A variation of the prime k-tuples conjecture with applications to quantum limits

Abstract

Let $\mathcal{H}^{*}=\{h_1,h_2,\ldots\}$ be an ordered set of integers. We give sufficient conditions for the existence of increasing sequences of natural numbers $a_j$ and $n_k$ such that $n_k+h_{a_j}$ is a sum of two squares for every $k\geq 1$ and $1\leq j\leq k.$ Our method uses a novel modification of the Maynard-Tao sieve together with a second moment estimate. As a special case of our result, we deduce a conjecture due to D.~Jakobson which has several implications for quantum limits on flat tori.