On the moments of torsion points modulo primes and their applications

Let [Formula: see text] be the group of [Formula: see text]-torsion points of a commutative algebraic group [Formula: see text] defined over a number field [Formula: see text]. For a prime [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text], we let [Formula: see text] be the number of [Formula: see text]-solutions of the system of polynomial equations defining [Formula: see text] when reduced modulo [Formula: see text]. Here, [Formula: see text] is the residue field at [Formula: see text]. Let [Formula: see text] denote the number of primes [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] such that [Formula: see text]. We then, for algebraic groups of dimension one, compute the [Formula: see text]th moment limit [Formula: see text] by appealing to the Chebotarev density theorem. We further interpret this limit as the number of orbits of the action of the absolute Galois group of [Formula: see text] on [Formula: see text] copies of [Formula: see text] by an application of Burnside’s Lemma. These concrete examples suggest a possible approach for determining the number of orbits of a group acting on [Formula: see text] copies of a set.

Explicit counting of ideals and a Brun–Titchmarsh inequality for the Chebotarev density theorem

We prove a bound on the number of primes with a given splitting behavior in a given field extension. This bound generalizes the Brun–Titchmarsh bound on the number of primes in an arithmetic progression. The proof is set up as an application of Selberg’s Sieve in number fields. The main new ingredient is an explicit counting result estimating the number of integral elements with certain properties up to multiplication by units. As a consequence of this result, we deduce an explicit estimate for the number of ideals of norm up to [Formula: see text].