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We improve the standard Weyl estimate for quartic exponential sums in which the argument is a quadratic irrational. Specifically we show that \[\sum_{n\le N} e(\alpha n^4)\ll_{\ep,\alpha}N^{5/6+\ep}\] for any $\ep>0$ and any quadratic irrational $\alpha\in\R-\Q$. Classically one would have had the exponent $7/8+\ep$ for such $\alpha$. In contrast to the author's earlier work \cite{cubweyl} on cubic Weyl sums (which was conditional on the $abc$-conjecture), we show that the van der Corput $AB$-steps are sufficient for the quartic case, rather than the $BAAB$-process needed for the cubic sum., Comment: New version with mention of work of Xi and Wu

We present a general method for handling problems that ask for the equidistribution of solutions to equations involving $m^2+n^2$, and illustrate it by considering $p+m^2+n^2=N$., Comment: Revised version incorporating several corrections

We examine the counting function for rational points on conics, and show how the point where the asymptotic behaviour begins depends on the size of the smallest zero.

We show that \[\sum_{\substack{p_n\le x\\ p_{n+1}-p_n\ge\sqrt{p_n}}}(p_{n+1}-p_n)\ll_{\varepsilon} x^{3/5+\varepsilon}\] for any fixed $\varepsilon>0$. This improves a result of Matom\"{a}ki, in which the exponent was $2/3$.

We show that large gaps between smooth numbers are infrequent. The key new tool is a novel mean value bound for a special type of Dirichlet polynomial., Comment: To appear in Acta Arithmetica

An asymptotic formula is established for the number of rational points of bounded anticanonical height which lie on a certain Zariski dense subset of the biprojective hypersurface $x_1y_1^2+\dots+x_4y_4^2=0$ in $\mathbb{P}^3\times\mathbb{P}^3$. This confirms the modified Manin conjecture for this variety, in which the removal of a thin set of rational points is allowed., Comment: 60 pages; minor edits and added a reference to recent work of Lehmann and Tanimoto, where it is confirmed that the thin set we remove is the one predicted by the Lehmann-Sengupta-Tanimoto machinery

We give an upper bound for the number of rational points of height at most $B$, lying on a surface defined by a quadratic form $Q$. The bound shows an explicit dependence on $Q$. It is optimal with respect to $B$, and is also optimal for typical forms $Q$., Comment: 29 pages

For a set $S$ of quadratic polynomials over a finite field, let $C$ be the (infinite) set of arbitrary compositions of elements in $S$. In this paper we show that there are examples with arbitrarily large $S$ such that every polynomial in $C$ is irreducible. As a second result, we give an algorithm to determine whether all the elements in $C$ are irreducible, using only $O( \#S (\log q)^3 q^{1/2} )$ operations.

For a finite field of odd cardinality $q$, we show that the sequence of iterates of $aX^2+c$, starting at $0$, always recurs after $O(q/\log\log q)$ steps. For $X^2+1$ the same is true for any starting value. We suggest that the traditional "Birthday Paradox" model is inappropriate for iterates of $X^3+c$, when $q$ is 2 mod 3., Comment: This revision acknowledges prior work by Juul, Kurlberg, Madhu and Tucker, and by Shao, proving results that are closely related to those of the current paper

We give a slight refinement to the process by which estimates for exponential sums are extracted from bounds for Vinogradov's mean value. Coupling this with the recent works of Wooley, and of Bourgain, Demeter and Guth, providing optimal bounds for the Vinogradov mean value, we produce a powerful new $k$-th derivative estimate. Roughly speaking, this improves the van der Corput estimate for $k\ge 4$. Various corollaries are given, showing for example that $\zeta(\sigma+it)\ll_{\varepsilon}t^{(1-\sigma)^{3/2}/2+\varepsilon}$ for $t\ge 2$ and $0\le\sigma\le 1$, for any fixed $\varepsilon>0$., Comment: Misprints corrected; References to work of Robert added

This is an expository paper, giving a simplified proof of the cubic case of the main conjecture for Vinogradov's mean value theorem., Comment: Since this only an expository paper there are no immediate plans to offer it for formal publication

This paper proves the Hasse principle and weak approximation for varieties defined by the smooth intersection of three quadratics in at least 19 variables, over arbitrary number fields.

We prove an asymptotic formula for the number of primes of the shape $a^2 +p^4$, thereby refining the well known work of Friedlander and Iwaniec. Along the way, we prove a result on equidistribution of primes up to $x$, in which the moduli may be almost as large as $x^2$., Comment: A previous error in the treatment of the bilinear sum has been corrected

We show that there are infinitely many primes $p$ such that not only does $p + 2$ have at most two prime factors, but $p + 6$ also has a bounded number of prime divisors. This refines the well known result of Chen., Comment: 22 pages; errors with numerical calculations corrected after referee report; main result somewhat improved

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.

Let $Q(x,y,z)$ be an integral quadratic form with determinant coprime to some modulus $q$. We show that $q\mid Q$ for some non-zero integer vector $(x,y,z)$ of length $O(q^{5/8+\varepsilon})$, for any fixed $\varepsilon>0$. Without the coprimality condition on the determinant one could not achieve an exponent below $2/3$. The proof uses a bound for short character sums involving binary quadratic forms, which extends a result of Chang.

For any odd prime $\ell$, let $h_\ell(-d)$ denote the $\ell$-part of the class number of the imaginary quadratic field $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{-d})$. Nontrivial pointwise upper bounds are known only for $\ell =3$; nontrivial upper bounds for averages of $h_\ell(-d)$ have previously been known only for $\ell =3,5$. In this paper we prove nontrivial upper bounds for the average of $h_\ell(-d)$ for all primes $\ell \geq 7$, as well as nontrivial upper bounds for certain higher moments for all primes $\ell \geq 3$., Comment: 26 pages; minor edits to exposition and notation, to agree with published version

This paper proves nontrivial bounds for short mixed character sums by introducing estimates for Vinogradov's mean value theorem into a version of the Burgess method., Comment: 20 pages

We generalise Birch's seminal work on forms in many variables to handle a system of forms in which the degrees need not all be the same. This allows us to prove the Hasse principle, weak approximation, and the Manin-Peyre conjecture for a smooth and geometrically integral projective variety, provided only that its dimension is large enough in terms of its degree., Comment: 44 pages; Lemma 8.2 corrected

We prove that a pair of integral quadratic forms in 5 or more variables will simultaneously represent "almost all" pairs of integers that satisfy the necessary local conditions, provided that the forms satisfy a suitable nonsingularity condition. In particular such forms simultaneously attain prime values if the obvious local conditions hold. The proof uses the circle method, and in particular pioneers a two-dimensional version of a Kloosterman refinement., Comment: 63 pages

We investigate the Hasse principle for complete intersections cut out by a quadric and cubic hypersurface defined over the rational numbers., Comment: 56 pages

We prove the Hasse principle and weak approximation for varieties defined over number fields by the nonsingular intersection of pairs of quadratic forms in 8 variables. The argument develops work of Colliot-Thelene, Sansuc and Swinnerton-Dyer, and centres on a purely local problem about forms which split off 3 hyperbolic planes.

We show that at least 19/27 of the zeros of the Riemann zeta-function are simple, assuming the Riemann Hypothesis (RH). This was previously established by Conrey, Ghosh and Gonek [Proc. London Math. Soc. 76 (1998), 497--522] under the additional assumption of the Generalised Lindel\"of Hypothesis (GLH). We are able to remove this hypothesis by careful use of the generalised Vaughan identity.

This survey describes work on the number of variables required to ensure that a system of r quadratic forms over the p-adics has a non-trivial common zero.

A conjecture of Serre concerns the number of rational points of bounded height on a finite cover of projective space P^{n-1}. In this paper, we achieve Serre's conjecture in the special case of smooth cyclic covers of any degree when n is at least 10, and surpass it for covers of degree 3 or higher when n > 10. This is achieved by a new bound for the number of perfect r-th power values of a polynomial with nonsingular leading form, obtained via a combination of an r-th power sieve and the q-analogue of van der Corput's method.

The Hasse principle and weak approximation is established for equations of the shape P(t)=N(x_1,x_2,x_3,x_4), where P is an irreducible quadratic polynomial in one variable and N is a norm form associated to a quartic extension of the rationals containing the roots of P. The proof uses analytic methods., Comment: 55 pages

For irreducible integer polynomials $f(n)=n^d+c$ we prove an asymptotic formula for the number of $k$-th power free values taken by $f(n)$, for $n$ running up to $x$, subject to the condition $k\ge (5d+3)/9$. This improves earlier results in which the condition was $k\ge (3d+1)/4$. We also show that one can handle $f(p)$ for prime arguments $p$, for the same range of $k$.

We show that there is a positive constant $c_0$ such that \[\sum_{n\le x}\mu^2(n^2+1)c_0x+O_{\varepsilon}(x^{7/12+\varepsilon})\] for any fixed $\varepsilon>0$. This improves a result of Estermann [3] from 1931, in which the error term had an exponent 2/3. The proof involves counting rational points near an algebraic curve, which is done via the "determinant method.", Comment: A small correction has been made in the final section

An error in the author's paper (Functiones et Approximatio, 37 . pp. 203-211) is corrected.

Let $f_1,\...,f_r$ be polynomials in $n$ variables over a finite field $F$ of cardinality $q$ and characteristic $p$. Let $f_i$ have total degree $d_i$ and define $d=d_1+\...+d_r$. Write $Z$ for the set of common zeros of the $f_i$, over the field $F$. Warning showed that $#(Z\cap H_1)\equiv#(Z\cap H_2)\mod{p}$ for any two parallel affine hyperplanes $H_1,H_2$ in $F^n$. We prove that the same congruence holds to modulus $q$. Warning also proved that $# Z\ge q^{n-d}$ providing that $Z$ is non-empty. We sharpen this inequality in various ways, assuming that $Z$ is not a linear subspace of $F^n$.

This is an exposition of work on Artin's Conjecture on the zeros of $p$-adic forms. A variety of lines of attack are described, going back to 1945. However there is particular emphasis on recent developments concerning quartic forms on the one hand, and systems of quadratic forms on the other., Comment: Submitted for publication as part of ICM 2010

Let $k$ be a positive real number, and let $M_k(q)$ be the sum of $|L(\tfrac12,\chi)|^{2k}$ over all non-principal characters to a given modulus $q$. We prove that $M_k(q)\ll_k \phi(q)(\log q)^{k^2}$ whenever $k$ is the reciprocal $n^{-1}$ of a positive integer $n$. If one assumes the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis then the estimate holds for all positive real $k<2$.

We prove upper bounds for the number of rational points on non-singular cubic curves defined over the rationals. The bounds are uniform in the curve and involve the rank of the corresponding Jacobian. The method used in the proof is a combination of the "determinant method" with an m-descent on the curve., Comment: Comments are very welcome!

It is shown, subject to the abc-conjecture, that \[\sum_{n\le N}\exp(2\pi i\alpha n^3)\ll_{\epsilon,\alpha}N^{5/7+\epsilon}\] for any $\epsilon>0$ and any quadratic irrational $\alpha$.

We construct real numbers $\alpha$ for which the pair correlation function \[N^{-1}#\{m

We prove an asymptotic formula for the fourth power mean of Dirichlet L-functions averaged over primitive characters to modulus q and over t\in [0,T] which is particularly effective when q \ge T. In this range the correct order of magnitude was not previously known., Comment: 8 pages

It is shown that a system of $r$ quadratic forms over a ${\mathfrak p}$-adic field has a non-trivial common zero as soon as the number of variables exceeds $4r$, providing that the residue class field has cardinality at least $(2r)^r$., Comment: Revised version, with better treatment and results for characteristic 2

We give a sharp convexity estimate for L-functions which have a functional equation and an Euler product.

Let k>2 be a fixed integer exponent and let \theta > 9/10. We show that a positive integer N can be represented as a non-trivial sum or difference of 3 k-th powers, using integers of size at most B, in O(B^{\theta}N^{1/10}) ways, providing that N << B^{3/13}. The significance of this is that we may take \theta strictly less than 1. We also prove the estimate O(B^{10/k}), (subject to N << B) which is better for large k. The results extend to representations by an arbitrary fixed nonsingular ternary from. However ``non-trivial'' must then be suitably defined. Consideration of the singular form x^{k-1}y-z^k allows us to establish an asymptotic formula for (k-1)-free values of p^k+c, when p runs over primes, answering a problem raised by Hooley.

A variant of Brauer's induction method is developed. It is shown that quartic p-adic forms with at least 9127 variables have non-trivial zeros, for every p. For odd p considerably fewer variables are needed. There are also subsidiary new results concerning quintic forms, and systems of forms., Comment: Misprints and other errors corrected, leading to a small improvement

Let X be a non-singular projective hypersurface of degree 4, which is defined over the rational numbers. Assume that X has dimension 39 or more, and that X contains a real point and p-adic points for every prime p. Then X is shown to contain infinitely many rational points., Comment: 47 pages

Let g be a cubic polynomial with integer coefficients and n>9 variables, and assume that the congruence g=0 modulo p^k is soluble for all prime powers p^k. We show that the equation g=0 has infinitely many integer solutions when the cubic part of g defines a projective hypersurface with singular locus of dimension

We show that for any fixed $\eps>0$, there are numbers $\delta>0$ and $p_0\ge 2$ with the following property: for every prime $p\ge p_0$ and every integer $N$ such that $p^{1/(4\sqrt{e})+\eps}\le N\le p$, the sequence $1,2,...,N$ contains at least $\delta N$ quadratic non-residues modulo $p$. We use this result to obtain strong upper bounds on the sizes of the least quadratic non-residues in Beatty and Piatetski--Shapiro sequences., Comment: In the new version we use an idea of Roger Heath-Brown (who is now a co-author) to simply the proof and improve the main results of the previous version, 14 pages

Using a recent result of Salberger, we establish the paucity of non-trivial positive integer solutions to a certain system of diagonal Diophantine equations., Comment: 7 pages

Given an absolutely irreducible ternary form $F$, the purpose of this paper is to produce better upper bounds for the number of integer solutions to the equation F=0, that are restricted to lie in very lopsided boxes. As an application of the main result, a new paucity estimate is obtained for equal sums of two like powers., Comment: 15 pages; to appear in Math. Zeit

This paper establishes the conjecture that a non-singular projective hypersurface of dimension $r$, which is not equal to a linear space, contains $O(B^{r+\epsilon})$ rational points of height at most $B$, for any choice of $\epsilon>0$. The implied constant in this estimate depends at most upon $\epsilon, r$ and the degree of the hypersurface., Comment: 36 pages; appendix by J. Starr

Let $Z$ be a projective geometrically integral algebraic variety. This paper is concerned with estimating the number of rational points on $Z$ which have height at most $B$. The bounds obtained are uniform in varieties of fixed degree and fixed dimension, and are essentially best possible for varieties of degree at least six., Comment: 29 pages

Let $X$ be an algebraic variety, defined over the rationals. This paper gives upper bounds for the number of rational points on $X$, with height at most $B$, for the case in which $X$ is a curve or a surface. In the latter case one excludes from the counting function those points that lie on lines in the surface. The bounds are uniform for all $X$ of a given degree. They are best possible in the case of curves. As an application it is shown that if $F$ is an irreducible binary form of degree 3 or more then almost all integers represented by $F$ have essentially one such representation., Comment: 46 pages, published version; appendix by J.-L. Colliot-Th\'el\`ene

Let $F(x_1,...,x_n)$ be a form of degree $d\geq 2$, which produces a geometrically irreducible hypersurface in $\mathbb{P}^{n-1}$. This paper is concerned with the number of rational points on F=0 which have height at most $B$. Whenever $n<6$, or whenever the hypersurface is not a union of lines, we obtain estimates that are essentially best possible and that are uniform in $d$ and $n$., Comment: 30 pages