On the distribution in short intervals of integers having no large prime factor (Q1084440): Difference between revisions

Let \(\Psi\) (x,y) be the number of integers \(\leq x\) all of whose prime factors are \(\leq y\). The authors investigate the function \(\Psi (x, x^{\alpha})-\Psi (x-x^{\beta}, x^{\alpha})\) with particular regard to when it is greater than zero for large x and when it is greater than \(c(\alpha,\beta)x^{\beta}\) for some positive constant c(\(\alpha\),\(\beta)\) for large x. Define f(\(\alpha)\) to be the infimum of the values of \(\beta\) for which, for all \(\alpha_ 1>\alpha\), it is true that \(\Psi (x, x^{\alpha_ 1})-\Psi (x-x^{\beta}, x^{\alpha_ 1})>0\) for large x and define \(f^*(\alpha)\) similarly where this difference is greater than \(c(\alpha_ 1,\beta)x^{\beta}\). The authors show that there exists a positive constant c such that \(f^*(\alpha)\leq 1-\alpha -c\alpha (1-\alpha)^ 3\) for \(0\leq \alpha \leq 1\), and that \(f(\alpha)\leq 1-2\alpha (1-2^{-[\alpha^{-1}]})\) for \(0<\alpha \leq 1/2\). They also show that for fixed \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\) and almost all x, \[ \Psi (x, x^{\alpha})-\Psi (x-x^{\beta}, x^{\alpha})\geq (1/64)\quad \beta \rho (1/\alpha) x^{\beta}, \] where \(\rho\) (t) is Dickman's function.