## Master's Thesis Presentation: Alexander Dahl

Master’s Thesis Presentation
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Friday, March 12, 2010,11:10 a.m. – 12:00 noon,in BA 2135, 40 St. George Street
Student:  Alexander Dahl

Supervisor:  Valentin Blomer

Thesis Title:  On moments of class numbers of real quadratic fields

Thesis Abstract: Class numbers of algebraic number fields are central invariants. Once the underlying field has an infinite unit group they behave very irregularly due to a non-trivial regulator. This phenomenon occurs already in the simplest case of real quadratic number fields of which very little is known. Hooley derived a conjectural formula for the average of class numbers of real quadratic fields,$S(x) = \sum_{D\le x} \, h(D).$ In this thesis we extend his methods to obtain conjectural formulae and bounds for any moment,$S_\lambda(x) = \sum_{D\le x} \, h(D)^\lambda,$where $\lambda$ is an arbitrary real number. Our formulae and bounds are based on similar (quite reasonable) assumptions of Hooley’s work.

In the final chapter we consider the case $\lambda = -1$ from a numerical point of view and develop an efficient algorithm to compute $S_{-1}$ without computing class numbers.
A link to the thesis:http://www.math.toronto.edu/aodahl/files/alexanderdahl-mthesis.pdf