The Path to Recent Progress on Small Gaps Between Primes

Gaps between Primes in Beatty Sequences

In this paper, we study the gaps between primes in Beatty sequences following the methods in the recent breakthrough of J. Maynard.

连续素数中的有界间隙与完美幂间隙

Bounded gaps and perfect power gaps in sequences of consecutive primes

本文研究连续素数间隙中是否存在较大间隙或完美幂间隙，并探讨相关数学问题。

Expected gaps between prime numbers

We study the gaps between consecutive prime numbers directly through Eratosthenes sieve. Using elementary methods, we identify a recursive relation for these gaps and for specific sequences of consecutive gaps, known as constellations. Using this recursion we can estimate the numbers of a gap or of a constellation that occur between a prime and its square. This recursion also has explicit implications for open questions about gaps between prime numbers, including three questions posed by Erdös and Turán.

Large gaps between consecutive prime numbers containing square-free numbers and perfect powers of prime numbers

We prove a modification as well as an improvement of a result of K. Ford, D. R. Heath-Brown and S. Konyagin concerning prime avoidance of square-free numbers and perfect powers of prime numbers.

On the ratio of consecutive gaps between primes

In the present work we prove a common generalization of Maynard-Tao's recent result about consecutive bounded gaps between primes and on the Erdős-Rankin bound about large gaps between consecutive primes. The work answers in a strong form a 60 years old problem of Erdös, which asked whether the ratio of two consecutive primegaps can be infinitely often arbitrarily small, and arbitrarily large, respectively.

算术级数中素数间的巨大间隙——一种经验方法

Large gaps between primes in arithmetic progressions -- an empirical approach

本文概述了算术级数中素数间间隙的全新穷举计算结果，并给出了异常大的最小素数的新数值结果。

Large gaps between consecutive prime numbers containing perfect powers

For any positive integer $k$, we show that infinitely often, perfect $k$-th powers appear inside very long gaps between consecutive prime numbers, that is, gaps of size $$ c_k \frac{\log p \log_2 p \log_4 p}{(\log_3 p)^2}, $$ where $p$ is the smaller of the two primes.

Small Gaps Between Primes I

We use short divisor sums to approximate prime tuples and moments for primes in short intervals. By connecting these results to classical moment problems we are able to prove that a positive proportion of consecutive primes are within a quarter of the average spacing between primes.

Bounds on prime gaps as a consequence of the divergence of the series of reciprocal primes

In this paper, using the well known fact that the series of reciprocals of primes diverges, we obtain a general inequality for gaps of consecutive primes that holds for infinitely many primes. As it is shown the key ingredient for this direct approach is a consequence of the the Kummer's characterization of summable sequences of positive terms. Some interesting consequences are then presented. In particular, we show how the twin-prime conjecture is related to our main result.

Small gaps between prime numbers: The work of Goldston-Pintz-Yildirim

This is an expository article on the recent marvellous theorem of Goldston, Pintz, and Yildirim on small gaps between prime numbers.

On the moments of the gaps between consecutive primes

We derive heuristically formula for the $k$--moments $M_k(x)$ of the gaps between consecutive primes$<x $ represented directly by $x$$π(x)$ --- the number of primes up to: $M_k(x)= Γ(k+1)x^k/π^{k-1}(x)+\mathcal{O}(x)$, We illustrate obtained results by computer data.

Distribution of Large Gaps Between Primes

We survey some past conditional results on the distribution of large differences between consecutive primes and examine how the Hardy-Littlewood prime k-tuples conjecture can be applied to this question.

Bounded Gaps Between Products of Distinct Primes

Let $r \ge 2$ be an integer. We adapt the Maynard-Tao sieve to produce the asymptotically best-known bounded gaps between products of $r$ distinct primes. Our result applies to positive-density subsets of the primes that satisfy certain equidistribution conditions. This improves on the work of Thorne and Sono.

Large prime gaps and progressions with few primes

We show that the existence of arithmetic progressions with few primes, with a quantitative bound on "few", implies the existence of larger gaps between primes less than x than is currently known unconditionally. In particular, we derive this conclusion if there are certain types of exceptional zeros of Dirichlet L-functions.

高斯整数中的素数间隙

Prime Gaps In The Gaussian Integers

本文定义了高斯整数中的素数间隙，并利用数值方法证明了其渐近上界为 O(log^2|p_n|)。

Polignac Numbers, Conjectures of Erdös on Gaps between Primes, Arithmetic Progressions in Primes, and the Bounded Gap Conjecture

In the present work we prove a number of surprising results about gaps between consecutive primes and arithmetic progressions in the sequence of generalized twin primes which could not have been proven without the recent fantastic achievement of Yitang Zhang about the existence of bounded gaps between consecutive primes. Most of these results would have belonged to the category of science fiction a decade ago. However, the presented results are far from being immediate consequences of Zhang's famous theorem: they require various new ideas, other important properties of the applied sieve functi…

Eratosthenes sieve and the gaps between primes

A few years ago we identified a recursion that works directly with the gaps among the generators in each stage of Eratosthenes sieve. This recursion provides explicit enumerations of sequences of gaps among the generators, which sequences are known as constellations. By studying this recursion on the cycles of gaps across stages of Eratosthenes sieve, we are able to provide evidence on a number of open problems regarding gaps between prime numbers. The basic counts of short constellations in the cycles of gaps provide evidence toward the twin prime conjecture and toward resolving a series of q…

Small gaps between the set of products of at most two primes

In this paper, we apply the method of Maynard and Tao to the set of products of two distinct primes (E2-numbers). We obtain several results on the distribution of E2-numbers and primes. Among others, the result of Goldston, Pintz, Yildirim and Graham on small gaps between m consecutive E2-numbers is improved.

A poor man's improvement on Zhang's result: there are infinitely many prime gaps less than 60 million

Taking the easy option I prove that one can lower Zhang's bound on prime gaps from 70 million to 60 million. A poor man's improvement indeed!

Large gaps between primes

We show that there exists pairs of consecutive primes less than $x$ whose difference is larger than $t(1+o(1))(\log{x})(\log\log{x})(\log\log\log\log{x})(\log\log\log{x})^{-2}$ for any fixed $t$. Our proof works by incorporating recent progress in sieve methods related to small gaps between primes into the Erdos-Rankin construction. This answers a well-known question of Erdos.

最大素数间隙研究

On Maximal Prime Gaps

本文研究了素数间隙的问题，证明了素数与其后继素数之间的间隙不超过2log²p_n，并由此推导出对于足够大的数，存在特定类型的区间内必然存在素数。

A note on bounded gaps between primes

As a refinement of the celebrated recent work of Yitang Zhang we show that any admissible k-tuple of integers contains at least two primes and almost primes in each component infinitely often if k is at least 181000. This implies that there are infinitely many gaps between consecutive primes of size at most 2530338, with an improved admissible k-tuple of Andrew W. Sutherland to 2326476.

Bounded gaps between primes of the special form

For each $m\geq 1$, there exist infinitely many primes $p_1<p_2<\ldots<p_{m+1}$ such that $p_{m+1}-p_1=O(m^4e^{8m})$ and $p_j+2$ has at most $\frac{16m}{\log 2}+\frac{5\log m}{\log 2}+37$ prime divisors for each $j$.

Bounded Gaps Between Primes in Multidimensional Hecke Equidistribution Problems

Using Duke's large sieve inequality for Hecke Gr{ö}ssencharaktere and the new sieve methods of Maynard and Tao, we prove a general result on gaps between primes in the context of multidimensional Hecke equidistribution. As an application, for any fixed $0<ε<\frac{1}{2}$, we prove the existence of infinitely many bounded gaps between primes of the form $p=a^2+b^2$ such that $|a|<ε\sqrt{p}$. Furthermore, for certain diagonal curves $\mathcal{C}:ax^α+by^β=c$, we obtain infinitely many bounded gaps between the primes $p$ such that $|p+1-\#\mathcal{C}(\mathbb{F}_p)|<ε\sqrt{p}$.

Bounded gaps between primes in special sequences

We use Maynard's methods to show that there are bounded gaps between primes in the sequence $\{\lfloor nα\rfloor\}$, where $α$ is an irrational number of finite type. In addition, given a superlinear function $f$ satisfying some properties described by Leitmann, we show that for all $m$ there are infinitely many bounded intervals containing $m$ primes and at least one integer of the form $\lfloor f(q)\rfloor$ with $q$ a positive integer.

On the first occurrences of gaps between primes in a residue class

We study the first occurrences of gaps between primes in the arithmetic progression (P): $r$, $r+q$, $r+2q$, $r+3q,\ldots,$ where $q$ and $r$ are coprime integers, $q>r\ge1$. The growth trend and distribution of the first-occurrence gap sizes are similar to those of maximal gaps between primes in (P). The histograms of first-occurrence gap sizes, after appropriate rescaling, are well approximated by the Gumbel extreme value distribution. Computations suggest that first-occurrence gaps are much more numerous than maximal gaps: there are $O(\log^2 x)$ first-occurrence gaps between primes in (P) …

Bounded prime gaps in short intervals

We generalise Zhang's and Pintz recent results on bounded prime gaps to give a lower bound for the the number of prime pairs bounded by 6*10^7 in the short interval $[x,x+x (\log x)^{-A}]$. Our result follows only by analysing Zhang's proof of Theorem 1, but we also explain how a sharper variant of Zhang's Theorem 2 would imply the same result for shorter intervals.

Bounded gaps between primes in short intervals

Baker, Harman, and Pintz showed that a weak form of the Prime Number Theorem holds in intervals of the form $[x-x^{0.525},x]$ for large $x$. In this paper, we extend a result of Maynard and Tao concerning small gaps between primes to intervals of this length. More precisely, we prove that for any $δ\in [0.525,1]$ there exist positive integers $k,d$ such that for sufficiently large $x$, the interval $[x-x^δ,x]$ contains $\gg_{k} \frac{x^δ}{(\log x)^k}$ pairs of consecutive primes differing by at most $d$. This confirms a speculation of Maynard that results on small gaps between primes can be re…

Large gaps between consecutive prime numbers containing perfect $k$-th powers of prime numbers

Let $k\geq 2$ be a fixed natural number. We establish the existence of infinitely many pairs of consecutive primes $p_n$, $p_{n+1}$ satisfying $$ p_{n+1}-p_n\geq c\:\frac{\log p_n\: \log_2 p_n\: \log_4 p_n}{\log_3 p_n}\:,$$ with $c$ being a fixed positive constant, for which the interval $(p_n, p_{n+1})$ contains the $k$-th power of a prime number.

Negative moments of the gaps between consecutive primes

We derive heuristically approximate formulas for the negative $k$--moments $M_{-k}(x)$ of the gaps between consecutive primes$<x $ represented directly by $π(x)$ --- the number of primes up to $x$. In particular we propose an analytical formula for the sum of reciprocals of gaps between consecutive primes $<x : ~ M_{-1}(x)\sim \frac{π^2(x)}{x-2π(x)}\log\Big(\frac{x}{2π(x)}\Big) \sim x \log \log(x)/\log^2(x)$. We illustrate obtained results by the enormous computer data up to $x=4\times 10^{18}$.

论素数之间小间隙的频率

On the frequency of small gaps between the primes

本文针对连续素数间隙倒数和发散所需间隙大小的问题，在Friedlander依赖深层k元组猜想的结果之外，对其弱化形式给出了无条件解答。

Small gaps between the Piatetski-Shapiro primes

Suppose that $1<c<9/8$. For any $m\geq 1$, there exist infinitely many $n$ such that $$ \{[n^c],\ [(n+1)^c],\ \ldots,\ [(n+k_0)^c]\} $$ contains at least $m+1$ primes, if $k_0$ is sufficiently large (only depending on $m$).

素数间长间隔的极限点

Limit points and long gaps between primes

本文通过结合Maynard和Tao的工作，证明归一化素数间隔序列的极限点集包含至少25%的非负实数，并探讨了素数间长间隔的性质。

Golomb's conjecture on prime gaps

Question 10208b (1992) of the American Mathematical Monthly asked: does there exist an increasing sequence $\{a_k\}$ of positive integers and a constant $B > 0$ having the property that $\{ a_k + n\}$ contains no more than $B$ primes for every integer $n$? A positive answer to this question became known as Golomb's conjecture. In this note we give a negative answer, making use of recent progress in prime number theory.

Small Prime Gaps in Abelian Number Fields

We prove an analogue of a result by Goldston, Pintz and Yildirim for small gaps between primes that split completely in an abelian number field. We prove both a conditional result assuming the Elliott-Halberstam conjecture, and an unconditional result. We also give another proof of the same result in the special case of a quadratic extension of class number 1, which relies on a generalization of the Bombieri-Vinogradov theorem for quadratic number fields.

Bounded Gaps Between Primes in Chebotarev Sets

A new and exciting breakthrough due to Maynard establishes that there exist infinitely many pairs of distinct primes $p_1,p_2$ with $|p_1-p_2|\leq 600$ as a consequence of the Bombieri-Vinogradov Theorem. In this paper, we apply his general method to the setting of Chebotarev sets of primes. We study applications of these bounded gaps with an emphasis on ranks of prime quadratic twists of elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$, congruence properties of the Fourier coefficients of normalized Hecke eigenforms, and representations of primes by binary quadratic forms.

Small gaps between primes

We introduce a refinement of the GPY sieve method for studying prime $k$-tuples and small gaps between primes. This refinement avoids previous limitations of the method, and allows us to show that for each $k$, the prime $k$-tuples conjecture holds for a positive proportion of admissible $k$-tuples. In particular, $\liminf_{n}(p_{n+m}-p_n)<\infty$ for any integer $m$. We also show that $\liminf(p_{n+1}-p_n)\le 600$, and, if we assume the Elliott-Halberstam conjecture, that $\liminf_n(p_{n+1}-p_n)\le 12$ and $\liminf_n (p_{n+2}-p_n)\le 600$.

The existence of small prime gaps in subsets of the integers

We consider the problem of finding small prime gaps in various sets of integers $\mathcal{C}$. Following the work of Goldston-Pintz-Yildirim, we will consider collections of natural numbers that are well-controlled in arithmetic progressions. Letting $q_n$ denote the $n$-th prime in $\mathcal{C}$, we will establish that for any small constant $ε>0$, the set $\left\{q_n| q_{n+1}-q_n \leq ε\log n \right\}$ constitutes a positive proportion of all prime numbers. Using the techniques developed by Maynard and Tao we will also demonstrate that $\mathcal{C}$ has bounded prime gaps. Specific examples,…

Small Gaps Between Three Almost Primes and Almost Prime Powers

A positive integer is called an $E_j$-number if it is the product of $j$ distinct primes. We prove that there are infinitely many triples of $E_2$-numbers within a gap size of $32$ and infinitely many triples of $E_3$-numbers within a gap size of $15$. Assuming the Elliot-Halberstam conjecture for primes and $E_2$-numbers, we can improve these gaps to $12$ and $5$, respectively. We can obtain even smaller gaps for almost primes, almost prime powers, or integers having the same exponent pattern in the their prime factorizations. In particular, if $d(x)$ denotes the number of divisors of $x$, we…

实指数和与素数间隔

Real exponential sums over primes and prime gaps

研究证明在短区间内存在素数，解决了长期存在的问题，并验证了关于素数分布的旧猜想。

Small gaps between primes or almost primes

Let $p_n$ denote the $n^{th}$ prime. Goldston, Pintz, and Yildirim recently proved that $ \liminf_{n\to \infty} \frac{(p_{n+1}-p_n)}{\log p_n} =0.$ We give an alternative proof of this result. We also prove some corresponding results for numbers with two prime factors. Let $q_n$ denote the $n^{th}$ number that is a product of exactly two distinct primes. We prove that $\liminf_{n\to \infty} (q_{n+1}-q_n) \le 26.$ If an appropriate generalization of the Elliott-Halberstam Conjecture is true, then the above bound can be improved to 6.

A Short Note on Gaps between Powers of Consecutive Primes

Let $α, β\geq 0$ and $α+ β< 1$. In this short note, we show that $\liminf_{n \to \infty} p_n^β(p_{n+1}^α- p_n^α) = 0$, where $p_n$ is the $n$th prime. This notes an improvement over results of Sándor and gives additional evidence towards a conjecture of Andrica. This follows directly from recent results on prime pairs from Maynard, Tao, Zhang.

Note On Prime Gaps And Very Short Intervals

Assuming the Riemann hypothesis, this article discusses a new elementary argument that seems to prove that the maximal prime gap of a finite sequence of primes p_1, p_2, ..., p_n <= x, satisfies max {p_(n+1) - p_n : p_n <= x} <= c1((logx)^2)/loglogx, c1 > 0 constant. Equivalently, it shows that the very short intervals (x, x + y] contain prime numbers for all y > c2((logx)^2)/loglogx, c2 > 0 constant, and sufficiently large x > 0.

Increasing and decreasing prime gaps

Let $p_n$ denote the $n$th prime and $g_n:=p_{n+1}-p_n$ the $n$th prime gap. We demonstrate the existence of infinitely many values of $n$ for which $g_n>g_{n+1}>\cdots>g_{n+m}$ with $m\gg \log\log\log n$ and similarly for the reversed inequalities. In doing so we settle a conjecture of Erdös for the case $m=2$.

使用 Maynard-Tao 筛法研究素数间的光滑间隙

On smooth gaps between primes using the Maynard-Tao sieve

本文利用 Zhang、Maynard 和 Polymath8b 在孪生素数猜想上的进展及 Maynard-Tao 筛法，将素数间光滑间隙的界限降低至 47，并证明存在无穷多个间隙均为 $y_m$-光滑的 $m$-元组素数。

Bounded gaps between primes in number fields and function fields

The Hardy--Littlewood prime $k$-tuples conjecture has long been thought to be completely unapproachable with current methods. While this sadly remains true, startling breakthroughs of Zhang, Maynard, and Tao have nevertheless made significant progress toward this problem. In this work, we extend the Maynard-Tao method to both number fields and the function field $\mathbb{F}_q(t)$.

Bounded gaps between prime polynomials with a given primitive root

A famous conjecture of Artin states that there are infinitely many prime numbers for which a fixed integer $g$ is a primitive root, provided $g \neq -1$ and $g$ is not a perfect square. Thanks to work of Hooley, we know that this conjecture is true, conditional on the truth of the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis. Using a combination of Hooley's analysis and the techniques of Maynard-Tao used to prove the existence of bounded gaps between primes, Pollack has shown that (conditional on GRH) there are bounded gaps between primes with a prescribed primitive root. In the present article, we provide …

Predicting maximal gaps in sets of primes

Let $q>r\ge1$ be coprime integers. Let ${\mathbb P}_c={\mathbb P}_c(q,r,{\cal H})$ be an increasing sequence of primes $p$ satisfying two conditions: (i) $p\equiv r$ (mod $q$) and (ii) $p$ starts a prime $k$-tuple with a given pattern ${\cal H}$. Let $π_c(x)$ be the number of primes in ${\mathbb P}_c$ not exceeding $x$. We heuristically derive formulas predicting the growth trend of the maximal gap $G_c(x)=\max_{p'\le x}(p'-p)$ between successive primes $p,p'\in{\mathbb P}_c$. Extensive computations for primes up to $10^{14}$ show that a simple trend formula $$G_c(x) \sim {x\overπ_c(x)}\cdot(\…

Some heuristics on the gaps between consecutive primes

We propose the formula for the number of pairs of consecutive primes $p_n, p_{n+1}<x$ separated by gap $d=p_{n+1}-p_n$ expressed directly by the number of all primes $<x$, i.e. by $π(x)$. As the application of this formula we formulate 7 conjectures, among others for the maximal gap between two consecutive primes smaller than $x$, for the generalized Brun's constants and the first occurrence of a given gap $d$. Also the leading term $\log \log(x)$ in the prime harmonic sum is reproduced from our guesses correctly. These conjectures are supported by the computer data.

Large Gaps between Primes in Arithmetic Progressions

For $(M,a)=1$, put \begin{equation*} G(X;M,a)=\sup_{p^\prime_n\leq X}(p^\prime_{n+1}-p^\prime_n), \end{equation*} where $p^\prime_n$ denotes the $n$-th prime that is congruent to $a\pmod{M}$. We show that for any positive $C$, provided $X$ is large enough in terms of $C$, there holds \begin{equation*} G(MX;M,a)\geq(C+o(1))φ(M)\frac{\log X\log_2 X\log_4 X} {{(\log_3 X)}^2}, \end{equation*} uniformly for all $M\leqκ{(\log X)}^{1/5}$ that satisfy \begin{equation*} ω(M)\leq \exp\biggl(\frac{\log_2 M\log_4 M}{\log_3 M}\biggr). \end{equation*}

Ramanujan Primes: Bounds, Runs, Twins, and Gaps

The $n$th Ramanujan prime is the smallest positive integer $R_n$ such that if $x \ge R_n$, then the interval $(x/2,x]$ contains at least $n$ primes. We sharpen Laishram's theorem that $R_n < p_{3n}$ by proving that the maximum of $R_n/p_{3n}$ is $R_5/p_{15} = 41/47$. We give statistics on the length of the longest run of Ramanujan primes among all primes $p<10^n$, for $n\le9$. We prove that if an upper twin prime is Ramanujan, then so is the lower; a table gives the number of twin primes below $10^n$ of three types. Finally, we relate runs of Ramanujan primes to prime gaps. Along the way we st…

Bounded gaps between product of two primes in imaginary quadratic number fields

We study the gaps between products of two primes in imaginary quadratic number fields using a combination of the methods of Goldston-Graham-Pintz-Yildirim \cite{GGPY}, and Maynard \cite{MAY}. An important consequence of our main theorem is existence of infinitely many pairs $α_1, α_2$ which are product of two primes in the imaginary quadratic field $K$ such that $|σ(α_1-α_2)|\leq 2$ for all embedding $σ$ of $K$ if the class number of $K$ is one and $|σ(α_1-α_2)|\leq 8$ for all embedding $σ$ of $K$ if the class number of $K$ is two.

素数之间的有界间隙

Bounded gaps between primes

Polymath8b 团队证明素数相邻差的下确界不超过246，本文结合 Bombieri-Vinogradov 定理与光滑模等分布估计，将该边界优化至不超过240。

On the distribution of maximal gaps between primes in residue classes

Let $q>r\ge1$ be coprime positive integers. We empirically study the maximal gaps $G_{q,r}(x)$ between primes $p=qn+r\le x$, $n\in{\mathbb N}$. Extensive computations suggest that almost always $G_{q,r}(x)<φ(q)\log^2x$. More precisely, the vast majority of maximal gaps are near a trend curve $T$ predicted using a generalization of Wolf's conjecture: $$G_{q,r}(x) ~\sim~ T(q,x)={φ(q)x\over{\rm li}(x)} \Big(2\log{{\rm li}(x)\overφ(q)} - \log x + b\Big),$$ where $b = b(q,x) = O_q(1)$. The distribution of properly rescaled maximal gaps $G_{q,r}(x)$ is close to the Gumbel extreme value distribution.…