An L-function free proof of Hua's Theorem on sums of five prime squares

Abstract

Abstract We provide a new proof of Hua's result that every sufficiently large integer N ≡ 5 (mod 24) can be written as the sum of the five prime squares. Hua's original proof relies on the circle method and uses results from the theory of L-functions. Here, we present a proof based on the transference principle first introduced in[5]. Using a sieve theoretic approach similar to ([10]), we do not require any results related to the distributions of zeros of L- functions. The main technical difficulty of our approach lies in proving the pseudo-randomness of the majorant of the characteristic function of the W-tricked primes which requires a precise evaluation of the occurring Gaussian sums and Jacobi symbols.