Wild partitions and number theory
Journal of integer sequences, Tome 10 (2007) no. 6
We introduce the notion of wild partition to describe in combinatorial language an important situation in the theory of $p$-adic fields. For $Q$ a power of $p$, we get a sequence of numbers $\lambda_{Q,n}$ counting the number of certain wild partitions of $n$. We give an explicit formula for the corresponding generating function $\Lambda_Q(x) = \sum \lambda_{Q,n} x^n$ and use it to show that $\lambda^{1/n}_{Q,n}$ tends to $Q^{1/(p-1)}$. We apply this asymptotic result to support a finiteness conjecture about number fields. Our finiteness conjecture contrasts sharply with known results for function fields, and our arguments explain this contrast.
@article{JIS_2007__10_6_a1,
author = {Roberts, David P.},
title = {Wild partitions and number theory},
journal = {Journal of integer sequences},
year = {2007},
volume = {10},
number = {6},
zbl = {1174.11094},
language = {en},
url = {http://geodesic.mathdoc.fr/item/JIS_2007__10_6_a1/}
}
Roberts, David P. Wild partitions and number theory. Journal of integer sequences, Tome 10 (2007) no. 6. http://geodesic.mathdoc.fr/item/JIS_2007__10_6_a1/