Twin Prime Search (TPS) is a
volunteer computing
Volunteer computing is a type of distributed computing in which people donate their computers' unused resources to a research-oriented project, and sometimes in exchange for credit points. The fundamental idea behind it is that a modern desktop ...
project that looks for large
twin prime
A twin prime is a prime number that is either 2 less or 2 more than another prime number—for example, either member of the twin prime pair or In other words, a twin prime is a prime that has a prime gap of two. Sometimes the term ''twin prime' ...
s.
It uses the programs LLR (for
primality test
A primality test is an algorithm for determining whether an input number is prime. Among other fields of mathematics, it is used for cryptography. Unlike integer factorization, primality tests do not generally give prime factors, only stating wheth ...
ing) and NewPGen (for sieving). It was founded on April 13, 2006, by Michael Kwok. In
number theory
Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...
, it is conjectured that there are infinitely many twin primes, and this is known as the
twin prime conjecture.
Progress
TPS found a record twin prime, 2003663613 × 2
195000 ± 1, on January 15, 2007, on a computer operated by Eric Vautier. It is 58,711 digits long, which made it the largest known twin prime at the time. The project worked in collaboration with
PrimeGrid, which did most of the LLR tests.
On August 6, 2009, those same two projects announced that a new record twin prime had been found. The primes are 65516468355 × 2
333333 ± 1, and have 100,355 digits.
On December 25, 2011, Timothy D Winslow found the world's largest known twin primes 3756801695685 × 2
666669 ± 1.
, the current largest twin prime pair known is 2996863034895 · 2
1290000 ± 1, with 388,342 decimal digits. It was discovered on September 14, 2016.
Current efforts
TPS has two subprojects . These subprojects include a variable twin search to find twins between 144,500 and 150,500 digits, and a search called the "Operation Megabit Twin" for primes larger than ''k'' × 2
1,000,000 ± 1.
See also
*
List of volunteer computing projects
This is a comprehensive list of volunteer computing projects, which are a type of distributed computing where volunteers donate computing time to specific causes. The donated computing power comes from idle CPUs and GPUs in personal computers, vide ...
*
PrimeGrid
References
External links
* {{Official website, 1=http://primes.utm.edu/bios/page.php?id=949
Twin Prime Searchforum
Top 20 Twin Primes
Volunteer computing projects
Distributed prime searches