The Hyperbolic Lattice Point Count in Infinite Volume with Applications to Sieves

We develop novel techniques using abstract operator theory to obtain asymptotic formulae for lattice counting problems on infinite-volume hyperbolic manifolds, with error terms which are uniform as the lattice moves through "congruence" subgroups. We give the following application to the theory of affine linear sieves. In the spirit of Fermat, consider the problem of primes in the sum of two squares, f(c,d)=c^2+d^2, but restrict (c,d) to the orbit O = (0,1).Gamma, where Gamma is an infinite-index non-elementary finitely-generated subgroup of SL(2,Z). Assume that the Reimann surface Gamma\H^2 has a cusp at infinity. We show that the set of values f(O) contains infinitely many integers having at most R prime factors for any R>4/(delta-theta), where theta>1/2 is the spectral gap and delta<1 is the Hausdorff dimension of the limit set of Gamma. If delta>149/150, then we can take theta=5/6, giving R=25. The limit of this method is R=9 for delta-theta>4/9. This is the same number of prime factors as attained in Brun's original attack on the twin prime conjecture.Comment: 33 pages, 1 figure, minor corrections. To appear, Duke Math

Stochastic Models for the 3x+1 and 5x+1 Problems

This paper discusses stochastic models for predicting the long-time behavior of the trajectories of orbits of the 3x+1 problem and, for comparison, the 5x+1 problem. The stochastic models are rigorously analyzable, and yield heuristic predictions (conjectures) for the behavior of 3x+1 orbits and 5x+1 orbits.Comment: 68 pages, 9 figures, 4 table

Benford's Law, Values of L-functions and the 3x+1 Problem

We show the leading digits of a variety of systems satisfying certain conditions follow Benford's Law. For each system proving this involves two main ingredients. One is a structure theorem of the limiting distribution, specific to the system. The other is a general technique of applying Poisson Summation to the limiting distribution. We show the distribution of values of L-functions near the central line and (in some sense) the iterates of the 3x+1 Problem are Benford.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure; replacement of earlier draft (corrected some typos, added more exposition, added results for characteristic polynomials of unitary matrices