On the distribution of products of two primes (Q2187122)

The paper under review is concerned with the distribution of integers which are products of two distinct primes \(pq\) satisfying the condition \(p<q<rq\), for some fixed parameter \(r>1\). Let \(\pi_2(x;r)\) be the summatory function of such integers not exceeding \(x\). Improving on the existing results, the paper gives several estimates for \(\pi_2(x;r)\). The quality of these results depend on the relative size of the parameter \(r\) and are too complicated to be reproduced here in their entirety, but the authors do formulate the following convenient summary of this work: \[ \pi_2(x;r)=\frac x{\log x}\bigl(\log\log(xr)-\log\log(\frac xr)\bigr)\bigl(1+O\bigl(\frac1{\log\log x}\bigr)\bigr) \] for \(1+x^{-5/12}<r\le x/4\), where the implicit constant is absolute. Fix a positive integer \(Q\) and let \(\chi\) be the quadratic character modulo \(Q\). In addition to estimating \(\pi_2(x;r)\), the authors examine existence of bias in distribution of these integers with respect to the congruence conditions \(\chi(p)=\chi(q)=\pm1\). But due to the complexity of their result we do not include its statement in this review.