On a Diophantine inequality over primes (Q2420389)

The following analogue of the Waring-Goldbach problem was considered by \textit{I. I. Piatetski-Shapiro} [Mat. Sb., Nov. Ser. 30(72), 105--120 (1952; Zbl 0047.28001)]. Let \(c>1\) be non-integer and let \(H(c)\) denote the least \(r\) such that the inequality \(|p^c_1+ p^c_2+\cdots+ p^c_r-N|<\varepsilon\) has a solution in prime numbers \(p_1,p_2,\dots, p_r\) for every \(\varepsilon>0\) and \(N>N_0(c,\varepsilon)\). Piatetski-Shapiro proved that \(H(c)\le (4+ o(1))c\log c\) as \(c\to\infty\) and that \(H(c)\le 5\) when \(1<c<3/2\). (The upper bound \(3/2\) for \(c\) with \(H(c)\le 5\) was improved by many authors.) \textit{W. Zhai} and \textit{X. Cao} [Adv. Math., Beijing 32, 63--73 (2003)] proved that \(H(c)\le 4\) for \(1<c<81/68\). \textit{Q. Mu} [Adv. Math., Beijing 44, No. 4, 621--637 (2015; Zbl 1349.11082)] showed that \(H(c)\le 4\) for \(1<c<97/81\). In the paper under review, the authors improve Mu's result [loc. cit.] in the following way. If \(1<c<6/5\) then the Diophantine inequality \(|p^c_1+ p^c_2+ p^c_3+ p^c_4- N|<\log^{-1} N\) is solvable in prime variables \(p_1\), \(p_2\), \(p_3\), \(p_4\) for sufficiently large \(N\). The authors also present a lower bound for the number of solutions. The improvement comes from using the methods develop by \textit{A. Kumchev} [Acta Arith. 89, No. 4, 311--330 (1999; Zbl 0980.11044)] with more delicate sieving techniques and various bounds for exponential sums, combining with a version of Harman's sieve (see \textit{G. Harman} [J. Lond. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 27, 9--18 (1983; Zbl 0504.10018); Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 72, No. 2, 241--260 (1996; Zbl 0874.11052)]).