On an Erdős-Kac-type conjecture of Elliott (Q6630652)

Let \(\omega(n) = \sum_{p \mid n}1\) be the distinct prime divisor counting function, with \(p\) denoting a prime, and \(\phi\) be the Euler totient function. In the paper under review, the authors prove validity of a conjecture due to \textit{P. D. T. A. Elliott} [Int. J. Number Theory 11, No. 5, 1357--1366 (2015; Zbl 1328.11042)], asserting that for each real \(\lambda\),\N\[\N\sum_{\substack{p <n\\\N\omega(n-p)\le 2\log \log n+ \lambda (2\log \log n)^{1/2}}}2^{\omega(n-p)} \to \frac{\phi(n)}{\sqrt{2\pi}}\int_{-\infty}^{\lambda}e^{-u^2/2}du\quad\text{(as \(n \to \infty\))}.\N\]\NLetting \(X_n\) be a random variable taking the value \(m \in \{1,2,\ldots,n\}\) with probability proportional to \(2^{\omega(m)} \mathbf{1}_{n-m~\text{a prime}}\), the above result reads as\N\[\N\frac{\omega(X_n)-2\log \log n}{(2\log \log n)^{1/2}} \overset{d}{\longrightarrow} N(0,1)\quad\text{(as \(n \to \infty\))},\N\]\Nwhere \(N(0,1)\) is the standard Gaussian distribution and the arrow indicates convergence in distribution. Accordingly, the authors deduce Elliott's conjecture from the following auxiliary result asserting that if \(k,B \ge 1\) are fixed then for any \(1 \le R \le n^{1/100}\) and \(S \subseteq \mathbb{N}\) one has\N\begin{multline*}\N\sum_{\substack{a \le R,\, a \in S\\\N\omega(a)\le k\\\N(a,n)=1}}\mu^2(a)\bigg| \mathbb{P}( a~ \text{divides } X_n) - \frac{2^{\omega(a)}}{a}\bigg|\\\N\ll_{k,B} \frac{(\log \log n)^3 +\log R}{\log n} \sum_{\substack{a \le R,\, a \in S\\\N\omega(a)\le k\\\N(a,n)=1}}\frac{\mu^2(a)}{a} +\frac{1}{\log^B n},\N\end{multline*}\Nwhere as usual, \(\mu\) is the Möbius function. The proof of this auxiliary result based on the classical tools, e.g., the Brun-Titchmarsh and Bombieri-Vinogradov Theorems. Noting that tor the case \(\log R \asymp \log n\) this result has little content, the authors remedy this gap by showing another auxiliary result, asserting that there is an absolute constant \(\eta>0\) such that for every \(k \ge 1\) one has\N\[\N\sum_{\substack{a \le n^{\eta}\\\N\omega(a)\le k \\\N(a,n)=1} }\mu^2(a)\bigg| \mathbb{P}( a~ \text{divides } X_n) - \frac{2^{\omega(a)}}{a}+\frac{2D_a}{\phi(a)\log n}\bigg| \ll_k\frac{(\log \log n)^{C_k}}{\log n},\N\]\Nwhere \(C_k\) is a positive constant depending only on \(k\), and\N\[\ND_a= \sum_{d\mid a^{\infty}} \left(\prod_{p^k\| d} \frac{(-1)^{k-1}(p-2)}{(p-1)^{k}}\right)\log d.\N\]\NThe proof of this auxiliary result is based on a recent work on primes in arithmetic progressions due to \textit{V. Blomer} et al. [Geom. Funct. Anal. 33, No. 5, 1173--1242 (2023; Zbl 1534.11115)].