A result on Waring-Goldbach problem for cubes (Q392749)

Let \(N\) be a large number and \(4 \leq s \leq8\). Let \(E_s(N)\) denote the number of positive integers \(n \leq N\) which cannot be written in the form \[ n = m^3 + p_2^3 +p_3^3 + \cdots + p_s^3, \] with positive integer \(m\) and primes \(p_2, p_3, \ldots , p_s\). Roth first proved that \(E_4(N) \ll N \log^{-A} N\) holds for any \(A >0\), and this was later sharpened by \textit{X. Ren} and the reviewer [Q. J. Math. 55, No. 3, 357--374 (2004; Zbl 1060.11060)] to \(N^{17/18 +\varepsilon}\) for any \(\varepsilon > 0\). The main result in this paper is the estimate \(E_5(N) \ll N^{5/6 +\varepsilon}\), as well as \( E_6(N) \ll N^{11/16 +\varepsilon}\) and \( E_7(N) \ll N^{31/42 +\varepsilon}\) for any small \(\varepsilon > 0\). The method of proof is the circle method. Novel ideas include an enlargement of the major arcs, and the following upper bound \[ \int_{C(M)} \big|\sum_{m \sim U} e^{2 \pi i m^3 \alpha}\big|^2 \big|\sum_{p\sim U} (\log p ) e^{2 \pi i p^3 \alpha}\big|^8 \, d \alpha \ll U^{13/2 + \varepsilon}, \] where \(C(M)\) denote the minor arcs and \(m\) and \(p\) are natural numbers and primes, respectively. This last bound is deduced from well-known upper estimates of exponential sums over cubes of integers and primes.