Primes in quadratic progressions on average (Q2384726)

The authors prove the following: For each \(B>0\) we have \[ \sum_{k\leq x^2} \biggl| \sum_{n\leq x}\Lambda(n^2+k)-{\mathfrak S}(k)x\biggr| ^2 = O\left(\frac{x^3}{\log^B x}\right), \] where \(\mathfrak{S}(k)\) is the appropriate singular series, which is essentially the inverse of the value of an \(L\)-series at 1. The proof begins with a straightforward application of the circle method, however, one soon runs into technical difficulties. The main problem stems from the fact that the singular series converges rather badly, due to our lack of knowledge on the behaviour of \(L\)-series at 1 one cannot even show that the main term in the major arc approximation is always close to the expected value. To obtain a mean-square estimate the authors have to resort to the large sieve for real characters proven by \textit{D. R. Heath-Brown} [Acta Arith. 72, 235--275 (1995; Zbl 0828.11040)] and a result on character sums over primes in short intervals due to \textit{D. Wolke} [Math. Ann. 283, 529--537 (1989; Zbl 0646.10033)] and \textit{H. Mikawa} [Tsukuba J. Math. 15, 19--29 (1991; Zbl 0735.11041)]. The error terms coming from the major arc approximation uses more standard means, but is still quite involved. The bound for the minor arc poses no problems.