Conditional bounds for small prime solutions of linear equations

Abstract

Let a 1, a 2, a 3 be non-zero integers with gcd(a 1 a 2, a 3)=1 and let b be an arbitrary integer satisfying gcd (b, a i, a j) =1 for i≠j and b≡a 1+a 2+a 3 (mod 2). In a previous paper [3] which completely settled a problem of A. Baker, the 2nd and 3rd authors proved that if a 1, a 2, a 3 are not all of the same sign, then the equation a 1 p 1+a 2 p 2+a 3 p 3=b has a solution in primes p j satisfying {Mathematical expression} where A>0 is an absolute constant. In this paper, under the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, the authors obtain a more precise bound for the solutions p j . In particular they obtain A<4+∈ for some ∈>0. An immediate consquence of the main result is that the Linnik's courtant is less than or equal to 2. © 1992 Springer-Verlag.