Seminar series
Date
Thu, 02 Nov 2023
16:00
Location
L5
Speaker
Joel Moreira
Organisation
University of Warwick

Is there a partition of the natural numbers into finitely many pieces, none of which contains a Pythagorean triple (i.e. a solution to the equation x2+y2=z2)? This is one of the simplest questions in arithmetic Ramsey theory which is still open. I will present a recent partial result, showing that in any finite partition of the natural numbers there are two numbers x,y in the same cell of the partition, such that x2+y2=z2 for some integer z which may be in a different cell. 

The proof consists, after some initial maneuvers inspired by ergodic theory, in controlling the behavior of completely multiplicative functions along certain quadratic polynomials. Considering separately aperiodic and "pretentious" functions, the last major ingredient is a concentration estimate for functions in the latter class when evaluated along sums of two squares.

The talk is based on joint work with Frantzikinakis and Klurman.

Please contact us with feedback and comments about this page. Last updated on 04 Oct 2023 15:48.