BULLETIN (New Series) OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY Volume 50, Number 4, October 2013, Pages 527–628 S 0273-0979(2013)01423-X Article electronically published on July 19, 2013
EULER’S CONSTANT: EULER’S WORK AND MODERN DEVELOPMENTS
JEFFREY C. LAGARIAS
Abstract. This paper has two parts. The first part surveys Euler’s work on the constant γ =0.57721 ··· bearing his name, together with some of his related work on the gamma function, values of the zeta function, and diver- gent series. The second part describes various mathematical developments involving Euler’s constant, as well as another constant, the Euler–Gompertz constant. These developments include connections with arithmetic functions and the Riemann hypothesis, and with sieve methods, random permutations, and random matrix products. It also includes recent results on Diophantine approximation and transcendence related to Euler’s constant.
Contents 1. Introduction 528 2. Euler’s work 530 2.1. Background 531 2.2. Harmonic series and Euler’s constant 531 2.3. The gamma function 537 2.4. Zeta values 540 2.5. Summing divergent series: the Euler–Gompertz constant 550 2.6. Euler–Mascheroni constant; Euler’s approach to research 555 3. Mathematical developments 557 3.1. Euler’s constant and the gamma function 557 3.2. Euler’s constant and the zeta function 561 3.3. Euler’s constant and prime numbers 564 3.4. Euler’s constant and arithmetic functions 565 3.5. Euler’s constant and sieve methods: the Dickman function 568 3.6. Euler’s constant and sieve methods: the Buchstab function 571 3.7. Euler’s constant and the Riemann hypothesis 573 3.8. Generalized Euler constants and the Riemann hypothesis 575 3.9. Euler’s constant and extreme values of ζ(1 + it)andL(1,χ−d) 578 3.10. Euler’s constant and random permutations: cycle structure 582 3.11. Euler’s constant and random permutations: shortest cycle 586 3.12. Euler’s constant and random finite functions 589 3.13. Euler’s constant as a Lyapunov exponent 590 3.14. Euler’s constant and periods 593
Received by the editors July 1, 2010, and, in revised form, December 24, 2012. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 11J02; Secondary 01A50, 11J72, 11J81, 11M06. The research of the author was supported by NSF Grants DMS-0801029 and DMS-1101373.