Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 88 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put . All calculations here use the Hecke-normalized rational slash operator of the PDF. Its automorphy factor identity gives . For ,This proves that normalizes the Gamma 1 congruence subgroup. Right-action associativity shows has the same transformation law as . It is holomorphic in the complex upper half-plane; at each modular cusp, the rational change of variable preserves cusp decay by the upper-triangular factorization used in 2(i). Consequently maps the cusp form space to itself.
For a scalar matrix , the printed slash normalization givesSince , the two phase and determinant factors cancel:Explicitly, the Fricke involution in the question isIts phase is essential for the involution and the functional-equation sign.
Suppose . Define for . Substitution at givesAt infinity decays exponentially because is a cusp form. This identity gives near zero for some . Thus its Mellin transform converges for every complex , locally uniformly with all derivatives.
Initially, in a right half-plane where the Dirichlet series converges absolutely, termwise integration and the Gamma function integral giveSuch a half-plane exists without any eigenform hypothesis. Indeed the invariant quantity is bounded on the modular quotient, by cusp decay and compactness away from the cusps. Fourier coefficient extraction on the line gives , so suffices for the interchange.
Split the integral at one and change to in its lower part. The phase-normalized Fricke functional equation becomes transparent:The integral defines an entire function: exponential decay dominates every power and every logarithmic derivative uniformly on compact sets. Replacing by and using now provesThis gives the full analytic continuation of the completed L-function of a cusp form, not merely a formal identity in its initial convergence region.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 30 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write and . The global partial-fraction expansion of the zeta logarithmic derivative isHere is the Euler--Mascheroni constant, and the sum includes multiplicities of the Nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function. The paired terms are locally absolutely convergent away from their poles, by the Riemann–von Mangoldt formula. This identity follows by differentiating the genus-one Hadamard factorization of the Riemann xi function and using the Gamma function recurrence.
We first prove the classical zero-free region of the Riemann zeta function. The Euler-product nonvanishing of the Riemann zeta function and its functional equation place every nontrivial zero in the closed strip ; no assertion about zeros on its boundary is needed yet. The real logarithmic derivative of Riemann xi and the digamma function asymptotic imply, for and ,Every summand being subtracted is nonnegative. If is a zero, retaining its summand gives ; at height the upper bound suffices. At real the simple pole of gives .
For , the Dirichlet series has nonnegative coefficients. The identity therefore gives the three-four-one zero-free-region argumentWith , a zero at would consequently satisfyChoose , with an absolute sufficiently small, and put . If , this inequality would imply . But for small enough , a contradiction.
For any fixed , the same positivity inequality as excludes a zero at : its negative contribution has coefficient at least four, whereas the real pole contributes only three. Any zero at only strengthens the contradiction. The pole at has a zero-free punctured neighbourhood. By compactness, the remaining bounded-height portion of the line has a zero-free neighbourhood as well. Shrink to combine these facts with the large-height bound. Hencewith the understanding that is a pole.
The Riemann–von Mangoldt explicit formula for the Second Chebyshev function, with half weight at a prime-power endpoint, isThe zero sum uses symmetric height truncation. To estimate it, take a half-integer and use the truncated explicit formula for the second Chebyshev functionThe zero-free region gives for these zeros. The Riemann–von Mangoldt formula and partial summation give . Choose . Both the zero sum and the truncation error are then after reducing the positive constant to absorb logarithmic factors. Replacing an arbitrary by preserves the Von Mangoldt function sum and changes the main term by at most one. This proves the requested form of the Prime number theorem:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 32 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a positive integer , a Dirichlet character modulo is a group homomorphism , extended periodically to the integers and set equal to zero on integers not coprime to . Its nonzero values are roots of unity. For , its Dirichlet L-function is the absolutely convergent Dirichlet seriesComplete multiplicativity of proves the Euler product by expanding each factor as a geometric series and applying unique integer factorization; absolute convergence justifies these rearrangements.
Suppose is a nonprincipal Dirichlet character. Choose a unit with . Multiplication by permutes a complete residue system, so , and the sum is zero. Consequently is bounded: complete periods contribute zero and the remaining incomplete period has at most terms. The Abel summation formula gives, initially for ,For the integral converges, locally uniformly together with its derivatives in , because on a compact set with the differentiated integrands are bounded by constants times . Thus holomorphy of a Dirichlet series from bounded partial sums proves
For a nonreal , the character is also nonprincipal. The supplied logarithmic Euler product yields, for real ,At a prime dividing the numerator is . At every other prime put ; then the numerator is . This Euler product positivity for L-function nonvanishing proves that the product inside the logarithm is at least one. If , its holomorphy would give . Meanwhile is bounded near one and the Riemann zeta function has a simple pole there. The product would therefore be and tend to zero, a contradiction.
For a real nonprincipal , suppose instead that . The product would then be holomorphic on the whole half-plane , because the zero cancels the only zeta pole there. In it has coefficientsThese are nonnegative zeta-times-real-L coefficients. They are multiplicative, and their prime-power values are if , one or zero according as is even or odd if , and one if . In particular and for every .
The Taylor series of the assumed holomorphic about converges in the disk . Termwise differentiation of its absolutely convergent Dirichlet series at gives . Evaluate the Taylor series at and apply the Tonelli theorem to the resulting nonnegative terms:This contradicts holomorphy at . The argument is the positive-coefficient mechanism of the Landau theorem for a Dirichlet series with nonnegative coefficients, with the needed step proved explicitly. Combining the real and nonreal cases gives the nonvanishing of a nonprincipal Dirichlet L-function at one:
Now let be coprime to . The Dirichlet theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions asserts that infinitely many prime numbers satisfy . To prove it, separate the first-power terms in the given logarithmic Euler product:For , the remainder is bounded uniformly byFor a nonprincipal character, holomorphy and nonvanishing near one give a local holomorphic logarithm. Along a short real interval to the right of one, this logarithm and the supplied continuous logarithm differ by a fixed integer multiple of . Hence the prime-character sum near one is bounded:For the principal Dirichlet character ,The latter follows from the simple zeta pole and the bounded remainder. Finally Orthogonality of Dirichlet characters givesHere is the Euler totient function. The right-hand side tends to infinity as , whereas a finite set of primes would give a bounded left-hand side. Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 32 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Realize the two-dimensional irreducible representation as the standard representation of the symmetric group onwith permuting coordinates. It is the complement of the trivial summand in the three-point permutation representation. For each prime the local factor of an Artin L-function iswhere is the inertia group and Frobenius means any lift of the residue-field Frobenius automorphism. On the lift is independent of that choice. At an unramified prime, put . The Local Artin factors of the standard representation of S3 areThe polynomial discriminant of is , so only can ramify in its splitting field. For , the squarefree factorization of modulo determines the Frobenius cycle type on its roots.
At ,The quadratic is irreducible, so Frobenius is a transposition andThus , and . At ,The quadratic discriminant is , a nonsquare, so this is again a transposition. Consequently and .
At , the possible cubes are , so has no root modulo . Being cubic, it is irreducible; Frobenius is a three-cycle. Thereforeand .
The ramified factor at must be computed on inertia group invariants. Write and set . Using givesThe Eisenstein polynomial over has degree six, so is a totally ramified degree-six subfield of . The latter has degree at most , so the fields agree. This Eisenstein sextic presentation of the splitting field of X3 minus 3 over Q3 shows . Since the only permutation-invariant vectors in have all coordinates equal, their intersection with is zero. ThusIn particular ; an unramified degree-two factor at would give the wrong coefficients.
Finally the Euler product makes its Dirichlet series coefficients multiplicative for coprime indices. Its constant coefficient is , and , . Every integer up to ten is now covered, giving
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 33 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the primitive real-analytic Eisenstein series with exactly the normalization in the PDF. Its coset expression uses , so primitive bottom rows differing by sign represent the same coset. The factor in the primitive-pair sum accounts for this sign identification. Unlike the sum over all nonzero integer pairs, this Eisenstein series has no additional factor . Write for the Rankin–Selberg integral parameter and for the Dirichlet series parameter to keep their shift visible.
First establish an initial region where all rearrangements are absolute. The invariant norm of a modular form is bounded: it is -invariant, continuous on a truncated fundamental domain, and tends to zero at the cusp. Integrating one period of the Fourier series givesWith , this proves the Fourier coefficient bound for a cusp form , and similarly . Hence is initially absolutely convergent for .
For , the primitive real-analytic Eisenstein series is locally uniformly convergent and holomorphic in . On the standard fundamental domain it has at most polynomial growth in , locally uniformly in this half-plane. These are the analytic properties of the Eisenstein series needed here; they can also be checked directly from its defining sum. For example, for real and , majorize the primitive sum by the sum over all nonzero pairs and useThis bound follows by comparing a shifted one-dimensional sum with its integral and a largest summand. Summing over gives . For complex , , and the estimates are uniform on compact parameter sets. Since and decay exponentially on the cusp end, the integral is therefore holomorphic throughout by dominated integration.
The product is -invariant: the two modular factors cancel the transformation . With the hyperbolic area , Rankin–Selberg unfolding gives, initially for ,Absolute unfolding is justified by replacing by and using the same finite fundamental-domain integral with . The subsequent termwise integrations can be justified particularly economically by Cauchy-Schwarz inequality: on each horizontal line,The coefficient bounds make the right side as , and it decays exponentially as . Multiplication by is integrable at zero when . Thus the integral of the inner Fourier series may be evaluated first. Orthogonality of the exponentials givesThe Mellin transform of each exponential isIn the same initial region the sum of the absolute values of these integrals is finite by . Consequently the exact Rankin–Selberg integral identity isIn particular the two parameters are not equal: the Dirichlet series argument is shifted by .
The holomorphy of on now gives the required continuation:The right side agrees with the original Dirichlet series on and is holomorphic on the larger half-plane. No continuation of the Eisenstein series beyond is needed.
It is important to supply a further argument for absolute convergence: analytic continuation alone does not imply it. For real , both and are nonnegative, and their fundamental-domain integral is finite by the cusp estimates above. Tonelli theorem therefore unfolds even before knowing convergence of the Dirichlet series. On each fixed horizontal line, the Fourier series converges absolutely and uniformly, so integration in givesA second use of Tonelli theorem, now in , proves the positive unfolding of a cusp-form square:Since every real has with , we have absolute convergence of for . Absolute convergence for complex follows by taking its real part. In fact Cauchy-Schwarz inequality also gives absolute convergence of there from the two corresponding square sums.
Finally let and choose . The preceding square-coefficient bound and Cauchy-Schwarz inequality giveThis proves absolute convergence of cusp-form L-series from square coefficients, and henceEquivalently, the suggested elementary inequality works by choosing : after multiplication by its two bounds sum to a convergent and a convergent . The existence of this interval is precisely .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ii Paper 4 11G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Define the Möbius function by , for a product of distinct primes, and if a prime square divides . For , summing over square-free divisors gives , while the sum is one at .
Both Dirichlet series and converge absolutely for . Their product may therefore be regrouped by the product of the indices:This simultaneously proves andIn particular .
Under the assumed analytic continuation, is holomorphic near when , and as . If were a zero of order , local factorization would give for sufficiently small positive . The preceding absolutely convergent bound gives instead , a contradiction. Thus . This reciprocal Dirichlet-series bound on boundary-zero multiplicity does not assert that any such boundary zero exists.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 25 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the Fourier transform convention . The complex measure is finite because . The Möbius divisor-sum identity, proved in the preceding solution, allows multiplication of absolutely convergent Dirichlet series and givesHere is the Riemann zeta function. We prove the estimates in the intended range . A uniform estimate of the printed form for all would be false: at , as , while its proposed upper bound tends to zero. A version valid for every replaces by .
For completeness, unique prime factorization and absolute convergence give andas the logarithm defined by that Euler product. The elementary nonnegative trigonometric polynomialtherefore proves the three-four-one inequality for Euler productsWe also need elementary uniform bounds for derivatives of the Riemann zeta function. For an integer , summation by parts givesThis continues the function to with just the pole at one. For , , choose . Differentiating times, the finite Dirichlet polynomial is bounded by . Derivatives of the second term have the same bound, since . In the last term, differentiated integrands are bounded by , whose integral is ; multiplication by is harmless. It follows thatAs , the three-four-one inequality for Euler products gives, for ,To handle bounded , first note that cannot vanish at for : a zero of order would make the three-four-one product , contradicting its lower bound one. At , the reciprocal extends holomorphically with a simple zero, since the pole of has residue one. Thus and all its derivatives are bounded on the compact rectangle , . This proves the requested reciprocal zeta bounds near the line one:
For the derivative estimate, repeatedly differentiate . Every term of is a constant timesThe preceding derivative bounds and reciprocal estimate bound this by . Compact-height bounds supply the remaining range. Since , this has exactly the requested dependence, with an explicit logarithmic exponent linear in for .
Here is the unsmoothing a logarithmically weighted sum argument with the normalization repaired. For real ,Indeed the Fourier transform of is , so Fourier inversion gives the identity, also at by continuity. In a vertical contour integral the coefficient is and the differential is . The printed real- integral has with and is missing this factor of .
Set , taking when . Its Dirichlet series is . The logarithmically smoothed Perron formula, justified by absolute convergence, givesFor choose . The integral of is finite, with a constant depending only on , and . Thus, with ,For , subtraction gives the exact finite-difference identityThe last sum is , since there are terms. ConsequentlyFor , choose to get exponent . For , the trivial bound is already no larger than that estimate. The extra term is absorbed for fixed . HenceThis also yields the cancellation needed for the Prime number theorem. Choose a fixed , discard at cost for the unweighted sum, and use partial summation with on the rest. The displayed bound gives ; the preceding solution then gives .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 25 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For , the Euler products areThe Dirichlet character is completely multiplicative, and unique prime factorization expands each finite product into the terms of the corresponding Dirichlet series supported on those primes. Absolute convergence permits passage to all primes. More strongly, the absolutely convergent Euler product logarithm givessince the sum of absolute values is bounded by .
We prove nonvanishing of a nonprincipal Dirichlet L-function at one, including real Dirichlet characters. If is nonprincipal modulo , periodicity and the given Orthogonality of Dirichlet characters bound by . Partial summation giveswhich is holomorphic for by locally uniform convergence, including after differentiation. The principal Dirichlet character instead haswith a simple pole at one.
For a nonreal Dirichlet character, consider . For real , its Euler product logarithm isThe given character inversion with makes each inner sum either or zero, so . If for a nonreal Dirichlet character, then as well, since their values at real are conjugate. These are two distinct factors. All nonprincipal factors are holomorphic at one, and only the principal factor has a simple pole. Their two zeros would force , a contradiction.
For a real nonprincipal Dirichlet character, suppose . Then is holomorphic throughout : the supplied continuation of the Riemann zeta function has no other pole there, and the zero cancels the pole at one. On its Dirichlet series has coefficientsTo check the sign explicitly, for a prime power the local sum is if , is for even and for odd if , and is if . Multiplication over prime factors proves nonnegativity and . Also , so termwise derivatives at are justified by absolute convergence:The disc lies in . Its Taylor series therefore converges at , and Tonelli theorem givesThis contradicts holomorphy at . It is the positive-coefficient argument behind the Landau theorem for a Dirichlet series with nonnegative coefficients, proved here rather than invoked. Thus for every nonprincipal Dirichlet character.
It remains to detect the primes. For real , the Euler product logarithm satisfiesuniformly as : terms with are bounded in absolute value by . For a nonprincipal Dirichlet character, a holomorphic logarithm of exists near one by the nonvanishing just proved. On a short real interval it differs from the Euler product logarithm by a fixed multiple of , so the prime sum stays bounded. For the principal Dirichlet character, the simple pole instead givesApplying the supplied Orthogonality of Dirichlet characters for a reduced residue class now yieldsThe right side tends to infinity, whereas a finite set of primes would give a bounded left side. Therefore every residue class coprime to contains infinitely many primes, proving the Dirichlet theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ii Paper 3 11I i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For , the Dirichlet series is absolutely convergent. A finite product over primes can be expanded into absolutely convergent geometric series. By unique prime factorization,The omitted integers are all greater than , so the difference from has modulus at most . ThusThis defines the infinite Euler product as the limit of finite products. Its absolute convergence also follows from , with for sufficiently large .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 29 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For , define the Riemann zeta function by the absolutely convergent Dirichlet seriesThe Euler product follows from unique prime factorization and absolute convergence. The counting-function integral givesBecause the fractional part is bounded, the last integral, and its derivatives with respect to on compact subsets, converge uniformly for . It is a holomorphic function there. This proves the Meromorphic continuation of the Riemann zeta function to the right half-plane, with a simple pole at one of residue one and no other singularity in that half-plane.
The Gamma function isThe Gamma function recurrence extends it meromorphically; its poles are at the nonpositive integers and it has no zeros. The functional equation of the Riemann zeta function can be stated asor, equivalently,These are identities of meromorphic functions; the second also extends the Riemann zeta function to the remaining half-plane. The critical strip is ; its boundary lines will also be treated below, rather than included among possible exceptional zeros.
For , the absolutely convergent reciprocal Euler product gives . For , the factors , , and in the second functional equation of the Riemann zeta function are finite and nonzero. Hence the only zeros there are the zeros of the sine factor:Each is simple. At zero, the sine zero cancels the pole of ; using its residue one gives , not zero. Nonvanishing on the rest of follows from the boundary-line proof below and the functional equation of the Riemann zeta function. Together these facts prove that the trivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function are the only zeros outside the open critical strip.
Here is a Jensen disk proof of the zeta zero-count bound which avoids any unproved left-half-plane growth estimate. Set , a holomorphic function throughout , including at one. The integral continuation formula givesFor each integer , apply Jensen's formula in the disk with centre , outer radius and inner radius . The outer disk stays in , so its maximum modulus is . At its centre,since . Therefore the number of zeros in its inner disk, counted with multiplicity, is at mostThe rectangle , fits in the inner disk because its farthest point has distance . Summing over such disks counts zeros in the right half of the critical strip up to height . The first functional equation of the Riemann zeta function bijects zeros, with multiplicities, in the left half with their reflections in the right half; its Gamma function factors are finite and nonzero in the strip. ThusThe pole of zeta function at one does not count as a zero: .
Finally, for real and , the Euler-product logarithms and the nonnegative trigonometric polynomialgive the three-four-one product proof of zeta boundary nonvanishing:If had a zero of order , its factor would be as . The real zeta function factor has pole order three, and the factor at stays bounded because . The product would tend to zero as , contradicting that it is at least one. ThereforeAt there is a pole, not a zero. Applying the sine-form functional equation of the Riemann zeta function at now proves nonvanishing on the remaining imaginary axis, completing the earlier assertion about all zeros outside the critical strip.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 25 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For , the Riemann zeta function is the absolutely convergent Dirichlet series . Apply Abel summation to the tail, with counting function . The upper boundary term tends to zero, givingSubstitute and integrate the term. This proves the fractional-part continuation formula for the Riemann zeta functionThe endpoint convention is valid whether or not is an integer. Since , the last integral converges locally uniformly for , including after differentiation on compact subsets. It therefore defines a holomorphic function there. The other terms are entire except for . By the identity theorem for holomorphic functions, the formula supplies a meromorphic continuation with exactly one pole in : a simple pole at of residue one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 25 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Absolute convergence and the fundamental theorem of arithmetic give the Euler productFor a finite set of primes, expand the geometric factors: their product sums over integers whose prime factors lie in that set. Let the finite sets increase through all primes. Absolute convergence permits passage to the limit and recovers the full Dirichlet series. Moreover , so the logarithm converges and the product has no zeros there.
The same absolutely convergent logarithm, and , giveThis is the product version of the three-four-one zero-free-region argument. It also proves there are no zeros on : if for , its factor has order at least four as , while the real pole contributes only order minus three and the factor remains bounded. The displayed left side would tend to zero, a contradiction. At there is a pole, not a zero.
For large , put . The Hardy-Littlewood approximation to the Riemann zeta function at gives for ; its finite sum is bounded by and the integral term is bounded. The Cauchy estimate for derivatives on circles of radius comparable to consequently gives for .
Take with a small fixed . The product inequality, , and implyIf , integration of the derivative along the horizontal segment changes this value by at most . Choose sufficiently small that , then sufficiently small. The lower bound remains a positive multiple of . For , the same product inequality, , and the near-one upper bound give that lower bound directly. For , the reciprocal Euler product gives .
Finally the no-zero result on , compactness at bounded heights and the regular reciprocal at the pole allow a further fixed reduction of to include bounded . We have proved the weak logarithmic zero-free region for the Riemann zeta functionThe reciprocal at is its holomorphic extension, equal to zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 1H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The Euler totient function counts integers with . The Möbius function has , is zero when a prime square divides , and equals when is a product of distinct primes. Consequentlybecause for the sum over squarefree divisors is .
The Möbius inversion formula is . Substituting the divisor sum defining and collecting the coefficient of givesThis proof uses only finite sums, so no convergence hypothesis is needed.
Classifying by their greatest common divisor with gives : the class with greatest common divisor contains exactly integers. Applying the Möbius inversion formula yieldsThe Riemann zeta function is for . Absolute convergence justifies multiplication of Dirichlet series. The divisor identity for the Möbius function gives there. For both factors below converge absolutely, and their Dirichlet convolution is the Euler totient function:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 124 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Möbius function has , when is divisible by a prime square, and when is a product of distinct primes. The Riemann zeta function is initially the Dirichlet series for . Both this Dirichlet series and have absolute convergence, because and .
For a finite set of primes , multiplication of absolutely convergent geometric series and unique prime factorization giveEvery omitted integer has a prime factor exceeding , so it exceeds . The difference from has absolute value at most . This proves the Euler product, with the product interpreted as the limit of its finite products:
For the reciprocal identity, absolute convergence justifies multiplying and regrouping the two Dirichlet series by their product index. Their Dirichlet convolution coefficient at isThe coefficient calculation uses only the squarefree integers dividing . Consequently the reciprocal identity is an identity of absolutely convergent series: