Exponential sums over primes in short intervals (Q5898340)

Let \(\Lambda(m)\) be von Mangoldt's function, \(k \in \mathbb N\), \(2 \leq y \leq x\), and \(\alpha = a/q + \lambda\), with \((a, q) = 1\). In this paper, the authors prove that \[ \begin{multlined} \sum_{x < m \leq x + y} \Lambda(m)\exp(2\pi i\alpha m^k) \ll (qx)^{\epsilon} \Big( yx^{-1/2}(q\Xi)^{1/2} + x^{1/2}q^{1/2}\Xi^{1/6}\\ + y^{1/2}x^{3/10} + x^{4/5}\Xi^{-1/6} + x(q\Xi)^{-1/2} \Big), \end{multlined} \] where \(\Xi = | \lambda| x^k + (x/y)^2\) and \(\epsilon > 0\) can be taken arbitrarily small. This bound is a generalization of a result of \textit{X. Ren} [Sci. China Ser. A 48, 785--797 (2005; Zbl 1100.11025)]. Except for the case \(k = 1\), the above estimate is non-trivial only when \(\alpha\) is on a ``major arc'': that is, \(q\) is not too large and \(\lambda\) is small. On the other hand, for such \(\alpha\), the above result is quite sharp. As an application, the authors prove that every sufficiently large integer \(n \equiv 5 \pmod{24}\) can be written as the sum of five squares of primes \(p\) such that \(| p - \sqrt{n/5}| \leq n^{9/20}\). This theorem improves on earlier work by the second author [Acta Math. Sin., Engl. Ser. 22, 907--916 (2006; Zbl 1102.11054)], where the primes satisfy \(| p - \sqrt{n/5}| \leq n^{13/28}\).