Primes in Beatty sequences in short intervals (Q2810741)

The sequence \([\xi n+\eta]\), where \([.]\) denotes the integer part function, is called a Beatty sequence. Let \(\pi(x;\xi,\eta)\) denote the number of primes up to \(x\) in this sequence. The focus of this paper is on the number of such primes in short intervals. In [Colloq. Math. 123, No. 1, 53--61 (2011; Zbl 1247.11117)] \textit{J. Brüdern} and \textit{K. Kawada} proved that for irrational \(\xi>1\) and \(y= x^\theta\) for \(x>1\) and \(\theta>5/8\), NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\pi(x+ y;\xi,\eta)- \pi(x;\xi,\eta)= {y\over\xi\log x}(1+ o(1))\tag{\(*\)}NEWLINE\]NEWLINE as \(x\to\infty\). The aim of the present author is to obtain a lower bound for the left side of \((*)\) of the correct order of magnitude valid for smaller \(y\). Theorem 2 states that for irrational \(\xi> 1\) and \(y= x^\theta\) with \(\theta> 5/9\), NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\pi(x+ y;\xi,\eta)- \pi(x;\xi,\eta)> {y\over 10\xi \log x}(1+ o(1))NEWLINE\]NEWLINE as \(x\to\infty\), and also gives the corresponding result for rational \(\xi\). Also in Theorem 3 the result \((*)\) is established when \(\theta> 3/5\) provided \(\xi>1\) is irrational and satisfies that for some \(A>0\) and all \(n\in\mathbb{N}\), NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\| n\xi\|\gg n^{-A},NEWLINE\]NEWLINE where \(\|.\|\) denotes the distance from the nearest integer. In this interesting article, the author draws on earlier papers by various authors, including himself, in which sieve methods and exponential sums are used to obtain results on primes in short intervals, Goldbach-type problems and Beatty sequences. The aim is to develop methods to count the number of primes \(p\) satisfying \(x< p\leq x+ y\) and \(0< \{(p+ 1- \eta)/\xi\}\leq 1/\xi\), where \(\{.\}\) denotes the fractional part function. Writing \({1\over\xi}={a\over q}+\gamma\) with \((a,q)=1\) and using Dirichlet's theorem in Diophantine approximation, the proof proceeds by treating by different arguments the following three cases: when both \(q<(\log x)^{40}\) and \(|q\gamma|<\nu= x^{-0.551}\) hold or at least one is false. Each case depends on various lemmas from sieve theory applications in the literature and inevitably the details become rather technical.