On the distribution of the divisor function and Hecke eigenvalues (Q2630876)

As usual we denote the number of positive divisors of \(n\) by \(d(n)\). For a prime \(p\) let \[ \mathcal{S}_d(X,p,a)=\sum_{\overset{1\leq n\leq X}{ n\equiv a\pmod{p}}}d(n), \] and \[ \mathcal{M}_d(X,p)=\frac{1}{p}\sum_{1\leq n\leq X}d(n)-\frac{X}{p^2}\left(\log X+(2\gamma-1)-2\log p\right). \] Also, let \[ E_d(X,p,a)=\frac{\mathcal{S}_d(X,p,a)-\mathcal{M}_d(X,p)}{\sqrt{2\pi^{-2}(X/p)\log^3(p^2/X+2)}}. \] Assume that \(X=p^2/\Phi(p)\), where \(\Phi(p)\geq 1\) is a function that tends to infinity with \(p\) in a way such that \(\log\Phi(p)=o(\log p)\). In the paper under review, the authors prove that as \(p\to\infty\) one has \[ \frac{1}{p-1}\#\left\{a\in\mathbb{F}_p^\times:\alpha\leq E_d(X,p,a)\leq\beta\right\}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}\int_\alpha^\beta e^{-x^2/2}dx+o(1). \] The analogous result for Hecke eigenvalues is also obtained.