On key applications of the Turán-Kubilius inequality (Q2231357)

The Túran-Kubilius inequality is the statement that \[ \sum_{n\le x} (\omega(n)-\log\log n)^2=O(x\log\log x), \] where \(\omega(n)\) is the number of distinct prime factors of the positive integer \(n\). It implies that \[ \#\{n\le x: |\omega(n)-\log\log n)|>g(x){\sqrt{\log\log x}}\}=o(x) \] holds as \(x\) tends to infinity with \(g(x)\) any function tending to infinity arbitrarily slowly. In the paper under review the authors prove a similar result with \(\omega(n)\) replaced by \(\log \log p_m(n)\), where \(p_m(n)\) is the middle prime factor of \(n\). In this case, \(\log\log n\) is replaced by \((1/2)(\log\log n)\). To define \(p_m(n)\), write \(p_m(1)=1\) and for \(n>1\) and \(n=p_1^{a_1}\cdots p_r^{a_r}\) where \(p_1<p_2<\cdots <p_r\) are all the distinct prime factors of \(n\) labeled increasingly, then \(p_m(n)=p_{\lfloor (r+1)/2\rfloor}\). The authors prove a similar result when \(n\) is restricted to run only over shifted primes, namely over numbers of the form \(p+1\) for primes \(p\le x\). In this case, the right-hand side is replaced by \(o(\pi(x))\). The proofs use the classical Túran-Kubilius inequality.