Square values of Euler's function
Carl Pomerance, Dartmouth College
Tid: Må 2013-07-08 kl 13.15 - 14.15
Plats: Room 3721, Lindstedtsvägen 25, 7th floor, Department of Mathematics.
Euler's function, ubiquitous in number theory, has been studied as an arithmetic function for a long time. We know it's average to $x$ fairly well, we know it's distribution, and we know a lot about the frequency of integers (called totients) which are values of Euler's function. This talk concerns square totients. It is perhaps surprising that up to $x$ there are many more integers that Euler's function maps to a square than there are squares themselves. However, are most squares totients? Surely the answer should be ``no'' and in this paper we prove this. Perhaps there is an easier path, but our proof is surprisingly difficult. (Joint work with Paul Pollack)
