A note on the number of irrational odd zeta values

Abstract: It is proved that, for all odd integer $s \geqslant s_0(\varepsilon)$, there are at least $\big( c_0 - \varepsilon \big) \frac{s^{1/2}}{(\log s)^{1/2}} $ many irrational numbers among the following odd zeta values: $\zeta(3),\zeta(5),\zeta(7),\cdots,\zeta(s)$. The constant $c_0 = 1.192507\ldots$ can be expressed in closed form. The work is based on the previous work of Fischler, Sprang and Zudilin [FSZ19], improves the lower bound $2^{(1-\varepsilon)\frac{\log s}{\log\log s}}$ therein. The main new ingredient is an optimal design for the zeros of the auxiliary rational functions, which relates to the inverse of Euler totient funtion.