On the correlations of \(n^\alpha \bmod 1\) (Q6056482)

Generalizing Poissonian pair correlation, the \(k\)-level correlation function of a real valued sequence \((\vartheta_n)_{n\ge1}\) (modulo 1) is said to be Poissonian if \[ \lim_{N\to\infty} \frac{1}{N} \sum_{1\le x_1,\dots,x_k \le N, \mathbf{m}\in\mathbb{Z}^{k-1}} f(N(\vartheta_{x_1}-\vartheta_{x_2},\dots,\vartheta_{x_{k-1}}-\vartheta_{x_k})-\mathbf{m}) = \int_{\mathbb{R}^{k-1}} f \] for all \(C^\infty\) functions \(f: \mathbb{R}^{k-1} \to \mathbb{R}\) with compact support, where \((x_1,\dots,x_k)\) are distinct integer \(k\)-tuples. The main result states that the \(k\)-level correlation function of \((\{n^\alpha\})_{n\ge1}\) is Poissonian for almost all \(\alpha > 4k^2-4k-1\); in particular, the pair correlation is Poissonian for almost all \(\alpha > 7\). Moreover, the \(L^2\) norm of the speed of convergence (after multiplying \(\int_{\mathbb{R}^{k-1}} f\) by a factor \(C_k(N)\)) is \(O(N^{-\varrho(A)})\) for \(\alpha\) in the interval \([A,A+1]\), \(A > 4k^2-4k-1\). As an application, lower und upper bounds for the nearest neighbour spacing distribution (or gap distribution) of \((\{n^\alpha\})_{n\ge1}\) are given for almost all (large) \(\alpha\).