Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2014 / iii / Paper 25 / 1

For $\Re s>1$, the Riemann zeta function is the absolutely convergent Dirichlet series $\zeta (s)={\sum }_{n\ge 1}{n}^{-s}$. Apply Abel summation to the tail, with counting function $\lfloor w\rfloor -\lfloor x\rfloor$. The upper boundary term tends to zero, givingSubstitute $\lfloor w\rfloor =w-\{w\}$ and integrate the $w$ term. This proves the fractional-part continuation formula for the Riemann zeta functionThe endpoint convention is valid whether or not $x$ is an integer. Since $0\le \{w\}<1$, the last integral converges locally uniformly for $\Re s>0$, including after differentiation on compact subsets. It therefore defines a holomorphic function there. The other terms are entire except for $x^{1-s}/(s-1)$. By the identity theorem for holomorphic functions, the formula supplies a meromorphic continuation with exactly one pole in $\Re s>0$: a simple pole at $s=1$ of residue one.

We use the Van der Corput sum-integral lemma. Put $e(u)=e^{2\pi iu}$ and $I_h={\int }_a^{b}e(f(x)-hx)dx$. The Fourier series of the periodization of $1_{[a,b]}(x)e(f(x))$ giveswhere integer endpoints have half weight. This is the Dirichlet-Jordan convergence theorem for a piecewise smooth, or more generally bounded-variation, periodic function. Here $f$ is $C^1$, so the periodized function has bounded variation. Changing to the requested endpoint convention costs at most one.

Write $u=f^{\prime }$. For $h\ne 0$, $|u-h|\ge |h|-\delta >0$. Since $u$ is continuous and monotone, the reciprocal has bounded variation, and integration by parts in the Riemann-Stieltjes sense yieldsThe variation of the reciprocal is at most $2\delta /(h^2-{\delta }^2)$. Summing over $h\ne 0$ gives $O((1-\delta {)}^{-1})$, separating $|h|=1$ and using convergence of ${\sum }_{h\ge 2}{h}^{-2}$. For each endpoint, useThe symmetric partial sums of the first term are a constant multiple of ${\sum }_{h=1}^H\sin (2\pi hx)/h$, uniformly bounded in $H$ and $x$; this standard Fourier series bound follows by splitting at $h\asymp 1/\Vert x\Vert$ and applying Abel summation to the remaining sine sum. The second term is absolutely summable with bound $O((1-\delta {)}^{-1})$. The same bound therefore holds for the whole sum of the $h\ne 0$ integrals. Since $I_0$ is the ordinary integral,No second derivative is required; monotonicity supplies the needed variation estimate.

For the Hardy-Littlewood approximation to the Riemann zeta function, take $f(w)=-t\log w/(2\pi )$. On $w\ge x\ge |t|/\pi$, $|f^{\prime }(w)|\le 1/2$ and $f^{\prime }$ is monotone. The proved lemma says that the difference between the partial sum of $w^{-it}$ and its integral over $(x,Y]$ is $O(1)$ uniformly in $Y$. Weighted Abel summation with the decreasing weight $w^{-\sigma }$ then makes the weighted difference $O(x^{-\sigma })$, since its total variation on $[x,\infty )$ is $x^{-\sigma }$. Initially for $\sigma >1$, the tail integral is $x^{1-s}/(s-1)$. The bounded primitive of the discrepancy gives a locally uniformly convergent weighted discrepancy integral for every $\sigma >0$, continuing the identity to that region. Thus, away from the pole,If $t=0$ the ordinary sum-integral comparison supplies the same estimate. At $s=1$ the formula is understood meromorphically. It approximates the Riemann zeta function by a finite Dirichlet polynomial, transfers exponential sum estimates to bounds in the critical strip, yields elementary near-one bounds for $\zeta$ and its derivative, and supports estimates for the mean value of Dirichlet polynomials and numerical calculations.