An elementary approach to the twin primes problem (Q706215)

Let \[ \psi_2(y,2d)=\sum_{2d<n\leq y}\Lambda(n)\Lambda(n-2d), \] where \(\Lambda\) is the von Mangoldt function. The twin primes conjecture of Hardy and Littlewood states that \(\psi_2(y,2d)\sim\sigma(2d)(y-2d)\) as \(y\to\infty\), with \[ \sigma(2d)=2\prod_{p| d,p>2}{p-1\over p-2}\cdot\prod_{p>2}\Big(1-{1\over(p-1)^2}\Big). \] Elaborating on the circle method \textit{A.~F.~Lavrik} [Sov. Math., Dokl. 1, 700--702 (1960); translation from Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 132, 1013--1015 (1960; Zbl 0097.03104)] showed that such an asymptotic result holds for almost all \(d\leq y/2\). More precisely, for any positive \(A,B\), the conjectured asymptotic formula holds, with an error term \(O(y/\log^Ay)\), for all \(d\leq y/2\) with at most \(O(y/\log^By)\) exceptions. The author gives a new proof of Lavrik's theorem which avoids the use of the circle method; the argument is based on an approach developed by \textit{Chengdong~Pan} [Chin. Ann. Math. 3, 555--560 (1982; Zbl 0524.10041)] in the study of the Goldbach problem. Roughly speaking the idea is to use an elementary argument to isolate from the start what is expected to be the dominating term for the sum \(\psi_2(y,2d)\); in the context of making use of an entirely elementary argument the author also brings our attention to the posthumous paper of \textit{L.~K.~Hua} [Acta Math. Sin., New Ser. 5, No. 1, 1--8 (1989; Zbl 0779.11043)] on the Goldbach problem. Thus, in circumventing the circle method here, the technical tools and procedures now involve two applications of the Barban-Davenport-Halberstam theorem on the mean-square variance with respect to a function averaged over arithmetic progressions with a large modulus, Vaughan's identity for the decomposition of sums having~\(\Lambda(n)\) as a factor, and the Siegel-Walfisz theorem corresponding to \(\mu(n)\log n\), where \(\mu\) is the Möbius function.