An inequality between class numbers and Ono's numbers associated to imaginary quadratic fields

Abstract

Ono's number $p_D$ and the class number $h_D$, associated to an imaginary quadratic field with discriminant $-D$, are closely connected. For example, Frobenius-Rabinowitsch Theorem asserts that $p_D = 1$ if and only if $h_D = 1$. In 1986, T. Ono raised a problem whether the inequality $h_D \leq 2^{p_D}$ holds. However, in our previous paper [8], we saw that there are infinitely many $D$ such that the inequality does not hold. In this paper we give a modification to the inequality $h_D \leq 2^{p_D}$. We also discuss lower and upper bounds for Ono's number $p_D$.