Number-theoretic expressions obtained through analogy between prime factorization and optical interferometry

Abstract

Prime factorization is an outstanding problem in arithmetic, with important consequences in a variety of fields, most notably cryptography. Here we employ the intriguing analogy between prime factorization and optical interferometry in order to obtain, for the first time, analytic expressions for closely related functions, including the number of distinct prime factors.

References in corpus (4)

• Physics of the Riemann Hypothesis
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• Factoring numbers with a single interferogram
• Factorization of numbers with Gauss sums: II. Suggestions for implementations with chirped laser pulses