Explicit averages of square-free supported functions: to the edge of the convolution method

Abstract

We give a general statement of the convolution method so that one can provide explicit asymptotic estimations for all averages of square-free supported arithmetic functions that have a sufficiently regular order on the prime numbers and observe how the nature of this method gives error term estimations of order $X^{-\delta}$, where $\delta$ belongs to an open real positive set $I$. In order to have a better error estimation, a natural question is whether or not we can achieve an error term of critical order $X^{-\delta_0}$, where $\delta_0$, the critical exponent, is the right hand endpoint of $I$. We reply positively to that question by presenting a new method that improves qualitatively almost all instances of the convolution method under some regularity conditions; now, the asymptotic estimation of averages of well-behaved square-free supported arithmetic functions can be given with its critical exponent and a reasonable explicit error constant. We illustrate this new method by analyzing a particular average related to the work of Ramar\'e--Akhilesh (2017), which leads to notable improvements when imposing non-trivial coprimality conditions.