Under sufficiently strong assumptions about the first prime in an arithmetic progression, we prove that the number of Carmichael numbers up to $X$ is $\gg X^{1-R}$, where $R=(2+o(1))\log \log \log \log X/\text{log}\log \log X$. This is close to Pomerance’s conjectured density of $X^{1-R}$ with $R=(1+o(1))\log \log \log X/\text{log}\log X$.

One of the open questions in the study of Carmichael numbers is whether, for a given $R\geq 3$, there exist infinitely many Carmichael numbers with exactly $R$ prime factors. Chernick [‘On Fermat’s simple theorem’, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.45 (1935), 269–274] proved that Dickson’s $k$-tuple conjecture would imply a positive result for all such $R$. Wright [‘Factors of Carmichael numbers and a weak $k$-tuples conjecture’, J. Aust. Math. Soc.100(3) (2016), 421–429] showed that a weakened version of Dickson’s conjecture would imply that there are an infinitude of $R$ for which there are infinitely many such Carmichael numbers. In this paper, we improve on our 2016 result by weakening the required conjecture even further.

Under sufficiently strong assumptions about the first term in an arithmetic progression, we prove that for any integer $a$, there are infinitely many $n\,\in \,\mathbb{N}$ such that for each prime factor $p\,\text{ }\!\!|\!\!\text{ }\,n$, we have $p\,-\,a\,\text{ }\!\!|\!\!\text{ }\,n\,-\,a$. This can be seen as a generalization of Carmichael numbers, which are integers $n$ such that $p\,-\,1\,\text{ }\!\!|\!\!\text{ }\,n\,-\,1$ for every $p\,\text{ }\!\!|\!\!\text{ }\,n$.

We prove that when $(a, m)= 1$ and $a$ is a quadratic residue $\hspace{0.167em} \mathrm{mod} \hspace{0.167em} m$, there are infinitely many Carmichael numbers in the arithmetic progression $a\hspace{0.167em} \mathrm{mod} \hspace{0.167em} m$. Indeed the number of them up to $x$ is at least ${x}^{1/ 5} $ when $x$ is large enough (depending on $m$).

Assuming a conjecture intermediate in strength between one of Chowla and one of Heath-Brown on the least prime in a residue class, we show that for any coprime integers a and m≥1, there are infinitely many Carmichael numbers in the arithmetic progression a mod m.