On Romanoff's constant (Q1434325): Difference between revisions

Let \(A\) denote the set of numbers representable as \(2^a+p\) for positive integers \(a\) and primes~\(p\), and let \(A(x)\) count members of~\(A\) up to~\(x\). \textit{N.~P.~Romanoff} [Math. Ann. 109, 668--678 (1934; Zbl 0009.00801, JFM 60.0131.03)] showed that \(A(x)\gg x\) as \(x\to\infty\), without rendering the implied constant. Meanwhile \textit{P.~Erdős} [Summa Brasil. Math. 2, 113--123 (1950; Zbl 0041.36808)] found an arithmetic progression of odd numbers not belonging to~\(A\), thereby initiating the topic of a covering system. Here the authors establish that \(A(x)>0{\cdot}0868x\) for all large~\(x\). If \(r(n)\) is the number of solutions to \(n=2^a+p\) in \(a,p\), then Cauchy's inequality gives \[ \biggl(\sum_{n\leq x}r(n)\biggr)^2\leq A(x)\sum_{n\leq x}r(n)^2. \] By the prime number theorem, the left-hand side is asymptotic to \((x/\log2)^2\) as \(x\to\infty\), so that it remains to bound the sum on the right-hand side by~\(Kx\) with an explicit value for~\(K\), and the authors show how this can be achieved from an upper estimate for \(\pi_h(x)\), the number of primes \(p\leq x\) with \(| p-h| \) being prime. Writing \[ J_h=\prod_{p| h,p>2}{p-1\over p-2}\prod_{p>2}\biggl(1-{1\over(p-1)^2}\biggr), \] an estimate of the form \(\pi_h(x)<CJ_hx/\log^2x\) for any \(C>8\) can be obtained via Selberg's sieve, and a difficult argument of \textit{J.~R.~Chen} [Sci. Sin. 21, 701--739 (1978; Zbl 0399.10046)] shows that one may take \(C=7{\cdot}8342\), from which the authors' bound for \(A(x)\) is derived. It will be relevant to remark that one may now take \(C=7{\cdot}8209\) by the recent work of \textit{J.~Wu} [Acta Arith. 114, No. 3, 215--273 (2004; Zbl 1049.11107)], who gives a refinement in the application of Chen's double sieve argument. The authors conjecture that \(\sum_{n\leq x}r(n)^2\sim Kx\) as \(x\to\infty\), giving a formula for~\(K\). They also remark that the said result of Erdős, together with their argument, can be used to establish the existence of an even \(h\leq x\) such that \(\pi_h(x) >0{\cdot}94 J_hx/\log^2x\).