Iterates of Vinogradov's quadric and prime paucity (Q977119)

The subject of this paper is the system of equations \[ x_{1,1}^l+x_{2,1}^l+x_{3,1}^l=x_{1,j}^l+x_{2,j}^l+x_{3,j}^l \quad(l=1,2;\; j=2,\dots,k), \tag{\(\ast\)} \] where \(k\) is an integer \(\geq 2\). On writing \(V_k(N)\) for the number of integral solutions to this system (\(\ast\)) inside the sphere \(x_{1,j}^2+x_{2,j}^2+x_{j,3}^2\leq 3N^2\) \((1\leq j\leq k)\), the authors first show that for any fixed real number \(\delta\) with \(0<\delta<3/2^k\), one has \[ V_k(N)=N^3P_k(\log N)+O(N^{3-\delta}), \] where \(P_k\) is a polynomial of degree \(2^{k-1}-1\). When \(k=2\), in particular, the linear polynomial \(P_2\) is given explicitly, and the error term in the formula for \(V_2(N)\) is replaced by \(O(N^2\log N)\). A solution of the system (\(\ast\)) may be regarded as \textit{trivial} if the triple \(x_{1,j}\), \(x_{2,j}\), \(x_{3,j}\) is a permutation of \(x_{1,j'}\), \(x_{2,j'}\), \(x_{3,j'}\) for some pair of distinct \(j\) and \(j'\), because such solutions may be viewed as arising from the smaller system with \(k-1\) in place of \(k\). Therefore, the above formulae for \(V_k(N)\) mean that almost all solutions counted by \(V_k(N)\) are non-trivial, and from the latter point of view, it is also plainly observed that the situation is the same for the solutions in the box \(1\leq x_{i,j}\leq N\) (\(1\leq i\leq3\), \(1\leq j\leq k\)), instead of the above sphere. The next objective of the paper is to establish that, in contrast, almost all prime solutions of the system (\(\ast\)) are trivial, when \(2\leq k\leq4\). The authors refer this kind of phenomena as \textit{prime paucity} (see the authors' work [``Prime paucity for sums of two squares'', Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 40, 457--462 (2008; Zbl 1140.11046)]). Thus, let \(\Pi_k(N)\) denote the number of primes \(x_{i,j}\) in the box \(1\leq x_{i,j}\leq N\) (\(1\leq i\leq3\), \(1\leq j\leq k\)) that satisfy (\(\ast\)), and let \(U_k(N)\) denote the number of non-trivial ones (in the above sense) amongst the prime solutions counted by \(\Pi_k(N)\). Then, it is proved that \[ U_k(N)\ll N^3(\log N)^{2^{k-1}-1-3k}(\log\log N)^{3k}, \] for any \(k\geq2\). The latter result immediately implies that \[ \Pi_k(N)=6^{k-1}\pi(N)^3+O(N^3(\log N)^{-5}(\log\log N)^{12}), \] for \(2\leq k\leq4\), where \(\pi(N)\) denotes the number of primes up to \(N\), and the latter formula confirms prime paucity in these cases (see also another article of the authors [``A quadric with prime arithmetic paucity'', Quart. J. Math. 60, 283--290 (2009; Zbl 1184.11032)]) for a related result in the case \(k=2\)). In addition, the authors point out that the lower bound \(U_5(N)\gg N^3\) may be predicted by some convincing reasons, so that presumably the system (\(\ast\)) does not exhibit prime paucity for \(k\geq5\), in truth.