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On Vu's theorem in Waring's problem for thinner sequences

Number Theory 2025-02-27 v3 Combinatorics

Abstract

Let kNk\in \mathbb{N} and sk(logk+3.20032)s\geq k(\log k+3.20032). Let N0k\mathbb{N}_{0}^{k} be the set of kk-th powers of nonnegative integers. Assume that ψ\psi is an increasing function tending to infinity with ψ(x)=o(logx)\psi(x)=o(\log x) and satifying some regularity conditions. Then, there exists a subsequence Xk=Xk(s)N0k\mathfrak{X}_{k}=\mathfrak{X}_{k}(s)\subset\mathbb{N}_{0}^{k} for which the number of representations Rs(n;Xk)R_{s}(n;\mathfrak{X}_{k}) of each nNn\in\mathbb{N} as n=x1k++xsk               xikXkn=x_{1}^{k}+\ldots+x_{s}^{k}\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ x_{i}^{k}\in\mathfrak{X}_{k} satisfies the asymptotic formula Rs(n;Xk)S(n)ψ(n) R_{s}(n;\mathfrak{X}_{k})\sim \mathfrak{S}(n)\psi(n) for almost all natural numbers nn, with S(n)\mathfrak{S}(n) being the singular series associated to Waring's problem. If moreover sk(logk+4.20032)s\geq k(\log k+4.20032) the above conclusion holds for almost all n[X,X+logX]n\in [X,X+\log X] as XX\to\infty. Let T(k)T(k) be the least natural number for which it is known that all large integers are the sum of T(k)T(k) kk-th powers of natural numbers. We also show for k14k\geq 14 and every sT(k)s\geq T(k) the existence of a sequence XkN0k\mathfrak{X}_{k}'\subset \mathbb{N}_{0}^{k} satisfying Rs(n;Xk)lognR_{s}(n;\mathfrak{X}_{k}')\asymp \log n for every sufficiently large nn. The latter conclusion sharpens a result of Wooley and addresses a question of Vu.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2410.11832,
  title  = {On Vu's theorem in Waring's problem for thinner sequences},
  author = {Javier Pliego},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.11832},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

47 pages. Deleted some content which will appear in another paper

R2 v1 2026-06-28T19:22:59.157Z