A SIEVE PROBLEM AND ITS APPLICATION

Abstract

Let $\theta$ be an arithmetic function and let $\mathcal{B}$ be the set of positive integers $n=p_1^{\alpha_1} \cdots p_k^{\alpha_k}$, which satisfy $p_{j+1} \le \theta ( p_1^{\alpha_1}\cdots p_{j}^{\alpha_{j}})$ for $0\le j < k$. We show that $\mathcal{B}$ has a natural density, provide a criterion to determine whether this density is positive, and give various estimates for the counting function of $\mathcal{B}$. When $\theta(n)/n$ is non-decreasing, the set $\mathcal{B}$ coincides with the set of integers $n$ whose divisors $1=d_1< d_2 < \ldots <d_{\tau(n)}=n$ satisfy $d_{j+1} \le \theta( d_j )$ for $1\le j <\tau(n)$.