2021/10/13 by Youssef Sedrati, Sedrati, Youssef
Computer Science · Mathematics · #Algebraic Geometry and Number Theory #Analytic Number Theory Research #Coding theory and cryptography #FOS: Mathematics #Number Theory (math.NT)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2110.06669
openalex publication_date 2021/10/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Fix a prime p >2 and a finite field \mathbbFq with q elements, where q is a power of p. Let m be a monic polynomial in the polynomial ring \mathbbFq[T] such that deg(m) is large. Fix an integer r≥ 2, and let a1,…,ar be distinct residue classes modulo m that are relatively prime to m. In this paper, we derive an asymptotic formula for the natural density δm;a1,…,ar of the set of all positive integers X such that ∑N=1X πq(a1,m,N) > ∑N=1X πq(a2,m,N) > … > ∑N=1X πq(ar,m,N), where πq(ai,m,N) denotes the number of irreducible monic polynomials in \mathbbFq[T] of degree N that are congruent to ai \bmod m, under the assumption of LI (Linear Independence Hypothesis). Many consequences follow from our results. First, we deduce the exact rate at which δm;a1,a2 converges to (1)/(2) as deg(m) grows, where a1 is a quadratic non-residue and a2 is a quadratic residue modulo m, generalizing the work of Fiorilli and Martin. Furthermore, similarly to the number field setting, we show that two-way races behave differently than races involving three or more competitors, once deg(m) is large. In particular, biases do appear in races involving three or more quadratic residues (or quadratic non-residues) modulo m. This work is a function field analog of the work of Lamzouri, who established similar results in the number field case. However, we exhibit some examples of races in function fields where LI is false, and where the associated densities vanish, or behave differently than in the number field setting.