We study the pair correlations between prime numbers in an interval M ≤ p ≤ M + L with M → ∞, L/M → β > 0. By analyzing the structure factor, we prove, conditionally on the Hardy-Littlewood conjecture on prime pairs, that the primes are characterized by unanticipated multiscale order. Specifically, their limiting structure factor is that of a union of an infinite number of periodic systems and is characterized by dense set of Dirac delta functions. Primes in dyadic intervals are the first examples of what we call effectively limit-periodic point configurations. This behavior implies anomalously suppressed density fluctuations compared to uncorrelated (Poisson) systems at large length scales, which is now known as hyperuniformity. Using a scalar order metric τ calculated from the structure factor, we identify a transition between the order exhibited when L is comparable to M and the uncorrelated behavior when L is only logarithmic in M . Our analysis for the structure factor leads to an algorithm to reconstruct primes in a dyadic interval with high accuracy.

The prime numbers have been a source of fascination for millenia and continue to surprise us. Motivated by the hyperuniformity concept, which has attracted recent attention in physics and materials science, we show that the prime numbers in certain large intervals possess unanticipated order across length scales and represent the first example of a new class of many-particle systems with pure point diffraction patterns, which we call effectively limit-periodic. In particular, the primes in this regime are hyperuniform. This is shown analytically using the structure factor S(k), proportional to the scattering intensity from a many-particle system. Remarkably, the structure factor for primes is characterized by dense Bragg peaks, like a quasicrystal, but positioned at certain rational wavenumbers, like a limit-periodic point pattern. We identify a transition between ordered and disordered prime regimes that depends on the intervals studied. Our analysis leads to an algorithm that enables one to predict primes with high accuracy. Effective limit-periodicity deserves future investigation in physics, independent of its link to the primes.

We prove equidistribution at shrinking scales for the monochromatic ensemble on a compact Riemannian manifold of any dimension. This ensemble on an arbitrary manifold takes a slowly growing spectral window in order to synthesize a random function. With high probability, equidistribution takes place close to the optimal wave scale and simultaneously over the whole manifold. The proof uses Weyl's law to approximate the two-point correlation function of the ensemble, and a Chernoff bound to deduce concentration.

We prove lower bounds for energy in the Gaussian core model, in which point particles interact via a Gaussian potential. Under the potential function t → e −αt 2 with 0 < α < 4π/e, we show that no point configuration in R n of density ρ can have energy less than (ρ + o(1))(π/α) n/2 as n → ∞ with α and ρ fixed. This lower bound asymptotically matches the upper bound of ρ(π/α) n/2 obtained as the expectation in the Siegel mean value theorem, and it is attained by random lattices. The proof is based on the linear programming bound, and it uses an interpolation construction analogous to those used for the Beurling-Selberg extremal problem in analytic number theory. In the other direction, we prove that the upper bound of ρ(π/α) n/2 is no longer asymptotically sharp when α > πe. As a consequence of our results, we obtain bounds in R n for the minimal energy under inverse power laws t → 1/t n+s with s > 0, and these bounds are sharp to within a constant factor as n → ∞ with s fixed.

We study random spherical harmonics at shrinking scales. We compare the mass assigned to a small spherical cap with its area, and find the smallest possible scale at which, with high probability, the discrepancy between them is small simultaneously at every point on the sphere.