Prime number races
Abstract
In this thesis we investigate the behaviour of primes in arithmetic progressions, with
a focus on the phenomenon known as Chebyshev’s bias. Under the assumption of
the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis and the Linear Independence Hypothesis, we
prove that there is a bias towards quadratic non-residues. Additionally we extend
the investigation to the setting of function fields. In the function field setting, we
investigate the behaviour of prime polynomials in residue classes modulo a fixed
monic polynomial. Moreover, we prove that for an irreducible polynomial m there
is a bias towards quadratic non-residues modulo m.
Degree
Student essay