Recent Progress In Analytic Number Theory

The papers presented in these two volumes were presented at the Durham Symposium of the London Mathematical Society, which was held on the campus of Durham University between July 22 and August 1, 1979, attended by eight mathematicians from around the world.

"One might have thought that number theory was simply the study of numbers, but that is too broad a definition, since numbers are almost ubiquitous in mathematics. Number theory is a vast and fascinating field of mathematics, sometimes called ""higher arithmetic,"" consisting of the study of the properties of whole numbers. Primes and prime factorization are especially important in number theory, as are a number of functions such as the divisor function, Riemann zeta function, and totient function. Analytic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses methods from mathematical analysis to solve problems about the integers. Analytic number theory, and its applications and interactions, are currently experiencing intensive progress, in sometimes unexpected directions. In recent years, many important classical questions have seen spectacular advances based on new techniques; conversely, methods developed in analytic number theory have led to the solution of striking problems in other fields. Recent advances in analytic number theory have had repercussions in various mathematical subjects, such as harmonic analysis, ergodic theory and dynamics, additive and multiplicative combinatorics and theoretical computer science. The biggest technical change after 1950 has been the development of sieve methods, particularly in multiplicative problems. These are combinatorial in nature, and quite varied. The extremal branch of combinatorial theory has in return been greatly influenced by the value placed in analytic number theory on quantitative upper and lower bounds. Another recent development is probabilistic number theory, which uses methods from probability theory to estimate the distribution of number theoretic functions, such as how many prime divisors a number has. Problems in Analytic Number Theory present a problem-solving approach to the difficult subject of analytic number theory. This book is focused at researchers, teachers, and graduate students interested in number theory and its links with other branches of science."

From September 13 to 17 in 1999, the First China-Japan Seminar on Number Theory was held in Beijing, China, which was organized by the Institute of Mathematics, Academia Sinica jointly with Department of Mathematics, Peking University. TE:m Japanese Professors and eighteen Chinese Professors attended this seminar. Professor Yuan Wang was the chairman, and Professor Chengbiao Pan was the vice-chairman. This seminar was planned and prepared by Professor Shigeru Kanemitsu and the first-named editor. Talks covered various research fields including analytic number theory, algebraic number theory, modular forms and transcendental number theory. The Great Wall and acrobatics impressed Japanese visitors. From November 29 to December 3 in 1999, an annual conference on analytic number theory was held in Kyoto, Japan, as one of the conferences supported by Research Institute of Mathematical Sciences (RIMS), Kyoto University. The organizer was the second-named editor. About one hundred Japanese scholars and some foreign visitors com ing from China, France, Germany and India attended this conference. Talks covered many branches in number theory. The scenery in Kyoto, Arashiyama Mountain and Katsura River impressed foreign visitors. An informal report of this conference was published as the volume 1160 of Surikaiseki Kenkyusho Kokyuroku (June 2000), published by RIMS, Ky oto University. The present book is the Proceedings of these two conferences, which records mainly some recent progress in number theory in China and Japan and reflects the academic exchanging between China and Japan.

The four papers collected in this book discuss advanced results in analytic number theory, including recent achievements of sieve theory leading to asymptotic formulae for the number of primes represented by suitable polynomials; counting integer solutions to Diophantine equations, using results from algebraic geometry and the geometry of numbers; the theory of Siegel’s zeros and of exceptional characters of L-functions; and an up-to-date survey of the axiomatic theory of L-functions introduced by Selberg.

On May 16 -20, 1995, approximately 150 mathematicians gathered at the Conference Center of the University of Illinois at Allerton Park for an Inter national Conference on Analytic Number Theory. The meeting marked the approaching official retirement of Heini Halberstam from the mathematics fac ulty of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Professor Halberstam has been at the University since 1980, for 8 years as head of the Department of Mathematics, and has been a leading researcher and teacher in number theory for over forty years. The program included invited one hour lectures by G. Andrews, J. Bour gain, J. M. Deshouillers, H. Halberstam, D. R. Heath-Brown, H. Iwaniec, H. L. Montgomery, R. Murty, C. Pomerance, and R. C. Vaughan, and almost one hundred other talks of varying lengths. These volumes comprise contributions from most of the principal speakers and from many of the other participants, as well as some papers from mathematicians who were unable to attend. The contents span a broad range of themes from contemporary number theory, with the majority having an analytic flavor.

Aimed at a level between textbooks and the latest research monographs, this book is directed at researchers, teachers, and graduate students interested in number theory and its connections with other branches of science. Choosing to emphasize topics not sufficiently covered in the literature, the author has attempted to give as broad a picture as possible of the problems of analytic number theory.

Articles in this volume are based on talks given at the Gauss-Dirichlet Conference held in Gottingen on June 20-24, 2005. The conference commemorated the 150th anniversary of the death of C.-F. Gauss and the 200th anniversary of the birth of J.-L. Dirichlet. The volume begins with a definitive summary of the life and work of Dirichlet and continues with thirteen papers by leading experts on research topics of current interest in number theory that were directly influenced by Gauss and Dirichlet. Among the topics are the distribution of primes (long arithmetic progressions of primes and small gaps between primes), class groups of binary quadratic forms, various aspects of the theory of $L$-functions, the theory of modular forms, and the study of rational and integral solutions to polynomial equations in several variables. Information for our distributors: Titles in this series are co-published with the Clay Mathematics Institute (Cambridge, MA).

John Knopfmacher (1937-99) was a Professor of Mathematics at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. ...