Bounded gaps between primes

This is the home page for the Polymath8 project, which has two components:

• Polymath8a, "Bounded gaps between primes", was a project to improve the bound H=H_1 on the least gap between consecutive primes that was attained infinitely often, by developing the techniques of Zhang. This project concluded with a bound of H = 4,680.
• Polymath8b, "Bounded intervals with many primes", was project to improve the value of H_1 further, as well as H_m (the least gap between primes with m-1 primes between them that is attained infinitely often), by combining the Polymath8a results with the techniques of Maynard. This project concluded with a bound of H=246, as well as additional bounds on H_m (see below).

World records

Current records

This table lists the current best upper bounds on [math]\displaystyle{ H_m }[/math] - the least quantity for which it is the case that there are infinitely many intervals [math]\displaystyle{ n, n+1, \ldots, n+H_m }[/math] which contain [math]\displaystyle{ m+1 }[/math] consecutive primes - both on the assumption of the Elliott-Halberstam conjecture (or more precisely, a generalization of this conjecture, formulated as Conjecture 1 in [BFI1986]), without this assumption, and without EH or the use of Deligne's theorems. The boldface entry - the bound on [math]\displaystyle{ H_1 }[/math] without assuming Elliott-Halberstam, but assuming the use of Deligne's theorems - is the quantity that has attracted the most attention. The conjectured value [math]\displaystyle{ H_1=2 }[/math] for [math]\displaystyle{ H_1 }[/math] is the twin prime conjecture.

[math]\displaystyle{ m }[/math]	Conjectural	Assuming EH	Without EH	Without EH or Deligne
1	2	6 (on GEH) 12 [M] (on EH only)	246	246
2	6	252 (on GEH) 270 (on EH only)	395,106	474,266
3	8	52,116	24,462,654	32,285,928
4	12	474,266	1,404,556,152	2,031,558,336
5	16	4,137,854	78,602,310,160	124,840,189,042
[math]\displaystyle{ m }[/math]	[math]\displaystyle{ \displaystyle (1+o(1)) m \log m }[/math]	[math]\displaystyle{ \displaystyle O( m e^{2m} ) }[/math]	[math]\displaystyle{ O( \exp( 3.815 m) ) [BI] }[/math]	[math]\displaystyle{ O( m \exp((4 - \frac{4}{43}) m) ) }[/math]

Unless listed below, all the above bounds were produced by the Polymath8 project.

• [BI]: R. C. Baker, A. J. Irving, Bounded intervals containing many primes
• [M]: J. Maynard, Small gaps between primes

We have been working on improving a number of other quantities, including the quantity [math]\displaystyle{ H_m }[/math] mentioned above:

• [math]\displaystyle{ H = H_1 }[/math] is a quantity such that there are infinitely many pairs of consecutive primes of distance at most [math]\displaystyle{ H }[/math] apart. Would like to be as small as possible (this is a primary goal of the Polymath8 project).
• [math]\displaystyle{ k_0 }[/math] is a quantity such that every admissible [math]\displaystyle{ k_0 }[/math]-tuple has infinitely many translates which each contain at least two primes. Would like to be as small as possible. Improvements in [math]\displaystyle{ k_0 }[/math] lead to improvements in [math]\displaystyle{ H }[/math]. (The relationship is roughly of the form [math]\displaystyle{ H \sim k_0 \log k_0 }[/math]; see the page on finding narrow admissible tuples.) More recent improvements on [math]\displaystyle{ k_0 }[/math] have come from solving a Selberg sieve variational problem.
• [math]\displaystyle{ \varpi }[/math] is a technical parameter related to a specialized form of the Elliott-Halberstam conjecture. Would like to be as large as possible. Improvements in [math]\displaystyle{ \varpi }[/math] lead to improvements in [math]\displaystyle{ k_0 }[/math], as described in the page on Dickson-Hardy-Littlewood theorems. In more recent work, the single parameter [math]\displaystyle{ \varpi }[/math] is replaced by a pair [math]\displaystyle{ (\varpi,\delta) }[/math] (in previous work we had [math]\displaystyle{ \delta=\varpi }[/math]). These estimates are obtained in turn from Type I, Type II, and Type III estimates, as described at the page on distribution of primes in smooth moduli.

Timeline of bounds

A table of bounds as a function of time may be found at timeline of prime gap bounds. In this table, infinitesimal losses in [math]\displaystyle{ \delta,\varpi }[/math] are ignored.

Polymath threads

1. I just can’t resist: there are infinitely many pairs of primes at most 59470640 apart, Scott Morrison, 30 May 2013. Inactive
2. The prime tuples conjecture, sieve theory, and the work of Goldston-Pintz-Yildirim, Motohashi-Pintz, and Zhang, Terence Tao, 3 June 2013. Inactive
3. Polymath proposal: bounded gaps between primes, Terence Tao, 4 June 2013. Inactive
4. Online reading seminar for Zhang’s “bounded gaps between primes”, Terence Tao, 4 June 2013. Inactive
5. More narrow admissible sets, Scott Morrison, 5 June 2013. Inactive
6. The elementary Selberg sieve and bounded prime gaps, Terence Tao, 8 June 2013. Inactive
7. A combinatorial subset sum problem associated with bounded prime gaps, Terence Tao, 10 June 2013. Inactive
8. Further analysis of the truncated GPY sieve, Terence Tao, 11 June 2013. Inactive
9. Estimation of the Type I and Type II sums, Terence Tao, 12 June 2013. Inactive
10. Estimation of the Type III sums, Terence Tao, 14 June 2013. Inactive
11. A truncated elementary Selberg sieve of Pintz, Terence Tao, 18 June, 2013. Inactive
12. Bounding short exponential sums on smooth moduli via Weyl differencing, Terence Tao, 22 June, 2013. Inactive
13. The distribution of primes in densely divisible moduli, Terence Tao, 23 June, 2013. Inactive
14. Bounded gaps between primes (Polymath8) – a progress report, Terence Tao, 30 June 2013. Inactive
15. The quest for narrow admissible tuples, Andrew Sutherland, 2 July 2013. Inactive
16. The distribution of primes in doubly densely divisible moduli, Terence Tao, 7 July 2013. Inactive.
17. An improved Type I estimate, Terence Tao, 27 July 2013. Inactive
18. Polymath8: writing the paper, Terence Tao, 17 August 2013. Inactive
19. Polymath8: writing the paper, II, Terence Tao, 2 September 2013. Inactive
20. Polymath8: writing the paper, III, Terence Tao, 22 September 2013. Inactive
21. Polymath8: writing the paper, IV, Terence Tao, 15 October 2013. Inactive
22. Polymath8: Writing the first paper, V, and a look ahead, Terence Tao, 17 November 2013. Inactive
23. Polymath8b: Bounded intervals with many primes, after Maynard, Terence Tao, 19 November 2013. Inactive
24. Polymath8b, II: Optimising the variational problem and the sieve Terence Tao, 22 November 2013. Inactive
25. Polymath8b, III: Numerical optimisation of the variational problem, and a search for new sieves, Terence Tao, 8 December 2013. Inactive
26. Polymath8b, IV: Enlarging the sieve support, more efficient numerics, and explicit asymptotics, Terence Tao, 20 December 2013. Inactive
27. Polymath8b, V: Stretching the sieve support further, Terence Tao, 8 January 2014. Inactive
28. Polymath8b, VI: A low-dimensional variational problem, Terence Tao, 17 January 2014. Inactive
29. Polymath8b, VII: Using the generalised Elliott-Halberstam hypothesis to enlarge the sieve support yet further, Terence Tao, 28 January 2014. Inactive
30. “New equidistribution estimates of Zhang type, and bounded gaps between primes” – and a retrospective, Terence Tao, 7 February 2013. Inactive
31. Polymath8b, VIII: Time to start writing up the results?, Terence Tao, 9 February 2014. Inactive
32. Polymath8b, IX: Large quadratic programs, Terence Tao, 21 February 2014. Inactive
33. Polymath8b, X: Writing the paper, and chasing down loose ends, Terence Tao, 14 April 2014. Inactive
34. Polymath 8b, XI: Finishing up the paper, Terence Tao, 17 May 2014.Inactive
35. Polymath8: wrapping up, Terence Tao, 19 June 2014. Inactive
36. Variants of the Selberg sieve, and bounded intervals containing many primes, Terence Tao, 21 July 2014. Inactive
37. The "bounded gaps between primes" Polymath project - a retrospective, Terence Tao, 30 September 2014. Active

Writeup

• Files for the submitted paper for the Polymath8a project may be found in this directory.
  • The compiled PDF for this paper is available here.
  • The paper is now on the arXiv as "New equidistribution estimates of Zhang type".
  • An older unabridged version of the paper may be found here.
  • The initial referee report is here.
  • The paper has appeared at Algebra & Number Theory 8-9 (2014), 2067--2199.
• Files for the draft paper for the Polymath8 retrospective may be found in this directory.
  • The compiled PDF for this paper is available here.
  • The paper is now on the arXiv as "The "bounded gaps between primes" Polymath project - a retrospective".
  • The paper has appeared at Newsletter of the European Mathematics Society, December 2014, issue 94, 13--23.
• Files for the draft paper for the Polymath8b project may be found in this directory.
  • The compiled PDF for this paper is available here.
  • The paper is now on the arXiv as Variants of the Selberg sieve, and bounded intervals containing many primes
  • The paper is published at Research in the Mathematical Sciences 2014, 1:12.

Here are the Polymath8 grant acknowledgments.

Code and data

• Hensely-Richards sequences, Scott Morrison
  • A mathematica notebook for finding k_0, Scott Morrison
  • python implementation, Avi Levy
• k-tuple pattern data, Thomas J Engelsma
  • A graph of this data
  • Tuples giving this data
• Sifted sequences, Vit Tucek
• Other sifted sequences, Christian Elsholtz
• Size of largest admissible tuples in intervals of length up to 1050, Clark and Jarvis
• C implementation of the "greedy-greedy" algorithm, Andrew Sutherland
• Dropbox for sequences, pedant
• Spreadsheet for admissible sequences, Vit Tucek
• Java code for optimising a given tuple V1.1, xfxie
• Mathematica Notebook for optimising M_k, James Maynard
• Some notes on polytope decomposition
• Multi-threaded admissibility testing for very large tuples, Andrew Sutherland
• Krylov method for lower bounding M_k, Ignace Bogaert

Tuples applet

Here is a small javascript applet that illustrates the process of sieving for an admissible 632-tuple of diameter 4680 (the sieved residue classes match the example in the paper when translated to [0,4680]).

The same applet can also be used to interactively create new admissible tuples. The default sieve interval is [0,400], but you can change the diameter to any value you like by adding “?d=nnnn” to the URL (e.g. use https://math.mit.edu/~primegaps/sieve.html?d=4680 for diameter 4680). The applet will highlight a suggested residue class to sieve in green (corresponding to a greedy choice that doesn’t hit the end points), but you can sieve any classes you like.

You can also create sieving demos similar to the k=632 example above by specifying a list of residues to sieve. A longer but equivalent version of the “?ktuple=632″ URL is

https://math.mit.edu/~primegaps/sieve.html?d=4680&r=1,1,4,3,2,8,2,14,13,8,29,31,33,28,6,49,21,47,58,35,57,44,1,55,50,57,9,91,87,45,89,50,16,19,122,114,151,66

The numbers listed after “r=” are residue classes modulo increasing primes 2,3,5,7,…, omitting any classes that do not require sieving — the applet will automatically skip such primes (e.g. it skips 151 in the k=632 example).

A few caveats: You will want to run this on a PC with a reasonably wide display (say 1360 or greater), and it has only been tested on the current versions of Chrome and Firefox.

Errata

Page numbers refer to the file linked to for the relevant paper.

1. Errata for Zhang's "Bounded gaps between primes"
   1. Page 5: In the first display, [math]\displaystyle{ \mathcal{E} }[/math] should be multiplied by [math]\displaystyle{ \mathcal{L}^{2k_0+2l_0} }[/math], because [math]\displaystyle{ \lambda(n)^2 }[/math] in (2.2) can be that large, cf. (2.4).
   2. Page 14: In the final display, the constraint [math]\displaystyle{ (n,d_1=1 }[/math] should be [math]\displaystyle{ (n,d_1)=1 }[/math].
   3. Page 35: In the display after (10.5), the subscript on [math]\displaystyle{ {\mathcal J}_i }[/math] should be deleted.
   4. Page 36: In the third display, a factor of [math]\displaystyle{ \tau(q_0r)^{O(1)} }[/math] may be needed on the right-hand side (but is ultimately harmless).
   5. Page 38: In the display after (10.14), [math]\displaystyle{ \xi(r,a;q_1,b_1;q_2,b_2;n,k) }[/math] should be [math]\displaystyle{ \xi(r,a;k;q_1,b_1;q_2,b_2;n) }[/math].
   6. Page 42: In (12.3), [math]\displaystyle{ B }[/math] should probably be 2.
   7. Page 47: In the third display after (13.13), the condition [math]\displaystyle{ l \in {\mathcal I}_i(h) }[/math] should be [math]\displaystyle{ l \in {\mathcal I}_i(sh) }[/math].
   8. Page 49: In the top line, a comma in [math]\displaystyle{ (h_1,h_2;,n_1,n_2) }[/math] should be deleted.
   9. Page 51: In the penultimate display, one of the two consecutive commas should be deleted.
   10. Page 54: Three displays before (14.17), [math]\displaystyle{ \bar{r_2}(m_1+m_2)q }[/math] should be [math]\displaystyle{ \bar{r_2}(m_1+m_2)/q }[/math].
2. Errata for Motohashi-Pintz's "A smoothed GPY sieve", version 1. Update: the errata below have been corrected in the most recent arXiv version of the paper.
   1. Page 31: The estimation of (5.14) by (5.15) does not appear to be justified. In the text, it is claimed that the second summation in (5.14) can be treated by a variant of (4.15); however, whereas (5.14) contains a factor of [math]\displaystyle{ (\log \frac{R}{|D|})^{2\ell+1} }[/math], (4.15) contains instead a factor of [math]\displaystyle{ (\log \frac{R/w}{|K|})^{2\ell+1} }[/math] which is significantly smaller (K in (4.15) plays a similar role to D in (5.14)). As such, the crucial gain of [math]\displaystyle{ \exp(-k\omega/3) }[/math] in (4.15) does not seem to be available for estimating the second sum in (5.14).
3. Errata for Pintz's "A note on bounded gaps between primes", version 1. Update: the errata below have been corrected in subsequent versions of Pintz's paper.
   1. Page 7: In (2.39), the exponent of [math]\displaystyle{ 3a/2 }[/math] should instead be [math]\displaystyle{ -5a/2 }[/math] (it comes from dividing (2.38) by (2.37)). This impacts the numerics for the rest of the paper.
   2. Page 8: The "easy calculation" that the relative error caused by discarding all but the smooth moduli appears to be unjustified, as it relies on the treatment of (5.14) in Motohashi-Pintz which has the issue pointed out in 2.1 above.

Other relevant blog posts

• Marker lecture III: “Small gaps between primes”, Terence Tao, 19 Nov 2008.
• The Goldston-Pintz-Yildirim result, and how far do we have to walk to twin primes ?, Emmanuel Kowalski, 22 Jan 2009.
• Number Theory News, Peter Woit, 12 May 2013.
• Bounded Gaps Between Primes, Emily Riehl, 14 May 2013.
• Bounded gaps between primes!, Emmanuel Kowalski, 21 May 2013.
• Bounded gaps between primes: some grittier details, Emmanuel Kowalski, 4 June 2013.
  • The slides from the talk mentioned in that post
• Bound on prime gaps bound decreasing by leaps and bounds, Christian Perfect, 8 June 2013.
• Narrowing the Gap, Brie Finegold, AMS Blog on Math Blogs, 14 June 2013.
• Bounded gaps between primes: the dawn of (some) enlightenment, Emmanuel Kowalski, 22 June 2013.
• A ternary divisor variation, Emmanuel Kowalski, 25 June 2013.
• Conductors of one-variable transforms of trace functions, Emmanuel Kowalski, 9 September 2013.
• Polymath 8 – a Success!, Gil Kalai, 20 September 2013.
• James Maynard, auteur du théorème de l’année, Emmanuel Kowalski, 24 October 2013.
• Reflections on reading the Polymath8(a) paper, Emmanuel Kowalski, 8 December 2013.

MathOverflow

• Philosophy behind Yitang Zhang’s work on the Twin Primes Conjecture, 20 May 2013.
• A technical question related to Zhang’s result of bounded prime gaps, 25 May 2013.
• How does Yitang Zhang use Cauchy’s inequality and Theorem 2 to obtain the error term coming from the [math]\displaystyle{ S_2 }[/math] sum, 31 May 2013.
• Tightening Zhang’s bound, 3 June 2013.
  • Metathread for this post
• Does Zhang’s theorem generalize to 3 or more primes in an interval of fixed length?, 3 June 2013.

Wikipedia and other references

• Bessel function
• Bombieri-Vinogradov theorem
• Brun-Titchmarsh theorem
• Dispersion method
• Prime gap
• Second Hardy-Littlewood conjecture
• Twin prime conjecture

Recent papers and notes

• On the exponent of distribution of the ternary divisor function, Étienne Fouvry, Emmanuel Kowalski, Philippe Michel, 11 Apr 2013.
• On the optimal weight function in the Goldston-Pintz-Yildirim method for finding small gaps between consecutive primes, Bálint Farkas, János Pintz and Szilárd Gy. Révész, To appear in: Paul Turán Memorial Volume: Number Theory, Analysis and Combinatorics, de Gruyter, Berlin, 2013. 23 pages. arXiv
• The existence of small prime gaps in subsets of the integers, Jacques Benatar, 2 May, 2013.
• Bounded gaps between primes, Yitang Zhang, Annals of Mathematics 179 (2014), 1121-1174. Released 21 May, 2013.
• Polignac Numbers, Conjectures of Erdös on Gaps between Primes, Arithmetic Progressions in Primes, and the Bounded Gap Conjecture, Janos Pintz, 27 May 2013.
• A poor man's improvement on Zhang's result: there are infinitely many prime gaps less than 60 million, T. S. Trudgian, 28 May 2013.
• The Friedlander-Iwaniec sum, É. Fouvry, E. Kowalski, Ph. Michel., May 2013.
• Zhang's Theorem on Bounded Gaps Between Primes, Dan Goldston, May? 2013.
• Notes on Zhang's prime gaps paper, Terence Tao, 1 June 2013.
• Bounded prime gaps in short intervals, Johan Andersson, 3 June 2013.
• Bounded length intervals containing two primes and an almost-prime II, James Maynard, 5 June 2013.
• A note on bounded gaps between primes, Janos Pintz, 6 June 2013.
• Lower Bounds for Admissible k-tuples, Avishay Tal, 15 June 2013.
• Notes in a truncated elementary Selberg sieve (Section 1, Section 2, Section 3), Janos Pintz, 18 June 2013.
• Lecture notes: bounded gaps between primes, Gergely Harcos, 1 Oct 2013.
• New bounds on gaps between primes, Andrew Sutherland, 17 Oct 2013.
• Bounded gaps between primes, Andrew Granville, 29 Oct 2013.
• Primes in intervals of bounded length, Andrew Granville, 19 Nov 2013. Uploaded to arXiv, 30 Oct 2014.
• Small gaps between primes, James Maynard, 19 Nov 2013. To appear, Annals Math.
• A note on the theorem of Maynard and Tao, Tristan Freiberg, 21 Nov 2013.
• Consecutive primes in tuples, William D. Banks, Tristan Freiberg, and Caroline L. Turnage-Butterbaugh, 27 Nov 2013.
• Close encounters among the primes, John Friedlander, Henryk Iwaniec, 10 Dec 2013.
• A Friendly Intro to Sieves with a Look Towards Recent Progress on the Twin Primes Conjecture, David Lowry-Duda, 25 Jan, 2014.
• The twin prime conjecture, Yoichi Motohashi, 26 Jan 2014.
• Bounded gaps between primes in Chebotarev sets, Jesse Thorner, 26 Jan 2014.
• Bounded gaps between primes, Ben Green, 19 Feb 2014.
• Bounded gaps between primes of the special form, Hongze Li, Hao Pan, 19 Mar 2014.
• Bounded gaps between primes in number fields and function fields, Abel Castillo, Chris Hall, Robert J. Lemke Oliver, Paul Pollack, Lola Thompson, 23 Mar 2014.
• Bounded gaps between primes with a given primitive root, Paul Pollack, 15 Apr 2014.
• On limit points of the sequence of normalized prime gaps, William D. Banks, Tristan Freiberg, and James Maynard, 21 Apr 2014.
• Petits écarts entre nombres premiers et polymath : une nouvelle manière de faire de la recherche en mathématiques?, R. de la Breteche, Gazette des Mathématiciens, Soc. Math. France, Avril 2014, 19--31.
• Dense clusters of primes in subsets, James Maynard, 11 May 2014.
• Arithmetic functions at consecutive shifted primes, Paul Pollack, Lola Thompson, 17 May 2014.
• On the ratio of consecutive gaps between primes, Janos Pintz, 10 Jun 2014.
• Bounded gaps between primes in special sequences, Lynn Chua, Soohyun Park, Geoffrey D. Smith, 8 Jul 2014.
• On the distribution of gaps between consecutive primes, Janos Pintz, 8 Jul 2014 (first version), 24 Sep 2014 (second version).
• Large gaps between primes, James Maynard, 21 Aug 2014.
• Best possible densities of Dickson m-tuples, as a consequence of Zhang-Maynard-Tao, Andrew Granville, Daniel M. Kane, Dimitris Koukoulopoulos, Robert J. Lemke Oliver, 29 Oct, 2014.
• Gaps between Primes in Beatty Sequences, Roger Baker, Liangyi Zhao, 11 Nov 2014.
• On the Density of Weak Polignac Numbers, Stijn Hanson, 27 Jan 2015.
• On a conjecture of Erdős, Pólya and Turán on consecutive gaps between primes, Janos Pintz, 26 Apr 2015.
• Bounded intervals containing many primes, R. C. Baker, A. J. Irving, 7 May 2015.
• Goldbach versus de Polignac numbers, Jacques Benatar, 12 May 2015.
• Prime numbers: A much needed gap is finally found, John Friedlander, June 2015.
• Sieve theory and small gaps between primes: Introduction, A variational problem, Narrow admissible tuples Andrew V. Sutherland, July 2015.
• "Small gaps between the set of primes and products of two primes", Keiju Sono, August 2015.
• Patterns of primes in arithmetic progressions, Janos Pintz, 4 Sep 2015.
• A note on the distribution of normalized prime gaps, Janos Pintz, 15 Oct 2015.
• Limit points and long gaps between primes, Roger Baker, Tristan Freiberg, 27 Oct 2015.
• Bounded gaps between Gaussian primes, Akshaa Vatwani, 3 Nov 2015.
• General divisor functions in arithmetic progressions to large moduli, Fei Wei, Boqing Xue, Yitang Zhang, Dec 2015.
• Large gaps between consecutive primes containing perfect k-th powers of prime numbers, Helmut Maier, Michael Rassias, 12 Dec 2015.
• Increasing and decreasing prime gaps, Daniel Shiu, 6 Apr 2016.
• Golomb's conjecture on prime gaps, Christian Elsholtz, 23 Apr 2016.
• Factors of Carmichael numbers and a weak k-tuples conjecture, Thomas Wright, J. Aust. Math. Soc. 100 (2016), 421-429.
• Small gaps between the set of products of at most two primes, Keiju Sono, May 10 2016.
• Bounded Gaps Between Products of Distinct Primes, Yang Liu, Peter S. Park, Zhuo Qun Song, Jul 14 2016.
• Bounded gaps between primes and the length spectra of arithmetic hyperbolic 3-orbifolds, Benjamin Linowitz, D. B. McReynolds, Paul Pollack, Lola Thompson, May 24, 2017.
• Bounded gaps between primes in short intervals, Ryan Alweiss, Sammy Luo, Jul 18 2017.
• Bounded gaps between product of two primes in number fields, Pranendu Darbar, Anirban Mukhopadhyay, Nov 6 2017.
• Short intervals containing a prescribed number of primes, Daniele Mastrostefano, Mar 1 2018.
• Almost primes in various settings, Paweł Lewulis, Jun 23 2018.
• On the largest square divisor of shifted primes, Jori Merikoski, Jul 4 2019.

Media

• First proof that infinitely many prime numbers come in pairs, Maggie McKee, Nature, 14 May 2013.
• Proof that an infinite number of primes are paired, Lisa Grossman, New Scientist, 14 May 2013.
• Unheralded Mathematician Bridges the Prime Gap, Erica Klarreich, Simons science news, 20 May 2013.
  • The article also appeared on Wired as "Unknown Mathematician Proves Elusive Property of Prime Numbers".
• The Beauty of Bounded Gaps, Jordan Ellenberg, Slate, 22 May 2013.
• Game of proofs boosts prime pair result by millions, Jacob Aron, New Scientist, 4 June 2013.
• L'union fait la force des mathématiciens, Philippe Pajot, Le Monde, 24 June, 2013.
• Primal Madness: Mathematicians’ Hunt for Twin Prime Numbers, Amir Aczel, Discover Magazine, 10 July, 2013.
• The Twin Prime Hero, Michael Segal, Nautilus, Issue 005, 2013.
• Prime Time, Casey Hamilton, Australian National University, 19 November 2013.
• Together and Alone, Closing the Prime Gap, Erica Klarreich, Quanta, 19 November 2013.
  • The article also appeared on Wired as "Sudden Progress on Prime Number Problem Has Mathematicians Buzzing".
  • Mathematicians Team Up To Close the Prime Gap, Slashdot, 20 November 2013.
• Ein großer Schritt zum Beweis der Primzahlzwillingsvermutung, Hans Engler, Spektrum, 13 December 2013.
• An old mathematical puzzle soon to be unraveled?, Benjamin Augereau, Phys.org, 15 January 2014.
• Neuer Durchbruch auf dem Weg zur Primzahlzwillingsvermutung, Christoph Poppe, Spektrum, 30 January 2014.
• Yitang Zhang: A prime-number proof and a world of persistence, Leslie Katz, CNET, February 12, 2014.
• Maths isn’t standing still, Adam Smith and Vicky Neale, Pod Academy, March 3, 2014.
• Prime Gap Grows After Decades-Long Lull, Erica Klarreich, Quanta, Dec 10, 2014.
• Counting from infinity: Yitang Zhang and the twin prime conjecture (Documentary), George Csicsery, released Jan 2015.
• The Pursuit of Beauty, Alec Wilkinson, New Yorker, Feb 2 2015.
  • Yitang Zhang's discovery (Video), Alec Wilkinson, New Yorker, Jan 28, 2015.
• Prime Progress Invigorates Math Minds, Katherine Merow, MAA Focus, February/March 2015.
• Prime Numbers: A Much Needed Gap Is Finally Found, John Friedlander, Notices of the AMS, June/July 2015.

Bibliography

Additional links for some of these references (e.g. to arXiv versions) would be greatly appreciated.

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• [BFI1987] Bombieri, E.; Friedlander, J. B.; Iwaniec, H. Primes in arithmetic progressions to large moduli. II. Math. Ann. 277 (1987), no. 3, 361–393. MathSciNet Article
• [BFI1989] Bombieri, E.; Friedlander, J. B.; Iwaniec, H. Primes in arithmetic progressions to large moduli. III. J. Amer. Math. Soc. 2 (1989), no. 2, 215–224. MathSciNet Article
• [B1995] Jörg Brüdern, Einführung in die analytische Zahlentheorie, Springer Verlag 1995
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• [FI1985] Friedlander, John B.; Iwaniec, Henryk, Incomplete Kloosterman sums and a divisor problem. With an appendix by Bryan J. Birch and Enrico Bombieri. Ann. of Math. (2) 121 (1985), no. 2, 319–350. MathSciNet JSTOR Appendix
• [GPY2009] Goldston, Daniel A.; Pintz, János; Yıldırım, Cem Y. Primes in tuples. I. Ann. of Math. (2) 170 (2009), no. 2, 819–862. arXiv MathSciNet
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