On twin primes associated with the Hawkins random sieve (Q2503371): Difference between revisions

The paper under review is concerned with asymptotic estimates for the number of twin primes associated to the Hawkins random sieve. This sieve is a probabilistic analogue to the sieve of Eratosthenes. It starts with the set \(S_1\) of natural numbers greater than 1. Every element of \(S_1\setminus \{2\}\) is then sieved out, independently of the others, with probability \(1/2\). Let \(S_2\) be the resulting set and define \(P_2:=\min S_2\). Now every element of \(S_2\setminus \{P_2\}\) is sieved out with probability \(1/P_2\). In general, at the \(n\)-th step, the set \(S_{n+1}\) is obtained from the set \(S_n\setminus \{P_n\}\) by sieving out every element with probability \(1/P_n\), where \(P_n:=\min S_n\). The sequence of the numbers \(\{P_1,P_2,\dots\}\), known as Hawkins primes, mimics the sequence of primes in a statistical sense. For instance, it is known that the analogue of the prime number theorem for Hawkins primes holds with probability 1. \textit{M. C. Wunderlich} [Acta Arith. 26, 59--81 (1974; Zbl 0257.10033)] proved that also the analogue of the twin primes conjecture for Hawkins primes with difference \(k=1\) holds with probability 1. Following the lines of Wunderlich, the auhors extend this result to \(k=2\) which requires rather more work but is straightforward. The authors observe that for larger \(k\), the calculations in Wunderlich's method become extremely complicated. They develop a different approach which allows them to extend Wunderlich's result to arbitrary \(k\) without running into such complicated calculations. Using their approach, they further extend this result to \(l\)-tuples of Hawkins primes.