Values of the divisor function on short intervals (Q1140116)

Let \(\tau(n)\) denote the number of divisors of \(n\). The following two theorems are proved. I. For every fixed positive integer \(k\) one has \[ \sum_{n< k}\max\{\tau(n),\tau(n+1),\dots\tau(n+k-1)\}\sim kx\log x, \qquad x\to\infty. \] This result still holds when \(k\) depends on \(x\), \(\lim_{x\to\infty}k=\infty\), provided that \(k=o((x\log x)^{3-2\sqrt{}2})\), \(x\to\infty\). For the minimum taken by the divisor function on an interval of length \(k\) the problem turns out to be much more difficult. The sharpest result obtained here is the following. II. If \(k\) is a fixed positive integer and \(\alpha_k=k(2^{1/k}-1)\), then \[ \frac{c_1(k)x(\log x)^{\alpha_k}}{(\log\log x)^{11k^2}}\leq\sum_{n< x}\min\{\tau(n),\tau(n+1),\dots\tau(n+k+1)\}\leq C_2(k)x(\log x)^{\alpha_k}. \] The proofs of the first theorem and the right hand inequality of the second theorem are elementary and presented in a series of six short lemmata. The left hand inequality of the second theorem is proved by an application of a lower bound form of the Selberg sieve.