On a kind of generalized Lehmer problem

Abstract

For 1 ⩾ c ⩾ p − 1, let E ₁,E ₂, …,E _m be fixed numbers of the set {0, 1}, and let a ₁, a ₂, …, a _m (1 ⩽ a _i ⩽ p, i = 1, 2, …,m) be of opposite parity with E ₁,E ₂, …,E _m respectively such that a ₁ a ₂…a _m ≡ c (mod p). Let

$$N(c,m,p) = {1 \over {{2^{m - 1}}}}\mathop {\sum\limits_{{a_1} = 1}^{p - 1} {\sum\limits_{{a_2} = 1}^{p - 1} \ldots } }\limits_{{a_1}{a_2} \ldots \equiv c{\rm{ (}}\bmod {\rm{ }}p)} \sum\limits_{{a_m} = 1}^{p - 1} {(1 - {{( - 1)}^{{a_1} + {E_1}}})(1 - {{( - 1)}^{{a_2} + {E_2}}}) \ldots } (1 - {( - 1)^{{a_m} + {E_m}}}).$$

We are interested in the mean value of the sums

$$\sum\limits_{c = 1}^{p - 1} {{E^2}} (c,m,p),$$

where E(c, m, p) = N(c,m, p)−((p − 1)^m−1)/(2^m−1) for the odd prime p and any integers m ⩾ 2. When m = 2, c = 1, it is the Lehmer problem. In this paper, we generalize the Lehmer problem and use analytic method to give an interesting asymptotic formula of the generalized Lehmer problem.