On Consecutive k'th Power Residues.
The arithmetic function ρ(n) counts the number of ways to write a positive integer n as a difference of two squares. Its average size is described by the Dirichlet summatory function Σn≤x ρ(n), and in particular by the error term R(x) in the corresponding asymptotics. This article provides a sharp lower bound as well as two mean-square results for R(x), which illustrates the close connection between ρ(n) and the number-of-divisors function d(n).
I give explicit values for the constant implied by an Omega-estimate due to Chen and Chen [CC] on the average of the sum of the divisors of n which are relatively coprime to any given integer a.
The goal of this paper is to outline the proof of a conjecture of Gelfond [6] (1968) in a recent work in collaboration with Christian Mauduit [11] concerning the sum of digits of prime numbers, reflecting the lecture given in Edinburgh at the Journées Arithmétiques 2007.