On the random Chowla conjecture

We prove that if $f(n)$ is a Steinhaus or Rademacher random multiplicative function, there almost surely exist arbitrarily large values of $x$ for which $|\sum_{n \leq x} f(n)| \geq \sqrt{x} (\log\log x)^{1/4+o(1)}$. This is the first such bound that grows faster than $\sqrt{x}$, answering a question of Hal\'asz and proving a conjecture of Erd\H{o}s. It is plausible that the exponent $1/4$ is sharp in this problem. The proofs work by establishing a multivariate Gaussian app...

Let $f$ be a Rademacher or a Steinhaus random multiplicative function. Let $\varepsilon>0$ small. We prove that, as $x\rightarrow +\infty$, we almost surely have $$\bigg|\sum_{\substack{n\leq x\\ P(n)>\sqrt{x}}}f(n)\bigg|\leq\sqrt{x}(\log\log x)^{1/4+\varepsilon},$$ where $P(n)$ stands for the largest prime factor of $n$. This gives an indication of the almost sure size of the largest fluctuations of $f$.

We determine the order of magnitude of $\mathbb{E}|\sum_{n \leq x} f(n)|^{2q}$, where $f(n)$ is a Steinhaus or Rademacher random multiplicative function, and $0 \leq q \leq 1$. In the Steinhaus case, this is equivalent to determining the order of $\lim_{T \rightarrow \infty} \frac{1}{T} \int_{0}^{T} |\sum_{n \leq x} n^{-it}|^{2q} dt$. In particular, we find that $\mathbb{E}|\sum_{n \leq x} f(n)| \asymp \sqrt{x}/(\log\log x)^{1/4}$. This proves a conjecture of Helson that on...

For $X(n)$ a Steinhaus random multiplicative function, we study the maximal size of the random Dirichlet polynomial $$ D_N(t) = \frac1{\sqrt{N}} \sum_{n \leq N} X(n) n^{it}, $$ with $t$ in various ranges. In particular, for fixed $C>0$ and any small $\varepsilon>0$ we show that, with high probability, $$ \exp( (\log N)^{1/2-\varepsilon} ) \ll \sup_{|t| \leq N^C} |D_N(t)| \ll \exp( (\log N)^{1/2+\varepsilon}). $$

A Steinhaus random multiplicative function $f$ is a completely multiplicative function obtained by setting its values on primes $f(p)$ to be independent random variables distributed uniformly on the unit circle. Recent work of Harper shows that $\sum_{n\le N} f(n)$ exhibits ``more than square-root cancellation," and in particular $\frac 1{\sqrt{N}} \sum_{n\le N} f(n)$ does not have a (complex) Gaussian distribution. This paper studies $\sum_{n\in {\mathcal A}} f(n)$, where ${...

For $f$ a Rademacher or Steinhaus random multiplicative function, we prove that $$ \max_{\theta \in [0,1]} \frac{1}{\sqrt{N}} \Bigl| \sum_{n \leq N} f(n) \mathrm{e} (n \theta) \Bigr| \gg \sqrt{\log N} ,$$ asymptotically almost surely as $N \rightarrow \infty$. Furthermore, for $f$ a Steinhaus random multiplicative function, and any $\varepsilon > 0$, we prove the partial upper bound result $$ \max_{\theta \in [0,1]} \frac{1}{\sqrt{N}} \Bigl| \sum_{\substack{n \leq N \\ P(n) \...

We investigate a special sequence of random variables $A(N)$ defined by an exponential power series with independent standard complex Gaussians $(X(k))_{k \geq 1}$. Introduced by Hughes, Keating, and O'Connell in the study of random matrix theory, this sequence relates to Gaussian multiplicative chaos (in particular "holomorphic multiplicative chaos'' per Najnudel, Paquette, and Simm) and random multiplicative functions. Soundararajan and Zaman recently determined the order o...

We determine the order of magnitude of $\mathbb{E}|\sum_{n \leq x} f(n)|^{2q}$ up to factors of size $e^{O(q^2)}$, where $f(n)$ is a Steinhaus or Rademacher random multiplicative function, for all real $1 \leq q \leq \frac{c\log x}{\log\log x}$. In the Steinhaus case, we show that $\mathbb{E}|\sum_{n \leq x} f(n)|^{2q} = e^{O(q^2)} x^q (\frac{\log x}{q\log(2q)})^{(q-1)^2}$ on this whole range. In the Rademacher case, we find a transition in the behaviour of the moments when...

For $X(n)$ a Rademacher or Steinhaus random multiplicative function, we consider the random polynomials $$ P_N(\theta) = \frac1{\sqrt{N}} \sum_{n\leq N} X(n) e(n\theta), $$ and show that the $2k$-th moments on the unit circle $$ \int_0^1 \big| P_N(\theta) \big|^{2k}\, d\theta $$ tend to Gaussian moments in the sense of mean-square convergence, uniformly for $k \ll (\log N / \log \log N)^{1/3}$, but that in contrast to the case of i.i.d. coefficients, this behavior does not pe...

Let $\varepsilon >0$. Let $f$ be a Steinhaus or Rademacher random multiplicative function. We prove that we have almost surely, as $x \to +\infty$, $$ \sum_{n \leqslant x} f(n) \ll \sqrt{x} (\log_2 x)^{\frac{1}{4}+ \varepsilon}. $$ Thanks to Harper's Lower bound, this gives a sharp upper bound of the largest fluctuation of the quantity $\sum_{n \leqslant x} f(n)$.