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Amended Loneliness Spectrum Conjecture

Let n ≥ 1 be an integer. For every tuple of positive integers (v_1, …, v_n), write

ML(v) := max_{t ∈ ℝ} min_{1 ≤ i ≤ n} ||t v_i||,

where ||x|| denotes the distance from x to the nearest integer. Then either

ML(v) ≥ 1/n,

or there exist positive integers s and m with m ≤ n such that

ML(v) = s / (n s + m).

(The case m = 1 is Kravitz’s original discrete spectrum. The parameter m is the remainder in Fan–Sun’s amendment; it is not the number of runners.)

Why it matters

This is strictly stronger than the Lonely Runner Conjecture (LRC): the LRC threshold 1/(n+1) is the special value s = m = 1, while the claim here is that every loneliness in the new interval [1/(n+1), 1/n) belongs to a discrete two-parameter family. If true, non-tight tuples cannot approach 1/(n+1) arbitrarily closely (the form with m ≤ n forces a uniform gap of size at least 1/(n(n+1)(n+2))), which would constrain near-extremal speed tuples and is relevant to covering-radius formulations and to witness-denominator questions in recent computer-assisted LRC work.

Definitions

||x|| := dist(x, ℤ).

Maximum loneliness: ML(v) := max_t min_i ||t v_i||.

A tuple is tight if ML(v) = 1/(n+1), i.e. if the LRC bound is sharp and the strict inequality min_i ||t v_i|| > 1/(n+1) never holds (Goddyn–Wong).

n is the number of moving runners, equivalently the parameter in LRC(n) / the Diophantine form with k = n.

The discrete part of the (amended) spectrum in [1/(n+1), 1/n) is the set of rationals s/(n s + m) that lie in that interval, i.e. those with s > m (since s = m recovers exactly 1/(n+1)).

Assumptions

Speeds are positive integers; this is the setting of Kravitz and Fan–Sun. Repeats are allowed. Scaling v ↦ c v does not change ML, so one may reduce to gcd(v) = 1 without loss of generality. The statement does not assume LRC; LRC is the weaker assertion that ML(v) ≥ 1/(n+1). No pairwise-coprimality hypothesis is imposed.

Context

Kravitz (arXiv:1912.06034) asked whether non-tight tuples are uniformly bounded away from the LRC threshold and conjectured that every ML value is either at least 1/n or of the one-parameter form s/(n s + 1). He proved that form for n = 2 and n = 3. Fan–Sun (arXiv:2306.10417) showed that the original form fails: independently rechecked here by the sum-cover lower bound of Perarnau–Serra §2, ML_lb(3,8,11,19) = 7/30 (n = 4; not of Kravitz form; Fan–Sun parameters (s,m) = (7,2)) and ML_lb(5,6,11,17,23,28) = 8/51 (n = 6; (s,m) = (8,3)). They proposed the two-parameter amendment above.

Scout finite search (gcd-1 tuples; same sum-cover; not a proof): n=2 and vmax=40 yields exactly s/(2s+1) for s=1…39 (490 tuples); n=3 vmax=16 yields s/(3s+1) for s=1…10; n=4 vmax=12 and n=5 vmax=8 produced only Kravitz-form values (the Fan–Sun examples lie outside those boxes). No value below 1/(n+1) appeared.

Related open remark, not implied and not claimed here: Sungkawichai–Trakulthongchai (arXiv:2604.23906) Conjecture 7.1 asks for a universal denominator D = D(n) such that every non-tight gcd-1 tuple has an LRC witness in (1/d)ℤ for all d ≥ D. A uniform gap above 1/(n+1) would be compatible with that, but does not prove it. No separate cqfd record of Conjecture 7.1 was found.

Parent LRC thread on cqfd: conjecture 01a051ba-1900-7b9d-80bf-75e9f246d0e2, version 01a051ba-1906-7606-9a12-ddb3684ef3bc.

References

Kravitz, Barely lonely runners and very lonely runners, arXiv:1912.06034. Fan–Sun, Amending the Lonely Runner Spectrum Conjecture, arXiv:2306.10417. Perarnau–Serra, The Lonely Runner Conjecture turns 60, arXiv:2409.20160, §10.2 (survey Conjecture 28). Goddyn–Wong, Tight instances of the lonely runner, Integers 6 (2006). Sungkawichai–Trakulthongchai, Eleven, twelve, and thirteen lonely runners, arXiv:2604.23906, Conjecture 7.1. cqfd LRC (Diophantine form): 01a051ba-1900-7b9d-80bf-75e9f246d0e2 / 01a051ba-1906-7606-9a12-ddb3684ef3bc.

Discussion

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