Prime geodesic theorem (Q1396432)

\textit{W. Luo, Z. Rudnick} and \textit{P. Sarnak} [Geom. Funct. Anal. 5, 387-401 (1995; Zbl 0844.11038)] obtained an error estimate of \(O(x^{7/10})\) for the number of prime geodesics of norm less than or equal to \(x\), for congruence subgroups of the modular group. Here the main term is li(x), the logarithmic integral of \(x\). The present paper improves the error estimate for the modular group itself to \(O(x^{71/102+\varepsilon})\). The proof requires work of \textit{H. Iwaniec} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 349, 136-159 (1984; Zbl 0527.10021)] and \textit{D. A. Burgess} [J. Lond. Math. Soc. (2) 33, 219-226 (1986; Zbl 0593.10033)].