The asymptotic formula in Waring's problem for one square and seventeen fifth powers (Q533696)

The authors study the asymptotic formula for the number, \(R_{k,s}(n)\), of representations of a large positive integer \(n\) as the sum of a square and \(s\) \(k\)th powers, \(k\geq 3\). They prove several results of the form \[ R_{k,s}(n) = C_{k,s}{\mathfrak S}_{k,s}(n)n^{s/k-1/2}\left( C_{k,s} + o(1) \right), \eqno{(*)} \] where \(C_{k,s} = \Gamma(\frac 32)\Gamma(1+ \frac 1k)^s\Gamma(\frac sk)^{-1}\). First, they sketch the proof of (\(*\)) for \(k\geq 3\) and \(s\geq 2^{k-1}+2\) or \(s\geq k^2(\frac 12\log k + O(\log\log k))\). Those results use standard circle method technology, and the authors even state that ``it is therefore perhaps justified to consider [them] as part of folklore.'' After that overture, they move to establish (\(*\)) for \(k\geq 6\) and \(s\geq 7 \cdot 2^{k-4} + 3\) by an adaptation of the ideas of \textit{D. R. Heath-Brown} [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 38, No. 2, 216--230 (1988; Zbl 0619.10046)] and \textit{K. D. Boklan} [Mathematika 41, No. 2, 329--347 (1994; Zbl 0815.11050)]. The culmination of the paper is the proof of (\(*\)) in the titular case, \(k=5\) and \(s=17\). Here too the authors use Heath-Brown's ideas, but the necessary adjustments are much more significant, since the results in Heath-Brown's paper are only directly applicable to \(k\geq 6\).