Consider the sequences: : $U_0 = 0, U_1 = 1, U_{n + 1} = 4 U_n - U_{n - 1}$ : $V_0 = 2, V_1 = 4, V_{n + 1} = 4 V_n - V_{n - 1}$ The following equations can be proved by induction: {{begin-eqn}} {{eqn | n = 1       | l = V_n       | r = U_{n + 1} - U_{n - 1}       | c =  }} {{eqn | n = 2       | l = U_n       | r = \frac {\paren {2 + \sqrt 3}^n - \paren {2 - \sqrt 3}^n} {\sqrt {12} }       | c =  }} {{eqn | n = 3       | l = V_n       | r = \paren {2 + \sqrt 3}^n + \paren {2 - \sqrt 3}^n       | c =  }} {{eqn | n = 4       | l = U_{m + n}       | r = U_m U_{n + 1} - U_{m - 1} U_n       | c =  }} {{end-eqn}} Now, let $p$ be prime and $e \ge 1$. Suppose $U_n \equiv 0 \pmod {p^e}$. Then $U_n = b p^e$ for some $b$. Let $U_{n + 1} = a$. By the recurrence relation and $(4)$, we have: {{begin-eqn}} {{eqn | l = U_{2 n}       | r = b p^e \paren {2 a - 4 b p^e} \equiv 2 a U_n       | rr= \pmod {p^{e + 1} }       | c =  }} {{eqn | l = U_{2 n + 1}       | r = U_{n + 1}^2 - U_n^2 \equiv a^2       | rr= \pmod {p^{e + 1} }       | c =  }} {{end-eqn}} Similarly: {{begin-eqn}} {{eqn | l = U_{3 n}       | r = U_{2 n + 1} U_n - U_{2 n} U_{n - 1} \equiv 3 a^2 U_n       | rr= \pmod {p^{e + 1} }       | c =  }} {{eqn | l = U_{3 n + 1}       | r = U_{2 n + 1} U_{n + 1} - U_{2 n} U_n \equiv a^3       | rr= \pmod {p^{e + 1} }       | c =  }} {{end-eqn}} In general: {{begin-eqn}} {{eqn | l = U_{k n}       | o = \equiv       | r = k a^{k - 1} U_n       | rr= \pmod {p^{e + 1} }       | c =  }} {{eqn | l = U_{k n + 1}       | o = \equiv       | r = a^k       | rr= \pmod {p^{e + 1} }       | c =  }} {{end-eqn}} Taking $k = p$, we get: {{begin-eqn}} {{eqn | n = 5       | l = U_n \equiv 0 \pmod {p^e}       | o = \leadsto       | r = U_{n p} \equiv 0       | rr= \pmod {p^{e + 1} }       | c =  }} {{end-eqn}} Expanding $\paren {2 \pm \sqrt 3}^n$ by the Binomial Theorem, we find that $(2)$ and $(3)$ give us: {{begin-eqn}} {{eqn | l = U_n       | r = \sum_k \binom n {2 k + 1} 2^{n - 2 k - 1} 3^k       | c =  }} {{eqn | l = V_n       | r = \sum_k \binom n {2 k} 2^{n - 2 k + 1} 3^k       | c =  }} {{end-eqn}} Let us set $n = p$ where $p$ is an odd prime. From Binomial Coefficient of Prime, $\dbinom p k$ is a multiple of $p$ except when $k = 0$ or $k = p$. We find that: {{begin-eqn}} {{eqn | l = U_p       | o = \equiv       | r = 3^{\frac {p - 1} 2}       | rr= \pmod p       | c =  }} {{eqn | l = V_p       | o = \equiv       | r = 4       | rr= \pmod p       | c =  }} {{end-eqn}} If $p \ne 3$, then from Fermat's Little Theorem: :$3^{p - 1} \equiv 1 \pmod p$ Hence: :$\paren {3^{\frac {p - 1} 2} - 1} \times \paren {3^{\frac {p - 1} 2} + 1} \equiv 0 \pmod p$ :$3^{\frac {p - 1} 2} \equiv \pm 1 \pmod p$ When $U_p \equiv -1 \pmod p$, we have: :$U_{p + 1} = 4 U_p - U_{p - 1} = 4 U_p + V_p - U_{p + 1} \equiv -U_{p + 1} \pmod p$ Hence $U_{p + 1} \equiv 0 \pmod p$ When $U_p \equiv +1 \pmod p$, we have: :$U_{p - 1} = 4 U_p - U_{p + 1} = 4 U_p - V_p - U_{p-1} \equiv -U_{p - 1} \pmod p$ Hence $U_{p - 1} \equiv 0 \pmod p$ Thus we have shown that: :$(6) \quad \forall p \in \mathbb P: \exists \map \epsilon p: U_{p + \map \epsilon p} \equiv 0 \pmod p$ where $\map \epsilon p$ is an integer such that $\size {\map \epsilon p} \le 1$. Now, let $N \in \N$. Let $m \in \N$ such that $\map m N$ is the smallest positive integer such that: :$U_{\map m N} \equiv 0 \pmod N$ Let $a \equiv U_{m + 1} \pmod N$. Then $a \perp N$ because: :$\gcd \set {U_n, U_{n + 1} } = 1$ Hence the sequence: :$U_m, U_{m + 1}, U_{m + 2}, \ldots$ is congruent modulo $N$ to $a U_0, a U_1, a U_2, \ldots$. Then we have: :$(7) \quad U_n \equiv 0 \pmod N \iff n = k \map m N$ for some integral $k$. (This number $\map m N$ is called the '''rank of apparition''' of $N$ in the sequence.) Now, we have defined the sequence $\sequence {L_n}$ as: :$L_0 = 4, L_{n + 1} = \paren {L_n^2 - 2} \pmod {\paren {2^q - 1} }$ By induction it follows that: :$L_n \equiv V_{2^n} \pmod {\paren {2^q - 1} }$ We have the identity: :$2 U_{n + 1} = 4 U_n + V_n$ So any common factor of $U_n$ and $V_n$ must divide $U_n$ and $2 U_{n + 1}$. As $U_n \perp U_{n + 1}$, this implies that $\gcd \set {U_n, V_n} \le 2$. So $U_n$ and $V_n$ have no odd factor in common. So, if $L_{q - 2} = 0$: {{begin-eqn}} {{eqn | l = U_{2^{q - 1} } = U_{2^{q - 2} } V_{2^{q - 2} }       | o = \equiv       | r = 0       | rr= \pmod {\paren {2^q - 1} }       | c =  }} {{eqn | l = U_{2^{q - 2} }       | o = \not \equiv       | r = 0       | rr= \pmod {\paren {2^q - 1} }       | c =  }} {{end-eqn}} Now, if $m = \map m {2^q - 1}$ is the rank of apparition of $2^q - 1$, it must be a divisor of $2^{q - 1}$ but not of $2^{q - 2}$. So $m = 2^{q - 1}$. Now we prove that $n = 2^q - 1$ must therefore be prime. Let the prime decomposition of $n$ be $p_1^{e_1} \ldots p_r^{e_r}$. All primes $p_j$ are greater than $3$ because $n$ is odd and congruent to $\paren {-1}^q - 1 = -2 \pmod 3$. From $(5), (6), (7)$ we know that $U_t \equiv 0 \pmod {2^q - 1}$, where: :$t = \lcm \set {p_1^{e_1 - 1} \paren {p_1 + \epsilon_1}, \ldots, p_r^{e_r - 1} \paren {p_r + \epsilon_r} }$ where each $\epsilon_j = \pm 1$. It follows that $t$ is a multiple of $m = 2^{q - 1}$. Let $\displaystyle n_0 = \prod_{j \mathop = 1}^r p_j^{e_j - 1} \paren {p_j + \epsilon_j}$. We have: :$\displaystyle n_0 \le \prod_{j \mathop = 1}^r p_j^{e_j - 1} \paren {p_j + \frac {p_j} 5} = \paren {\frac 6 5}^r n$ Also, because $p_j + \epsilon_j$ is even, $t \le \frac {n_0} {2^{r - 1} }$, because a factor of $2$ is lost every time the LCM of two even numbers is taken. Combining these results, we have: :$m \le t \le 2 \paren {\frac 3 5}^r n \le 4 \paren {\frac 3 5}^r m < 3 m$ Hence $r \le 2$ and $t = m$ or $t = 2 m$, a power of $2$. Therefore $e_1 = 1$ and $e_r = 1$. If $n$ is not prime, we must have: :$n = 2^q - 1 = \paren {2^k + 1} \paren {2^l - 1}$ where $\paren {2^k + 1}$ and $\paren {2^l - 1}$ are prime. When $q$ is odd, that last factorization is obviously impossible, so $n$ is prime. Conversely, suppose $n = 2^q - 1$ is prime. We need to show that $V_{2^{q - 2} } \equiv 0 \pmod n$. All we need to do is show: :$V_{2^{q - 1} } \equiv -2 \pmod n$ because: :$V_{2^{q - 1} } = \paren {V_{2^{q - 2} } }^2 - 2$ Now: {{begin-eqn}} {{eqn | l = V_{2^{q - 1} }       | r = \paren {\frac {\sqrt 2 + \sqrt 6} 2}^{n + 1} + \paren {\frac {\sqrt 2 - \sqrt 6} 2}^{n + 1}       | c =  }} {{eqn | r = 2^{-n} \sum_k \binom {n + 1} {2 k} \sqrt 2^{n + 1 - 2 k} \sqrt 6^{2 k}       | c =  }} {{eqn | r = 2^{\frac {1 - n} 2} \sum_k \binom {n + 1} {2 k} 3 k       | c =  }} {{end-eqn}} Since $n$ is an odd prime, the binomial coefficient: :$\dbinom {n + 1} {2 k} = \dbinom n {2 k} + \binom n {2 k - 1}$ is divisible by $n$ except when $2 k = 0$ and $2k = n + 1$, from Binomial Coefficient of Prime. Hence: :$2^{\frac {n - 1} 2} V_{2^{q - 1} } \equiv 1 + 3^{\frac {n + 1} 2} \pmod n$ Here: :$2 \equiv \paren {2^{\frac {q + 1} 2} }^2$ so by Fermat's Little Theorem: :$2^{\frac {n - 1} 2} \equiv \paren {2^{\frac {q + 1} 2} } ^{n - 1} \equiv i$ Finally, by the Law of Quadratic Reciprocity: :$3^{\frac {n - 1} 2} \equiv -1$ since $n \bmod 3 = 1$ and $n \bmod 4 = 3$. This means: :$V_{2^{q - 1} } \equiv -2$ Hence: :$V_{2^{q - 2} } \equiv 0$ as required. {{qed}} {{proofread}} {{Namedfor|François Édouard Anatole Lucas|name2 = Derrick Henry Lehmer|cat = Lucas|cat2 = Lehmer D H}}