English

Odd moments in the distribution of primes

Number Theory 2025-03-26 v3

Abstract

Montgomery and Soundararajan showed that the distribution of ψ(x+H)ψ(x)\psi(x+H) - \psi(x), for 0xN0 \le x \le N, is approximately normal with mean H \sim H and variance Hlog(N/H)\sim H \log (N/H), when NδHN1δN^{\delta} \le H \le N^{1-\delta}. Their work depends on showing that sums Rk(h)R_k(h) of kk-term singular series are μk(hlogh+Ah)k/2+Ok(hk/21/(7k)+ε)\mu_k(-h \log h + Ah)^{k/2} + O_k(h^{k/2-1/(7k) + \varepsilon}), where AA is a constant and μk\mu_k are the Gaussian moment constants. We study lower-order terms in the size of these moments. We conjecture that when kk is odd, Rk(h)h(k1)/2(logh)(k+1)/2R_k(h) \asymp h^{(k-1)/2}(\log h)^{(k+1)/2}. We prove an upper bound with the correct power of hh when k=3k = 3, and prove analogous upper bounds in the function field setting when k=3k =3 and k=5k = 5. We provide further evidence for this conjecture in the form of numerical computations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2109.03767,
  title  = {Odd moments in the distribution of primes},
  author = {Vivian Kuperberg},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.03767},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

40 pages, 11 figures. Accepted version to Algebra & Number Theory