Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/iii/paper-25/3/solution

Write and let run over Nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function, including multiplicity. The bounds involving below are for . At bounded heights their uniform versions use ; itself cannot be the right bound near zero or .
Start with the Hadamard factorization of the Riemann xi function, an entire function of order one. Its logarithmic derivative has the convergent expansion
Differentiating gives
The real sum of converges absolutely: makes its terms at large height, and the order-one Hadamard factorization ensures the required summability. Thus these terms and form a fixed constant. The Stirling formula for the digamma function gives, uniformly for and ,
This is the useful real form of the global partial-fraction expansion of the zeta logarithmic derivative. Every term subtracted is nonnegative because the Euler product excludes zeros with . At the simple pole , one also has as .
The three-four-one zero-free-region argument now detects a zero too close to one. The Von Mangoldt function is nonnegative and the absolutely convergent Dirichlet series gives
because the corresponding coefficient at is . If is a zero, retain its term in the expansion at height and discard the other nonpositive terms. The expansion at height gives an upper bound even without retaining a particular zero. We obtain, for an absolute constant ,
Choose so small that , put , and take . If , the last inequality would require
a contradiction. Therefore
for some fixed . This proves the required zero-free region of the Riemann zeta function. Nonvanishing on at bounded nonzero heights, proved in Question 2, and the isolation of zeros allow a decrease of giving the uniform formulation with as well. Near , apply this observation to the nonzero holomorphic function .
Next evaluate the real expansion at . The absolutely convergent Dirichlet series bounds uniformly in , so
Since , each term on the left is at least . The smoothed zeta zero-count bound follows:
Each zero satisfying contributes more than , so this also gives the local zero count for the Riemann zeta function:
The same kernel sum is bounded at compact heights, since its tail converges uniformly there; the bounds with are consequently valid for all real .
For completeness, the contour estimate used in Question 2 follows from these very formulas. Subtract the complex logarithmic derivative expansion at from that at , with and . Terms with have differences , whose sum is by the kernel bound. There are remaining terms. After reducing , the zero-free region of the Riemann zeta function separates every such zero horizontally from the half-width boundary by : their heights satisfy . Thus on the left edge, and on the horizontal edges at , each reciprocal is . The Gamma function and pole terms satisfy the same required bound; at small heights on the left edge the pole distance is . This proves on those edges and justifies the contour shift without choosing heights that dodge unknown zeros.

New to topics? Read the docs here!