Higher moments of distances between consecutive Ford spheres (Q2307446)

For \(S\in\mathbb{N}\) we let \(G_S\) denote the set of irreducible fractions \(r/s\) belonging to the unit square in the upper right quadrant of the complex plane, with \(r,s\in\mathbb{Z}[i]\) and \(|s|\leq S\). The Ford sphere corresponding to a point \(r/s\in G_S\) is a sphere of radius \(1/2|s|^2\) in \(\mathbb{C}\times\mathbb{R}^+\), tangent to the boundary of this region, with center at \((r/s, 1/2|s|^2)\). The fractions \(r/s\) and \(r'/s'\) in \(G_S\) are adjacent if their corresponding Ford spheres are tangent. These fractions are adjacent and if there is at least one other fraction in \(\mathbb{Q}[i]\), with corresponding Ford sphere of radius less than \(1/2S^2\), which is adjacent to both \(r/s\) and \(r'/s'\). In the paper under review, the authors estimate the \(k\)-th moments of distances between centers of spheres corresponding to consecutive fractions in \(G_S\), given by \[ \mathcal{M}_k(S)=\sum\left(\frac{1}{2|s|^2}+\frac{1}{2|s'|^2}\right)^k, \] where the sum runs over the consecutive fractions \(r/s\) and \(r'/s'\) in \(G_S\). Based on the lattice point counting estimates with error terms coming from the Gauss circle problem, the authors prove that for each integer \(k\geq 2\), there exists a constant \(\xi_k>0\) such that for any \(\epsilon>0\) and for any \(S\in\mathbb{N}\) one has \[ \mathcal{M}_k(S)=\xi_k\,S+O_{\epsilon}(S^{2\kappa+\epsilon}), \] with \(\kappa\leq 131/416\). For \(k=1\) the second author [``First moment of distances between centres of Ford spheres'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1805.01508}] obtained the estimate \[ \mathcal{M}_1(S)=\frac{\pi}{4}\,\zeta_i^{-1}(2)\,(2\alpha-1)\,S^2+O_{\epsilon}(S^{1+\epsilon}), \] where \(\zeta_i\) is the Dedekind zeta function for \(\mathbb{Q}(i)\) and \[ \alpha=-\int_0^{\sqrt{2}/2}\sqrt{1-t^2}\,\log(\sqrt{2}\,t)\,dt=\frac{1}{16}\left(2+4C+\pi\log(2e)\right)\approxeq 0.68644, \] and \(C\) denote the Catalan's constant.