A quantitative bound on Furstenberg-Sárközy patterns with shifted prime power common differences in primes (Q7025795)

Let \(k\ge 1\) be fixed and let \(\mathcal P_N\) denote the set of primes \(\le N\). The paper studies the quantitative form of a ``polynomial difference'' phenomenon inside the primes, in the spirit of Furstenberg-Sárközy type theorems and subsequent quantitative refinements for polynomial configurations in the integers. The main result gives an explicit double logarithmic upper bound for sets of primes avoiding shifted prime-power differences. More precisely, if \(A\subset \mathcal P_N\) is such that \((p-1)^k\notin A-A\) for every prime \(p\) (equivalently, \(A\) contains no patterns \(p_1,\ p_1+(p_2-1)^k\) with primes \(p_1,p_2\)), then\N\[\N\frac{|A|}{|\mathcal P_N|}\ \ll\ (\log\log N)^{-\,1/(4k^3+23k^2)}.\N\]\NThe author also comments that the exponent can be slightly improved, but that the method seems to have an intrinsic barrier around the scale \(1/(4k^3)\).\N\NA key technical novelty is a set of \(L^p\) restriction estimates in arithmetic progressions for two objects: (i) weighted primes in progressions, and (ii) exponential sums associated with shifted \(k\)-th powers \((p-1)^k\). These are developed uniformly for moduli \(d\) up to \(\exp(c\sqrt{\log N})\), extending earlier restriction bounds that were typically available only for polylogarithmic moduli. The proof combines Hardy-Littlewood major/minor arc analysis with a Bourgain-style ``large spectrum is small'' mechanism to deduce restriction inequalities from measure bounds for large Fourier coefficients.\N\NThen, the paper runs a density increment argument directly inside the primes. A local inverse theorem shows that if \(A\) has no forbidden configurations, then either the relevant modulus becomes large or \(A\) has increased relative density on a subprogression with controlled parameters. Iterating this density increment and stopping when the modulus constraint breaks yields the announced \((\log\log N)\)-decay for \(|A|/|\mathcal P_N|\).