On a problem of Hardy and Littlewood (Q4345815)

Hardy and Littlewood conjectured that \[ P(x) \sim A\Gamma \left({4 \over 3} \right)^3 {x\over\log x} \quad \text{as} \quad x\to\infty, \] where \(P(x)\) is the number of primes not exceeding \(x\) that are the sum of three non-negative cubes, where primes susceptible of several representations are counted according to multiplicity, and \(A\) is a certain constant. The author deals with sieve upper bounds for \(P(x)\) of the form \[ P(x)< \lambda(A+ \varepsilon) \Gamma\left( {4\over 3} \right)^3 {x\over \log x}, \quad x\geq x_0 (\varepsilon), \tag{*} \] and remarks that \(\lambda=6\) can be quickly produced by Selberg's method. By a novel and elaborate treatment of the remainder term \(R_d\) in the formula for \[ N(d)= \sum_{{0< x_1^3 +x_2^3 +x^3_3\leq x\atop x^3_1 +x^3_2 +x^3_3\equiv 0 \pmod d}}1, \] the following results are obtained: i) if the Riemann hypothesis is assumed for \(\zeta(s)\) and \(\zeta_K(s)\), where \(K\) are certain cubic fields, then (*) holds with \(\lambda =3\); and ii) unconditionally, (*) holds with \(\lambda=4\).