Residue classes free of values of Euler’s function

Abstract

We characterize which residue classes contain infinitely many totients (values of Euler's function) and which do not. We show that the union of all residue classes that are totient-free has asymptotic density 3/4, that is, almost all numbers that are 2 mod 4 are in a residue class that is totient-free. In the other direction, we show the existence of a positive density of odd numbers m, such that for any $s\ge0$ and any even number $a$, the residue class $a\pmod{2^sm}$ contains infinitely many totients.