On estimations of trigonometric sums over primes in short intervals. I (Q1119686)

Many theorems in analytic number theory relating to short intervals depend on estimates for exponential sums of type \[ S(\alpha;x,y)=\sum_{x-y<n\leq x}\Lambda (n)e(n\alpha),\quad \alpha \in {\mathbb{R}}, \] where e(u) is of the form \(e^{2\pi iu}\). In the present paper the authors prove the following result: Let \(\epsilon >0\) be an arbitrarily small real number and suppose that \(x^{91/96+\epsilon}\leq y\leq x.\) Then, given any positive constant c, there exists a positive constant \(c_ 1\) such that \[ S(\alpha;x,y)\quad \ll \quad y\cdot (\log x)^{-c} \] when \(y^{-1}(\log x)^ c\leq | \alpha | \leq (\log x)^{-c_ 1}\). The method of proof is analytical and requires zero- density estimates for Dirichlet's L-functions.