1,1

Prime triples (p, p+2, p+6) are one of the two types of densest permissible constellations of 3 primes (A022004 and A022005). By the Hardy-Littlewood k-tuple conjecture, average gaps between prime k-tuples are O(log^k(p)), with k=3 for triples. If a gap is larger than any preceding gap, we call it a maximal gap, or a record gap. Maximal gaps may be significantly larger than average gaps; this sequence suggests that maximal gaps between triples are O(log^4(p)).

A201599 lists initial primes p in triples (p, p+2, p+6) preceding the maximal gaps. A233434 lists the corresponding primes p at the end of the maximal gaps.

Alexei Kourbatov, Table of n, a(n) for n = 1..72

G. H. Hardy and J. E. Littlewood, Some problems of 'Partitio numerorum'; III: on the expression of a number as a sum of primes, Acta Mathematica, Vol. 44, pp. 1-70, 1923.

Alexei Kourbatov, Maximal gaps between prime k-tuples

A. Kourbatov, Maximal gaps between prime k-tuples: a statistical approach, arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.2242 [math.NT], 2013 and J. Int. Seq. 16 (2013) #13.5.2

Alexei Kourbatov, Tables of record gaps between prime constellations, arXiv preprint arXiv:1309.4053 [math.NT], 2013.

Alexei Kourbatov, The distribution of maximal prime gaps in Cramer's probabilistic model of primes, arXiv preprint arXiv:1401.6959 [math.NT], 2014.

Alexei Kourbatov and Marek Wolf, Predicting maximal gaps in sets of primes, arXiv preprint arXiv:1901.03785 [math.NT], 2019.

Norman Luhn, Record Gaps Between Prime Triplets.

Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, k-Tuple Conjecture.

Gaps between prime triples (p, p+2, p+6) are smaller than 0.35*(log p)^4, where p is the prime at the end of the gap. There is no rigorous proof of this formula. The O(log^4(p)) growth rate is suggested by numerical data and heuristics based on probability considerations.

The gap of 6 between triples starting at p=5 and p=11 is the very first gap, so a(1)=6. The gap of 6 between triples starting at p=11 and p=17 is not a record, so it does not contribute to the sequence. The gap of 24 between triples starting at p=17 and p=41 is a maximal gap - larger than any preceding gap; therefore a(2)=24.

Cf. A022004 (prime triples p, p+2, p+6), A113274, A113404, A200503, A201596, A201062, A201073, A201051, A201251, A202281, A202361, A201599, A233434.

Sequence in context: A002653 A212904 A264790 * A329858 A211615 A195647

Adjacent sequences: A201595 A201596 A201597 * A201599 A201600 A201601

Alexei Kourbatov, Dec 03 2011

approved