An Euler phi function for the Eisenstein integers and some applications Emily Gullerud aBa Mbirika University of Minnesota University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
[email protected] [email protected] January 8, 2020 Abstract The Euler phi function on a given integer n yields the number of positive integers less than n that are relatively prime to n. Equivalently, it gives the order of the group Z of units in the quotient ring (n) for a given integer n. We generalize the Euler phi function to the Eisenstein integer ring Z[ρ] where ρ is the primitive third root of 2πi/3 Z unity e by finding the order of the group of units in the ring [ρ] (θ) for any given Eisenstein integer θ. As one application we investigate a sufficiency criterion for Z × when certain unit groups [ρ] (γn) are cyclic where γ is prime in Z[ρ] and n ∈ N, thereby generalizing well-known results of similar applications in the integers and some lesser known results in the Gaussian integers. As another application, we prove that the celebrated Euler-Fermat theorem holds for the Eisenstein integers. Contents 1 Introduction 2 2 Preliminaries and definitions 3 2.1 Evenand“odd”Eisensteinintegers . 5 arXiv:1902.03483v2 [math.NT] 6 Jan 2020 2.2 ThethreetypesofEisensteinprimes . 8 2.3 Unique factorization in Z[ρ]........................... 10 3 Classes of Z[ρ] /(γn) for a prime γ in Z[ρ] 10 3.1 Equivalence classes of Z[ρ] /(γn)......................... 10 3.2 Criteria for when two classes in Z[ρ] /(γn) are equivalent . 13 3.3 Units in Z[ρ] /(γn)...............................