Waring-Goldbach problem: two squares and some unlike powers (Q2341931)

This paper shows that every sufficiently large odd integer \(N\) may be written as \[ N=x^2+p_2^2+p_3^3+p_4^4+p_5^5+p_6^6+p_7^7, \] in which the \(p_i\) are prime, and \(x\) is a \(P_6\) almost-prime. Indeed this result is one of a range of theorems in which the final term is replaced by \(p_7^k\) for some \(k\in [6,19]\), and \(x\) is a \(P_r\) almost-prime, for some \(r=r(k)\). The paper gives a lower bound for the representation function, of essentially the expected order of magnitude. For the case \(k=7\), \textit{C. Hooley} [Recent progress in analytic number theory, Durham Symposium 1979. Vol. 1, 127--191 (1981; Zbl 0451.00001)] established an asymptotic formula for the number of representations, in the case in which the variables are unrestricted positive integers. However the present paper uses other techniques, from both the circle method and the sieve.