Topics in analytic number theory, Lent 2013.

Lecture 9: Siegels theorem

Bob Hough
May 14, 2013
Reference for this lecture: Iwaniec and Kowalski, p. 123.
Recall from the previous lecture that if mod q is a real primitive character,
then the Dirichlet L-function L(s, ) has at most a single zero in the region
<(s) > 1 log q , and |=(s)| < log q , being a small positive constant. Such a zero
is necessarily real. The best upper bound for the location of this hypothetical
zero is given by Siegels theorem.
Theorem 9.1 (Siegel). Let be a primitive real character to conductor q.
1. For each  > 0 there exists a constant c1 () > 0 depending only on epsilon
such that L(1, ) > c1 ()q  .
2. For each  > 0 there exists a constant c2 () > 0 depending only on epsilon
such that if is a real zero of L(s, ) then < 1 c2 ()q  .
The two statements are equivalent, up to changing the constants.
By comparison, the lower bound for L(1, ) available from the class number
formula gives a bound of only L(1, )  q 1/2 in the imaginary quadratic case,
q
or L(1, )  log
in the real quadratic case.
q 1/2
Siegels theorem is ineffective because for each  < 1/2 we are unable to
determine the constants c(), c0 (). Thus, while the theorem gives the strong
lower bound h(D)  D1/2 for the class number of an imaginary quadratic
field of discriminant D, it does not resolve Gausss problem of enumerating all
fields with a given class number.
Before we prove the equivalence of the two statements in Siegels theorem,
and prove the theorem, we first need a pair of lemmas.
Lemma 9.2. Let mod q be any non-principal character, and let 1 1/ log q
1. Then L(, ) = O(log q) and L0 (, ) = O((log q)2 ).
Proof. We show the proof for L0 (, ), that for L(, ) being similar. We have

Z
X
X (n) log n
log
x
(n)
=
d
L0 (, ) =
n
x
1
n
nx



Z X
log x 1

(n)
=
dx
x1+
1
nx

The sum of characters is bounded by min(x, q), and therefore the integral is
bounded by
Z q
Z
( log x + 1)dx
( log x + 1)dx
+
q
= O((log q)2 ).
x
x+1
q
1

Lemma 9.3. Let mod q be a real primitive character, and let 1 1+ log1 q .
Let denote the single real zero of L(s, ) with > 1 log q , if such a zero
exists. We have
L0
1
(, ) =
+ O((log q)2 ).
L

Proof. We have

L0
(, ) =
L

X
(,)=0
||<1

+ O(log q).
( )2 + 2

The number of zeros in the sum is O(log q), and for each such zero, ()
2 + 2
1

2
( )
= O(log q), so all zeros excluding contribute O((log q) ) to the
sum.

Proof of equivalence of statements in Siegels Theorem. (1) (2): In view of

the upper bound for the derivative, this follows from the mean value theorem.
(2) (1):
Let 1 2. From the bound
log L(, ) =

X (pn )
p,n

npn

X
p,n

1
= log () log( 1) + O(1)
npn

we have the bound

log L(1 + q  , )  log q + O(1),
and therefore
Z

1+q 

log L(1, )  log q + O(1) +

L0 /L(, )d.

By the second lemma, |L0 /L(, )| c0 ()q  + O((log q)2 ) throughout the interval, and the interval has length q  , so the integral is O(1).
We also use the following integral identity.
Lemma 9.4. We have, for any x > 0,
1
2i

3/2+i

xs (s)ds = e1/x .

3/2i

Proof. Notice that has exponential decay in vertical strips, so that the integral
is strongly convergent. Recall also, s(s) = (s + 1). In particular, the residue
j
of at j is (1)
j! . Shift the contour to the line <(s) = N 1/2 for large
integer N . In doing so, we pass poles at 0 and the negative integers, giving the
partial sum
N
X
(1)j xj
.
j!
j=0
On the line <(s) = N 1/2,
|(N 1/2 + it)| = O(

|(1/2 + it)|
)
(N 1)!

while xs = O(xN 1/2 ). Since N ! grows superexponentially, the integral tends

to zero as we let N .
Proof of Siegels Theorem. The following proof is due to Goldfeld.
We let 1/2 >  > 0 be given and consider two possibilities. If, among all
primitive real characters to all moduli q, there does not exist a character with
real zero > 1 /20, then the second statement of Siegels Theorem is clearly
satisfied for all 0 > 0. So we may assume that such a primitive character
1 mod q1 does exist with real zero . Fixing this character throughout the
proof, we have that q1 = q1 () and = () depend only on , hence are
constants.
Let mod q be any other real primitive character. Form the function
L(s) = (s)L(s, 1 )L(s, )L(s, 1 ) =

an ns ,

<(s) > 1.

n=1

Note that for <(s) > 1

log L(s) =

X X (1 + 1 (pn ))(1 + (pn ))

p

npns

<(s) > 1

has non-negative coefficients, so an 0 (exponentiate the series for log L(s) and
collect the positive terms).
The function L(s) satisfies, for <(s) = > 1, |L(s)| ()4 , and for
<(s) = 1/2, |L(s)| = O(q12 q 2 |s|4 ). The first bound follows on taking absolute
values within each Dirichlet series. The second bound follows from our bound
(Lecture 2) |L(s, )| |s|q
, and the corresponding bound for . Also, L(s) has
a pole at s = 1, coming from , with residue L(1, 1 )L(1, )L(1, 1 ), and a
zero at , coming from L(s, 1 ).
We consider, for large X, the sum
X an
S(X) =
en/X .
n
n>0
Discarding all but the term a1 = 1 we have
S(X) e1/X = 1 + O(1/X).

On the other hand, we may express the sum as an integral, using the identity
above
X an 1 Z 3/2+i  X s
S(X) =
(s)ds
n 2i 3/2i
n
n>0
Z 3/2+i X
Z 3/2+i

1
an
1
s
=
X (s)ds =
L(s + )X s (s)ds.
2i 3/2i n=1 n+s
2i 3/2i
Shift the contour to the line <(s) = + 12 , passing the pole at s = 1 from
zeta, but none at s = 0 since the pole of is canceled by the zero at L(, 1 )
(its important here that 1 is non-principal). Thus we obtain
S(X) = (1 )X 1 L(1, 1 )L(1, )L(1, 1 ) +

1
2i

1/2+i

L(s + )X s (s)ds.

1/2+i

The integral is

Z
O X 1/2

1
1
|( + it)||L( + it)|dt
2
2

Recall that has exponential decay in vertical strips, so the integral is O(q12 q 2 ).
Thus the integral term gives a combined error (we have > 3/4) of O(X 1/4 q12 q 2 ).
Choose X > Cq110 q 10 sufficiently large so that this error is bounded by 1/2. Thus
1 + o(1) S(X) = (1 )X 1 L(1, 1 )L(1, 2 )L(1, 1 2 ) + ,

|| 1/2.

Now (1 ), and L(1, 1 ) are constants that depend only on 1 , and hence,
only on , while L(1, 1 ) = O(log q1 q) = O (log q). We deduce,
L(1, ) C

1
X 1
C0 
C00 q  .
log q
q 2 log q

(We have used that q1 is a constant.)