On the higher moments of the error term in the divisor problem (Q2382951): Difference between revisions

Let \[ \Delta(x) = \sum_{n \leq x} d(n) - x(\log x + 2\gamma - 1) \] denote the error term in the Dirichlet divisor problem, where \(d(n)\) is the number of divisors of \(n\) and \(\gamma = 0.5772\ldots\) is Euler's constant. In an earlier paper, the first author proved a large values estimate for \(\Delta(x)\), which produced the bound \[ \int_1^X \Delta^4(x)\,dx \ll_{\varepsilon} X^{2 + \varepsilon}. \] The asymptotic formula for the fourth moment with an error term was obtained by \textit{K.-M. Tsang} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 65, 65--82 (1992; Zbl 0725.11046)]. Specifically, Tsang proved that \[ \int_1^X \Delta^4(x) \,dx = C X^2 + O_{\varepsilon}(X^{\gamma + \varepsilon}), \] with explicit \(C>0\) and \(\gamma = 45/23\). He also proved that \[ \int_1^X \Delta^3(x) \,dx = B X^{7/4} + O_{\varepsilon}(X^{\beta + \varepsilon}), \] with explicit \(B>0\) and \(\beta = 47/28\). The asymptotic formulas for higher moment of \(\Delta(x)\) were established later by \textit{D. R. Heath-Brown} [Acta Arith. 60, 389--414 (1992; Zbl 0725.11045)], but his method does not produce error terms. The authors' main results are the asymptotic formulas for the integral of the cube and fourth powers of \(\Delta(x)\). Specifically, they improved on the values of \(\gamma\) and \(\beta\) in Tsang's estimates. Theorem 1. We have \[ \int_1^X \Delta^3(x) \,dx = BX^{7/4} + O_{\varepsilon}(X^{\beta + \varepsilon}), \] where \(\beta = 7/5\) and \(B>0\). Theorem 2. We have \[ \int_1^X \Delta^4(x) \,dx = CX^2 + O_{\varepsilon}(X^{\gamma + \varepsilon}), \] where \(\gamma = 23/12\) and \(C>0\). In addition, the authors obtained the following asymptotic formulas for moments of \(\Delta(x)\) in short intervals. Theorem 3. For any fixed \(0 < \delta < 1/3\), there exists \(\kappa > 0\) such that uniformly \[ \int_X^{X + H} \Delta^3(x) \,dx = B((X + H)^{7/4} - X^{7/4}) (1 + O(X^{-\kappa})), \] where \(X^{7/12 + \delta} \leq H\leq X\), and \[ \int_X^{X + H} \Delta^4(x)\,dx = C((X + H)^2 - X^2) (1 + O(X^{-\kappa})), \] where \(X^{2/3 + \delta} \leq H \leq X\). The constants \(B\) and \(C\) are the same constants appearing in Theorems 1 and 2.