On large differences between consecutive primes

Abstract

We show that $$\sum_{\substack{p_n \in [x, 2x] \\ p_{n+1} - p_n \ge x^{1/2}}} (p_{n+1} - p_n) \ll x^{0.57+\epsilon}$$ and $$\sum_{\substack{p_n \in [x, 2x] \\ p_{n+1} - p_n \ge x^{0.45}}} (p_{n+1} - p_n) \ll x^{0.63+\epsilon},$$ where $p_n$ is the $n$th prime number. The proof combines Heath-Brown's recent work with Harman's sieve, improving and extending his results. We give applications of the results to prime-representing functions, binary digits of primes and approximation of reals by multiplicative functions.