Uncertainty principles connected with the Mobius inversion formula

Authors

  • P. Pollack University of Georgia
  • C. Sanna Universita degli Studi di Torino

Keywords:

Mobius inversion, Mobius transform, sets of multiples, uncertainty principle

Abstract

We say that two arithmetic functions $f$ and $g$ form a \emph{M\"{o}bius pair} if $f(n) = \sum_{d \mid n} g(d)$ for all natural numbers $n$. In that case, $g$ can be expressed in terms of $f$ by the familiar M\"{o}bius inversion formula of elementary number theory. In a previous paper, the first-named author showed that if the members $f$ and $g$ of a M\"{o}bius pair are both finitely supported, then both functions vanish identically. Here we prove two significantly stronger versions of this uncertainty principle. A corollary of our results is that in a nonzero M\"{o}bius pair, one cannot have both $\sum_{f(n) \neq 0}\frac{1}{n} <\infty$ and $\sum_{g(n) \neq 0}\frac{1}{n} <\infty$. 10.1017/S0004972712001128

Author Biographies

P. Pollack, University of Georgia

Department of Mathematics

C. Sanna, Universita degli Studi di Torino

Department of Mathematics

Published

2013-09-27

Issue

Section

Articles