Sums of nine almost equal prime cubes (Q2258093)

\textit{L.-K. Hua} [Q. J. Math., Oxf. Ser. 9, 68--80 (1938; Zbl 0018.29404; JFM 64.0131.02)] proved that all sufficiently large odd integers are sums of nine cubes of primes. \textit{X. M. Meng} [J. Shandong Univ., Nat. Sci. Ed. 32, No. 4, 397--404 (1997; Zbl 0917.11038)] considered representations of the form \[ 2\nmid N= p^3_1+\cdots+ p^3_9;\;|p_i- (N/9)^{1/3}|\leq N^{(1/3)-\theta+\varepsilon};\;i= 1,\dots, 9;\;\varepsilon>0 \] and showed that \(\theta= 1/198\) is available under the generalized Riemannian hypothesis. \textit{X. M. Meng} [J. Shandong Univ., Nat. Sci. Ed. 37, No. 1, 31--38, 44 (2002; Zbl 1030.11054)] proved that \(\theta= 1/495\) is acceptable unconditionally. \textit{G. S. Lü} [Acta Math. Sin., Chin. Ser. 49, No. 1, 195--204 (2006; Zbl 1215.11096)], \textit{G. S. Lü} and \textit{Y. F. Xu} [Acta Math. Hung. 116, No. 4, 309--326 (2007; Zbl 1164.11062)], \textit{T. Y. Li} [Additive problems with prime numbers. Shandong: Shandong University (PhD Thesis) (2012)] improved the unconditional result to \(\theta= 2/555\), \(\theta= 1/198\), \(\theta= 1/90\), respectively. In the paper under review, the author proves that \(\theta=1/51\) is acceptable unconditionally. The key point is the treatment of the integrals on the minor arcs, which combines an idea by \textit{L.-L. Zhao} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 108, No. 6, 1593--1622 (2014; Zbl 1370.11116)] with new estimates for exponential sums over primes in short intervals obtained by \textit{A. V. Kumchev} [in: Number theory. Arithmetic in Shangri-La. Proceedings of the 6th China-Japan seminar held at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, 2011. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific. 116--131 (2013; Zbl 1368.11095)].