On sums of two kth powers: an asymptotic formula for the mean square of the error term (Q4486473)

For a fixed natural number \(k\geq 3\), let \(r_k(n)\) denote the number of representations of the positive integer \(n\) as a sum of the \(k\)th powers of two integers taken absolutely: \[ r_k(n)=\#\{(n_1,n_2)\in\mathbb Z^2: |n_1|^k+|n_2|^k=n\} . \] The author studies the error term \(P_k(t)\) in the asymptotic expansion \[ A_k(t)=\sum_{1\leq n\leq t^{k/2}} r_k(n)=a_kt+b_k\Phi_k(t)t^{1/2- 1/(2k)} +P_k(t) , \] where \[ a_k={2\Gamma^2(1/k)\over k\Gamma(2/k)} ,\quad b_k=2^{3-1/k}\pi^{-1-1/k}k^{1/k}\Gamma(1+1/k) \] and \[ \Phi_k(t)=\sum_{n=1}^\infty n^{-1-1/k} \sin\left(2\pi n\sqrt{t}-{\pi\over 2k}\right) . \] If \(k=2\) then the problem is the classical circle problem. M. N. Huxley proved \[ P_2(t)\ll t^{23/73}(\log t)^{315/146} . \] G. Kuba, using the method of Huxley, showed that the same upper bound holds for \(P_k(t)\) for \(k\geq 3\). It is also known that \[ \begin{aligned} P_2(t)&=\Omega_-\left((t\log t)^{1/4}\right) \quad (\text{ G. H. Hardy})\\ P_2(t)&=\Omega_+\left(t^{1/4}\exp{(c(\log\log t)^{1/4}(\log\log\log t)^{- 3/4})}\right) \quad (\text{ Corrádi \& Kátai}) . \end{aligned} \] The mean-square result \[ \int_0^X (P_k(t))^2 dt=C_2X^{3/2}+O(X\log^2 X) \] was established by I. Kátai. The above results are generalized to \[ \begin{aligned} P_k(t)&=\Omega_-\left((t\log t)^{1/4}\right),\\ P_3(t)&=\Omega_+\left((t\log\log t)^{1/4}\right) ,\end{aligned} \] by \textit{W. G. Nowak} [Arch. Math. 68, 27-35 (1997; Zbl 0880.11066)] and \textit{W. G. Nowak, J. Schoissengeier}, \textit{T. D. Wooley} and the author [Acta Arith. 85, 179-195 (1998; Zbl 0916.11052)]. The mean-square bound \[ \int_0^X (P_k(t))^2 dt\ll X^{3/2}\tag{1} \] was proved by \textit{W. G. Nowak} [Analysis 16, 297-304 (1996; Zbl 0860.11060)]. The author makes a substantial improvement of (1) by proving the asymptotic formula \[ \int_0^X(P_k(t))^2 dt=c_kX^{3/2}+ O(X^{3/2-\alpha_k+\varepsilon}) \] for any given \(\varepsilon>0\). Here \(c_k\) is an explicitly given positive constant and \[ \alpha_k = {1\over 12(q+1/6+k(k-1)^4)},\qquad q = {k\over k-1}. \] The method of proof rests on intricate exponential sum techniques.