Proof. Let M be the set of all non-simple roots of g modulo pk . We write g (X) = ξ0 + ξ1 pX +
ξ2 p2 X 2 + . . . and then for a fixed x ∈ Z/pk Z we have
 
g (x) ≡ 0 (mod pk )
P (x ∈ M) = P
g ′ (x) ≡ 0 (mod pk )
 
ξ0 ≡ − (ξ1 py + . . . )
(mod pk )
=P
(16) pξ1 ≡ − 2ξ2 p2 y + . . . (mod pk )
 
ξ0 ≡ − (ξ1 py + . . . ) (mod pk )
=P
ξ1 ≡ − (2ξ2 py + . . . ) (mod pk−1 )
= p−2k+1 .

The last equality holds true because ξ0 mod p2m and ξ1 mod pm−1 are distributed uniformly in
Z/p2m Z and Z/pm−1 Z respectively.
We finish the proof by using union bound and plugging equation (16)
 
[ X
P (Mg ) = P  {x ∈ M} ≤ P (x ∈ M) = p−k+1 . 
x∈Z/pk Z x∈Z/pk Z

Proposition 11. Let ε > 0 and let g ∈ Zp [X] be a random polynomial such that deg g ≤ p9k
almost surely and g mod p2k is distributed uniformly in Υ2k . Then
1  
E [C (g)] = + O p−(1−ε)k
p+1
as k → ∞.

Proof. By Hensel’s Lemma (Theorem 4), we know that any k-Henselian root lifts uniquely to a
root in Zp . Moreover, if x is a simple root of g modulo pk then x lifts to a root in Zp if and only
if x is k-Henselian. Indeed, if x lifts to a root α ∈ Zp , the α mod p2k is a lift of x to a root of g in
Z/p2k Z.
All the non-simple roots of g modulo pk can be lifted to at most deg g roots, in particular when
g ≡ 0 (mod pk ). When
g 6≡ 0 (mod pk ), all the non-simple roots of g modulo pk can be lifted to
at most deg g mod pk < k, by Proposition 5.
This yields the upper bound on the expected number of roots of g,


(17) E [Hk (g)] ≤ E [C (g)] ≤ E [Hk (g)] + kP (Mg ) + E [deg g] P g ≡ 0 (mod pk ) .

By Lemma 9 and Lemma 10

1

(18) E [Hk (g)] = + O p−2k ,
p+1
 
(19) kP (Mg ) = kp−k+1 = O p−(1−ε)k .

Finally, since deg g ≤ p8k almost surely and by equation (9), we get that


 2

(20) E [deg g] P g ≡ 0 (mod pk ) = O p9k p−k(k+1)/2 = O p−k /4 .

Plugging equations (18), (19) and (20) into equation (17) finishes the proof. 

Proof of Proposition 6. If k is even we just apply Proposition 11. Otherwise k is odd. Since g mod
pk is distributed uniformly in Υk then g mod pk−1 is distributed uniformly in Υk−1 . Moreover,
deg g ≤ p4k = p8(k−1)/2+4 ≤ p9(k−1)/2 almost surely. So we apply Proposition 11 again to finish
the proof. 
8 ROY SHMUELI

d
4. Random walks on (Z/qZ)
d
Let q be a power of the prime number p and V = (Z/qZ) . Let ξ0 , ξ1 , . . . , ξn−1 be i.i.d.
random variables taking values in Zp distributed according to a law µ. We choose some vectors
×
~v0 , ~v1 , . . . , ~vn−1 in V . For some r ∈ (Z/qZ) we study the random walk over the additive group
Pn−1 i
(V, +) whose n-th step is i=0 ξi r ~vi . We denote by νr the probability measure induced from the
n-th step.
For two vectors ~u, w ~ ∈ V , we denote by h~u, wi
~ the formal dot product i.e.
h~u, wi
~ = u1 w1 + · · · + ud wd .
For a non-zero vector ~u ∈ V , we call the number of vectors in ~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 such that h~u, ~vi i 6= 0,
the ~u-weight of ~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 and we denote it by Weightu~ (~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 ). We define the minimal
weight of ~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 to be
σ (~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 ) = min Weightu~ (~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 ) .
~ ∈V \{~0}
u

We define τ to be the number

X 2
(21) τ =1− µ (x + pZp ) .
x∈Z/pZ

The relation between τ , σ and the measure νr is found in the following proposition:
×
Proposition 12. For any r ∈ (Z/qZ) and ~u ∈ V . We have:
  
1 τ σ (~v0 , ~v1 , . . . , ~vn−1 )
νr (~u) = + O exp − .
#V q2
Let µq and µp be the push forward of µ to Z/qZ and Z/pZ respectively. Those measures satisfy
the following
µq (x) = µ (x + qZp ) and µp (x) = µ (x + pZp ) .
P 2
We can use this notation to write τ = 1 − x∈Z/pZ µp (x) .
Let δw~ be the Dirac measure on V i.e.
(
1, ~u = w~
(22) δw~ (~u) = .
0, ~u 6= w
~
We write µ.δw~ for the following probability measure on V
X
(23) µ.δw~ (·) = µq (x) δxw~ (·) .
x∈Z/qZ

With this notation, we can write:

(24) νr = µ.δ~v0 ∗ µ.δ~v1 r ∗ · · · ∗ µ.δ~vn−1 rn−1 .
where ∗ is the convolution operator.
In this section we denote the Fourier transform by ˆ· and the q-th unity root by ζ. So for any
function f : V → C we have the following relations
X
(25) fˆ (~u) = ~ ζ −h~u,wi
f (w) ~
and
w∈V
~
1 X ˆ
(26) f (~u) = ~ ζ h~u,wi
f (w) ~
.
#V
w∈V
~

Lemma 13. Let ~u, w

~ ∈ V . If h~u, wi
~ 6= 0 then
 

d 
µ.δw~ (~u) ≤ exp −τ /q 2 .
 THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF ROOTS OVER THE FIELD OF p-ADIC NUMBERS 9

Proof. By direct computation using equations (25) and (23) we get

 2 X
d 
µ.δw~ (~u) = µ.δw~ (~x) µ.δw~ (~y) ζ h~x−~y,~ui
~
x,~
y∈V
X X
= µq (x) δxw~ (~x) µq (y) δyw~ (~y) ζ h~x−~y,~ui .
~
x,~
y∈V x,y∈Z/qZ

Then from equation (22)

 2 X
d 
µ.δw~ (~u) = µq (x) µq (y) ζ (x−y)hw,~
~ ui
.
x,y∈Z/qZ
  2
d 
We denote by L (t) the lift of t ∈ Z/qZ to the interval − 2q , 2q ⊆ Z. Since µ.δ w
~ (~
u ) ∈ R and
ℜ (ζ t ) ≤ 1 − 2L (t)2 /q 2 , we get
 2 X  
d 
µ.δw~ (~u) = µq (x) µq (y) ℜ ζ h(x−y)w,~
~ ui

x,y∈Z/qZ
!
X 2L (h(x − y) w,
~ ~ui)
2
≤ µq (x) µq (y) 1 − 2
q
x,y∈Z/qZ
2 X 2
=1− µq (x) µq (y) L ((x − y) hw,
~ ~ui) .
q2
x,y∈Z/qZ

If p ∤ x − y then (x − y) hw,
~ ~ui is non-zero. So
2
L ((x − y) hw,
~ ~ui) ≥ 1,
hence
 2 2 X
d 
(27) µ.δw~ (~u) ≤ 1 − 2 µq (x) µq (y) .
q
x,y∈Z/qZ
p∤x−y

Since µp is also the push-forward measure of µq , we have

X
µp (x′ ) = µq (x) .
x∈Z/pZ
x′ ≡x (mod p)

Hence X X
µq (x) µq (y) = µp (x′ ) µp (y ′ ) .
′ ′
x,y∈Z/qZ x ,y ∈Z/pZ
p∤x−y x′ 6=y ′
By direct computation
X X X 2
µq (x) µq (y) = µp (x′ ) µp (y ′ ) − µp (x′ )
x,y∈Z/qZ x′ ,y ′ ∈Z/pZ x′ ∈Z/pZ
p∤x−y
 2
X X 2
= µp (x′ ) − µp (x′ )
x′ ∈Z/pZ x′ ∈Z/pZ
X
′ 2
=1− µp (x ) = τ .
x′ ∈Z/pZ

Plugging this into equation (27) and using the inequality 1 − t ≤ exp (−t) for t ∈ [0, 1], we get
 2  
d  2τ 2τ
µ.δw~ (~u) ≤ 1 − 2 ≤ exp − 2 .
q q
And we finish the proof by taking square root on both sides of the inequality. 
10 ROY SHMUELI

n o
×
Lemma 14. Let r ∈ (Z/qZ) and ~u ∈ V \ ~0 . Then
 
τ Weightu~ (~v0 , ~v1 , . . . , ~vn−1 )
|ν̂r (~u)| ≤ exp − .
q2
Proof. We define the following set I (~u) = {0 ≤ i < n : h~u, ~vi i =
6 0}, so that
Weightu~ (~v0 , ~v1 , . . . , ~vn−1 ) = #I (~u)
by definition. For i ∈ I (~u), Lemma 13 infers that
   
\  τ
(28) µ.δ~vi ri (~u) ≤ exp − 2 .
q
Otherwise, for i ∈
/ I (~u) we have that
  X 
\   ~ 
(29) µ.δ~vi ri (~u) ≤ ~ ζ −h~u,wi
µ.δ~vi ri (w)  = 1.
w∈V
~

By equations (24), (28), (29) and since Fourier transform maps convolutions to products we get
 
n−1 
Y \ 
|ν̂r (~u)| =  µ.δ~vi ri (~u)
 
i=0
   
 Y    Y 
 τ   
≤  exp − 2  ·  1
i∈I(~u) q  
/ u) 
i∈I(~
 
τ #I (~u)
= exp −
q2
 
τ Weightu~ (~v0 , ~v1 , . . . , ~vn−1 )
= exp − . 
q2

Proof of Proposition 12. For any probability measure ν on V , we have by equation (25) that
  X
ν̂ ~0 = ν (w)
~ = 1.
w∈V
~

Hence, by equation (26)

  1 X 1 1 X
~ ζ −h0,w~ i =
~
(30) ν ~0 = ν̂ (w) + ν̂ (w)
~ .
#V #V #V
w∈V
~ w∈V
~ \{~0}
 
Since we have that νr (~u) = δ−~u ∗ νr ~0 and δ̂−~u (·) = ζ h·,~ui , by plugging it into equation (30)
we get
  1 1 X
νr (~u) = δ−~u ∗ νr ~0 = + ~ ζ hw,~
ν̂r (w) ~ ui
.
#V #V
w∈V
~ \{0}~

Therefore, by the triangle inequality and Lemma 14

 
  X
νr (~u) − 1  ≤ 1 |ν̂r (w)|
~
 #V  #V
w∈V
~ \{0}
~

X  
1 τ σ (~v0 , ~v1 , . . . , ~vn−1 )
≤ exp −
#V q2
w∈V
~ \{~0}
 
τ σ (~v0 , ~v1 , . . . , ~vn−1 )
< exp − . 
q2
 THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF ROOTS OVER THE FIELD OF p-ADIC NUMBERS 11

5. The distribution of f (i) (r) /i! modulo powers of p

In this section we use Proposition 12 to find the distribution of the Taylor coefficients, f (i) (r) /i!
modulo a powers of p.
Proposition 15. Let f be random polynomial defined as in Theorem 1 and let d < n be a positive
integer. Also, let m0 , . . . , md−1 be non-negative integers and γ0 , . . . , γd−1 ∈ Zp be p-adic integers.
There exists a 0 < τ dependent only on the distribution of ξi , such that for any integer 1 ≤ r < p,
 
1
P ∀i ∈ {0, . . . , d − 1} , f (i) (r) ≡ γi (mod pmi )
i!
  
τn
= p−N + O exp − 2M+1 + dM · log p
p d
Pd−1
where M = max0≤i<d mi and N = i=0 mi .
We shall need the following three auxiliary results before going to the proof.
Lemma 16. Let p be a prime and ℓ be a positive integer. Then for any non-negative integers
m, n such that m < pℓ we have
   
n + pℓ n
≡ (mod p)
m m
n+pℓ
Proof. Consider the polynomial (X + 1) modulo p. By using Frobenius’s homomorphism and
Newton’s binomial theorem we get
 ℓ Xn  
n+pℓ n
(X + 1) ≡ Xp + 1 X i (mod p).
i=0
i

Comparing the coefficient of X m finishes the proof. Indeed, since m < pℓ , the coefficient of X m
n

ℓ

in the right side is m and in the left side is n+p
m . 

d
Consider the vectors in ~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 ∈ Z/pk Z such that
    
i i
(31) ~vi = mod pk , . . . , mod pk .
0 d−1


where we define ji = 0 for i < j. We call those vectors the pascal vectors of length d modulo pk .
We are interested in finding a lower bound for the minimal weight of the pascal vectors of length
d modulo pk .
Lemma 17. Let n ≥ d ≥ 1 be integers, let p be a prime and let ~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 be the pascal vectors
of length d modulo p. Then we have that
n
≤ σ (~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 ) .
pd
Proof. Let ℓ be the integer such that pℓ−1 < d ≤ pℓ . The first d vectors ~v0 , . . . , ~vd−1 are forming
d
a basis in (Z/pZ) since
 
  1 0 0 ··· 0
− ~v0 −  
 − ~v1 1 1 0 ··· 0
 −  
 

 = 1 2 1 ··· 0  mod p.
..
 .   .. .. .. .. .. 
 . . . . . 
− ~vd−1 − d−1


1 d−1 2 ··· 1

Let ~u ∈ (Z/pZ)d be a non-zero vector, then we have

some i0 <  d such that h~u, ~vi0 i 6= 0. So by
Lemma 16 we get that ~vi = ~vi+pℓ and in particular ~u, ~vi0 +mpℓ 6= 0 for all m ≤ (n − i0 − 1) /pℓ .
12 ROY SHMUELI

 ℓ

So we found (n − i0 − 1) /p + 1 vectors ~vi such that h~u, ~vi i 6= 0. Hence,
 
Weightu~ (~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 ) ≥ (n − i0 − 1) /pℓ + 1
≥ n/pℓ − (i0 + 1) /pℓ + 1
≥ n/pd. 

Corollary 18. Let ~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 be the pascal vectors of length d modulo pk and n ≥ d. Then we
have that:
n
≤ σ (~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 )
pd
Proof. Denote h·, ·iR as the dot product in the ring R. Clearly h~u, ~vi iZ/pZ 6= 0 implies that
h~u, ~vi iZ/pk Z 6= 0. Hence
Weightu~ (~v0 mod p, . . . , ~vn−1 mod p) ≤ Weightu~ (~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 )
and so σ (~v0 mod p, . . . , ~vn−1 mod p) ≤ σ (~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 ). 

Proof of Proposition 15. We expand f (r + X) into two ways. By Taylor’s expansion we have
1
f (r + X) = f (r) + f ′ (r) X + f ′′ (r) X 2 + · · · + X n .
2
On the other hand, we apply the Newton binom formula
Xn  
n j n−j
f (r + X) = ξ0 + ξ1 (r + X) + · · · + ξn r X
j=0
j
Xn Xn  
j j−1
= ξj rj + ξj r X + · · · + X n.
j=0 j=1
1

Here ξn = 1. Comparing the coefficients in both expansions we get that

Xn  
(i) j j−i
(32) f (r) /i! = ξj r , i = 0, . . . , d − 1.
j=0
i

Since p ∤ r we get that f (i) (r) /i! ≡ γi (mod pmi ) if and only if f (i) (r) ri /i! ≡ γi ri (mod pmi ).

d
Next we apply Proposition 12 with V = Z/pM Z and ~v0 , . . . , ~vn−1 the pascal vectors of length
d (see equation (31)). By equation (32), we have
n−1
X  
1
(33) ξi~vi ri + ~vn rn = f (r) , f ′ (r) r, . . . , f (d) (r) rd .
i=0
d!

If we set S = (x0 , . . . , xd−1 ) ∈ V : ∀i, xi ≡ ri γi (mod pmi ) , then by Proposition 12 we have that
n−1
!
X X
i n
P ξi~vi r + ~vn r ∈ S = νr (~u)
i=0 u vn r n +S
~ ∈−~
  
#S τ σ (~v0 , ~v1 , . . . , ~vn−1 )
= + O #S · exp − ,
#V p2M
Qd−1
where τ is as defined in equation (21). Since #S = i=0 pM−mi = pdM p−N ≤ pdM , #V = pdM ,
by Corollary 18
n
!   
X τn
P ξi~vi r ∈ S = p−N + O exp − 2M+1 + dM · log p
i
,
i=0
p d

and this finish the proof. Note, that τ > 0 because ξi mod p is non-degenerate. 
 THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF ROOTS OVER THE FIELD OF p-ADIC NUMBERS 13

6. Proof of the main theorem

We prove that for f as in Theorem 1, f (r + pX) mod pk is uniformly distributed in Υk up
to an exponentially small error. In this section we use the notation fr (X) = f (r + pX) as in
equation (6).
Lemma 19. Let f be a random polynomial defined as in Theorem 1 and let 0 < ε < 1. Then there
exists c > 0 dependent only on ε and the distribution of ξi , such that for any integer 1 ≤ r < p, a
positive integer k ≤ (1−ε) log n
2 log p and a fixed polynomial h ∈ Υk ⊆ Z/pk Z [X], we have

1
P fr ≡ h (mod pk ) = + O (exp (−cnε ))
#Υk
as n → ∞
Proof. Recall that
1
fr (X) = f (r) + f ′ (r) pX + f ′′ (r) p2 X 2 + · · · + pn X n .
2
As, h ∈ Υk , it is of the form h (X) = c0 + c1 pX + · · · + ck pk X k . We have
1
fr ≡ h (mod pk ) ⇐⇒ f (i) (r) ≡ ci (mod pk−i ), i = 0, . . . , k − 1.
i!
Pk−1
Apply Proposition 15 with mi = k − i and γi = ci so that N = i=0 (k − i) = k (k + 1) /2 ,
M = k and
  
k

−k(k+1)/2 τn 2
P fα ≡ h (mod p ) = p + O exp − 2k+1 + k log p .
2p k
The main term is indeed 1/#Υk by equation (9). By the assumption on k, the error term is
O (exp (−cnε )) as needed. 
Pp−1
Proof of Theorem 1. By equation (6) we have C (f ) = r=0 C (fr ). Thus
p−1
X
(34) E [C (f )] = E [C (f0 )] + E [C (fr )] .
r=1
j k
Let k = (1−ε 1 ) log n
2 log p where ε1 is a positive real to be defined later. So for any 1 ≤ r < p, we
apply the law of total expectation and Lemma 19 to get c1 > 0 such that
X   

E [C (fr )] = E C (fr )fr ≡ h (mod pk ) P fr ≡ h (mod pk )
h∈Υk
(35) X  
   1
= E C (fr )fr ≡ h (mod p ) k ε1
+ O (exp (−c1 n )) .
#Υk
h∈Υk
  
Since E C (fr )fr ≡ h (mod pk ) = O (n) and #Υk = pk(k+1)/2 (see equation (9)), we may bound
the error term in equation (35)
X     
E C (fr )fr ≡ h (mod pk ) exp (−c1 nε1 ) = O npk(k+1)/2 exp (−c1 nε1 )
h∈Υk



= O exp −c1 nε1 + c2 log2 n
= O (exp (−c3 nε1 ))
for some c2 , c3 > 0. Plugging this in equation (35) gives
1 X   
(36) E [C (fr )] = E C (fr )fr ≡ h (mod pk ) + O (exp (−c2 nε1 )) .
#Υk
h∈Υk

Let g be a random polynomial distributed according to the law

1 X 

P (g ∈ E) = P fr ∈ E fr ≡ h (mod pk ) , E ⊆ Zp [X] Borel.
#Υk
h∈Υk
14 ROY SHMUELI

This distribution is well-defined for n sufficiently large, since P fr ≡ h (mod pk ) is bounded away
from zero by Lemma 19.
Then
1 X   
(37) E [C (g)] = E C (fr )fr ≡ h (mod pk ) .
#Υk
h∈Υk

k
On the other hand, g mod p is distributed uniformly in Υk . Assume, n is sufficiently large. Then
k ≥ log n/4 log p, so deg fr = n = p4·log n/4 log p ≤ p4k . Hence deg g ≤ p4k almost surely. So by
Proposition 6 we conclude that
1  
(38) E [C (g)] = + O p−(1−ε1 )k/2 .
p+1
Plugging equations (37) and (38) into equation (36) gives
1  
E [C (fr )] = + O p−(1−ε1 )k/2 + exp (−c2 nε1 ) .
p+1


We choose ε1 such that 2ε1 − ε1 < ε, so that p−(1−ε1 )k/2 = O n−1/4+ε . Thus
2

1  
E [C (fr )] = + O n−1/4+ε .
p+1
Finally, we finish the proof by substituting E [C (fr )] into equation (34). 

7. The expected value of CZp (f0 )

 
In this section we prove two results on E CZp (f0 ) mentioned in the introduction, equation (4)
and Proposition 3.

Proof of equation (4). We have that

∞
X ∞
X
E [C (f0 )] = kP (C (f0 ) = k) = P (C (f0 ) ≥ k) .
k=1 k=1


Since deg f0 mod pk < k, Proposition 5 gives that C (f0 ) ≥ k only if f0 ≡ 0 (mod pk ). Put
q = P (ξ0 ≡ 0 (mod p)). Since ξ0 , . . . , ξn−1 are i.i.d., we conclude that
P (∀i < k, ξi ≡ 0 (mod p)) = q k .
Hence
∞
X

E [C (f0 )] ≤ P f ≡0 (mod pk )
k=1
X∞ ∞
X q
≤ P (∀i < k, ξi ≡ 0 (mod p)) = qk = . 
1−q
k=1 k=1

Proposition 3 follows from

Lemma 20. Assume ξ0 , . . . , ξn−1 satisfy the hypothesis of Proposition 3 and let α ∈ Zp be non-
zero. Then f0 (α) 6= 0 almost surely.
Proof. Assume the event that f0 (α) = 0 occurs. We argue by induction that ξi = 0 almost surely,
for i = 0, . . . , n − 1.
For i = 0, reduce the equation f0 (α) = 0 modulo p to get:
ξ0 ≡ ξ0 + ξ1 pα + · · · + pn αn ≡ 0 (mod p)
ξ0 ≡ 0 (mod p).
Hence, p | ξ0 and by the hypothesis we get ξ0 = 0 almost surely.
 THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF ROOTS OVER THE FIELD OF p-ADIC NUMBERS 15

Next, assume that ξ0 = ξ1 = · · · = ξi−1 = 0 almost surely. Since α 6= 0 we may write α = pv α̃

where v ≥ 0 and p ∤ α̃ ∈ Zp . We reduce the equation f0 (α) = 0 modulo pvi+i+1 to get:
ξi pi αi + ξi+1 pi+1 αi+1 + · · · + pn αn ≡ 0 (mod pvi+i+1 )
ξi p(v+1)i α̃i + ξi+1 p(v+1)(i+1) α̃i+1 + · · · + p(v+1)n α̃n ≡ 0 (mod pvi+i+1 )
ξi pvi+i α̃i ≡ 0 (mod pvi+i+1 ).
So ξi α̃ ≡ 0 (mod p) and since p ∤ α̃, we get that p | ξi . By the hypothesis, we get ξi = 0 almost
surely, as needed.
This means that f0 (X) = pn X n almost surely assuming the event that f0 (α) = 0. But
f0 (α) = pn αn 6= 0. This contradiction shows that f0 (α) 6= 0 almost surely. 
16 ROY SHMUELI

Appendix A. Roots of Haar random polynomials

Consider the random polynomial
f (X) = ξ0 + ξ1 X + · · · + ξn−1 X n−1 + X n
where ξ0 , . . . , ξn−1 are i.i.d. random variables which take values in the ring Zp according to the
Haar measure. We denote by C (f ) the number of roots of f without multiplicities, i.e.,
C (f ) = # {α ∈ Zp : f (α) = 0} .
We prove the following formula.
p
(A.1) E [C (f )] = .
p+1
We recall the definition of the Haar measure. The p-adic norm induces a metric on Qp defined
by d (α, β) = |α − β|p . The open balls of this metric are of the form α + pk Zp for some α ∈ Qp
and k ∈ Z. Since the p-adic absolute value is discrete, every open ball is also closed and compact.
By Haar’s theorem (see [Hal74, Chapter XI]), there exists a unique σ-additive measure µ on Borel
subsets of Qp such that for any Borel set E ⊆ Qp and α ∈ Qp :

µ (α + E) = µ (E)
µ (αE) = |α|p µ (E)
µ (Zp ) = 1
This measure is called the normalized Haar measure.
All integrals in this appendix are Lebesgue integrals according to the Haar measure or to a
product of the Haar measures.
We start with surveying the tools we shall use to derive equation (A.1). We start with the
 
Igusa’s local zeta functions (for more details see [Den91]). Let F ∈ Zp X ~ be a multivariate
~
polynomial in X = (X1 , X2 , . . . , Xm ). We define the Igusa’s local zeta function associated to F to
be Z
s
ZF (s) = |F (~
α)|p d~
α,
Zm
p

for s ∈ C, ℜ (s) > 0.  

~ ≡0
We also associate to F the Poincaré series: Let Nk be the number of solutions of F X
(mod pk ). Then
∞
X
PF (t) = p−mk Nk tk .
k=0
We have a nice formula relating ZF and PF :

1 − p−s ZF (s)
(A.2) PF p−s = ,
1 − p−s
see [Den91, Section 1.2].
The next tool is an integration formula, see [Eva06, Proposition 2.3]: Let f ∈ Qp [X] be a
polynomial and let g : Qp → R+ be a measurable function. Then
Z Z
(A.3) g ◦ f (α) |f ′ (α)| dα = g (β) C (f − β) dβ.
Zp Qp

We are now ready to prove equation (A.1):

Proof. The random variable ξ0 − β distributes the same as ξ0 for any β ∈ Zp , since Haar measure
is invariant under translations. Hence E [C (f − β)] is a constant that is independent of β. By
Fubini’s theorem:
 THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF ROOTS OVER THE FIELD OF p-ADIC NUMBERS 17

Z "Z #
(A.4) E [C (f )] = E [C (f − β)] dβ = E C (f − β) dβ .
Zp Zp

If β ∈ Qp \ Zp then f − β has no roots in Zp and so C (f − β) = 0. Hence, by equation (A.3) with

g = 1 we get: Z Z Z
C (f − β) dβ = C (f − β) dβ = |f ′ (α)| dα.
Zp Qp Zp
Plugging this into eqaution (A.4) and using Fubini’s theorem again gives
Z
(A.5) E [C (f )] = E [|f ′ (α)|] dα
Zp

To calculate E [|f ′ (α)|] we define a multivariate polynomial Fα ∈ Zp [X0 , . . . , Xn−1 ]:

 
Fα X ~ = X1 + · · · + (n − 1) αn−2 Xn−1 + nαn−1 .

So that f ′ (α) = Fα (ξ0 , . . . , ξn−1 ). Put ξ~ = (ξ0 , . . . , ξn−1 ) to get that

Z   
 
(A.6) ′
E [|f (α)|] = Fα ξ~  dξ~ = ZFα (1) .
Zn
p


~ ≡0
Next we compute the Poincaré series of Fα . Since we can isolate X1 in the equation Fα X
(mod pk ) there are pk(n−1) solutions modulo pk . Hence
X∞
1
PFα (t) = p−k tk = .
n=0
1 − p−1 t
By equation (A.2) we get
1 1 − p−s ZFα (s)
= .
1 − p−1 p−s 1 − p−s
So ZFα (1) = p/ (p + 1). Taking equation (A.6) and equation (A.5) into account we get that
Z
p
E [C (f )] = ZFα (1) dα = . 
Zp p+1
18 ROY SHMUELI

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Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Mathematical Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv
69978, Israel
Email address: royshmueli@tauex.tau.ac.il