The modern reference work on the subject seems to be [1], but it spends only a page and a half on the subject of primes in multivariate quadratic polynomials (pp. 396-397). More than half this space is devoted to Iwaniec's 1974 result. The balance mentions Sarnak's application to the Problem of Apollonius and a result of "J. Cho and H. Kim" on counting primes in $\mathbb{Q}[\sqrt{-2}].$ So nothing there.

Pleasants [2] shows that, subject to a Davenport-Lewis [3] condition on the $h^*$ (a complexity measure on the cubic form part), multivariate cubic polynomials have the expected number of primes. Unfortunately this condition requires (as a necessary but insufficient condition) that there be at least 8 variables. Further, it double-counts repeated primes.

Goldoni [4] recently wrote a thesis on this general topic. His new results (Chapter 5) on the $h$ and $h^*$ invariants make it easier to use the results of Pleasants but do not extend them to cubic polynomials with fewer than 8 variables.

Of course I would be remiss in failing to mention the groundbreaking work of Heath-Brown [5], building on Friedlander & Iwaniec [6]. These results will no doubt clear the way for broader research, but so far have not been generalized.

So in short it appears that:

• Apart from $x^3+2y^3$, almost nothing is known about which primes are represented by cubic polynomials, though some results are known for how often such polynomials take on prime values provided $h^*$ and hence the number of variables is large enough.

On the historical side, of course Fermat is responsible for the proof of the case $x^2+y^2$. I have references that say that Weber [7] and Schering [8] handled the case of (primitive) binary quadratic forms with nonsquare discriminants, but I haven't read the papers. Motohashi [9] proved that there are $\gg n/\log^2 n$ primes of the form $x^2+y^2+1$ up to $n$, apparently (?) the first such result with a constant term. He conjectured that the true number was

$$\frac{n}{(\log n)^{3/2}}\cdot\frac32\prod_{p\equiv3(4)}\left(1-\frac{1}{p^2}\right)^{-1/2}\left(1-\frac{1}{p(p-1)}\right)$$

but as far as I know the constant still has not been proved even for this special form.

Edit: Apparently Bredihin [10] proved the infinitude of primes of the form $x^2+y^2+1$ some years before Motohashi. He only gave a slight upper-bound on their density, though: $O(n/(\log n)^{1.042}).$ (Motohashi improved the exponent to 1.5 in a later paper.)

[1] Friedlander, J. and Iwaniec, H. (2010). Opera de Cribro. AMS.

[2] Pleasants, P. (1966). The representation of primes by cubic polynomials, Acta Arithmetica 12, pp. 23-44.

[3] Davenport, H. and Lewis, D. J. (1964). "Non-homogeneous cubic equations". Journal of the London Mathematical Society 39, pp. 657-671.

[4] Goldoni, L. (2010). Prime Numbers and Polynomials. Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Trento.

[5] Heath-Brown, D. R. (2001). Primes represented by $x^3 + 2y^3$. Acta Mathematica 186, pp. 1-84.

[6] Friedlander, J. and Iwaniec, H. (1997). Using a parity-sensitive sieve to count prime values of a polynomial. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 94, pp. 1054-1058.

[7] Weber, H. (1882). "Beweis des Satzes, dass, usw". Mathematische Annalen 20, pp. 301-329.

[8] Schering, E. (1909). "Beweis des Dirichletschen Satzes". Gesammelte mathematische Werke, Bd. 2, pp. 357-365.

[9] Motohashi, Y. (1969). On the distribution of prime numbers which are of the form $x^2+y^2+1$. Acta Arithmetica 16, pp. 351-364.

[10] Bredihin, B. M. (1963). Binary additive problems of indeterminate type II. Analogue of the problem of Hardy and Littlewood (Russian). Izv. Akad. Nauk. SSSR. Ser. Mat. 27, pp. 577-612.

3 formatting and clarifications

The modern reference work on the subject seems to be [1], but it spends only a page and a half on the subject of primes in multivariate quadratic polynomials (pp. 396-397). More than half this space is devoted to Iwaniec's 1974 result. The balance mentions Sarnak's application to the Problem of Apollonius and a result of "J. Cho and H. Kim" on counting primes in $\mathbb{Q}[\sqrt{-2}].$ So nothing there.

Pleasants [2] shows that, subject to a Davenport-Lewis [3] condition on the $h^*$ (a complexity measure on the cubic form part), multivariate cubic polynomials have the expected number of primes. Unfortunately this condition requires (as a necessary but insufficient condition) that there be at least 8 variables. Further, it double-counts repeated primes.

Goldoni [4] recently wrote a thesis on this general topic. His new results (Chapter 5) on the $h$ and $h^*$ invariants make it easier to use the results of Pleasants but do not extend them to cubic polynomials with fewer than 8 variables.

Of course I would be remiss in failing to mention the groundbreaking work of Heath-Brown [5], building on Friedlander & Iwaniec [6]. These results will no doubt clear the way for broader research, but so far have not been generalized.

So in short it appears that:

• Apart from $x^3+2y^3$, almost nothing is known about which primes are represented by cubic polynomials, though some results are known for how often such polynomials take on prime values provided $h^*$ and hence the number of variables is large enough.

On the historical side, of course Fermat is responsible for the proof of the case $x^2+y^2$. I have references that say that Weber [7] and Schering [8] handled the case of (primitive) binary quadratic forms with nonsquare discriminants, but I haven't read the papers. Motohashi [9] proved that there are $\gg n/\log^2 n$ primes of the form $x^2+y^2+1$ up to $n$, apparently (?) the first such result with a constant term. He conjectured that the true number was

$$\frac{n}{(\log n)^{3/2}}\cdot\frac32\prod_{p\equiv3(4)}\left(1-\frac{1}{p^2}\right)^{-1/2}\left(1-\frac{1}{p(p-1)}\right)$$

but as far as I know the constant still has not been proved even for this special form.

[1] Friedlander, J. and Iwaniec, H. (2010). Opera de Cribro. AMS.

[2] Pleasants, P. A. B. Pleasants (1966). The representation of primes by cubic polynomials, Acta Arithmetica 12, pp. 23-44.

[3] Davenport, H. and Lewis, D. J. (1964). "Non-homogeneous cubic equations". Journal of the London Mathematical Society 39, pp. 657-671.

[4] Goldoni, L. (2010). Prime Numbers and Polynomials. Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Trento.

[5] Heath-Brown, D. R. (2001). Primes represented by $x^3 + 2y^3$. Acta Mathematica 186, pp. 1-84.

[6] Friedlander, J. and Iwaniec, H. (1997). Using a parity-sensitive sieve to count prime values of a polynomial. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 94, pp. 1054-1058.

[7] Weber, H. (1882). "Beweis des Satzes, dass, usw". Mathematische Annalen 20, pp. 301-329.

[8] Schering, E. (1909). "Beweis des Dirichletschen Satzes". Gesammelte mathematische Werke, Bd. 2, pp. 357-365.

[9] Motohashi, Y. (1969). On the distribution of prime numbers which are of the form $x^2+y^2+1$. Acta Arithmetica 16, pp. 351-364.

2 give historical details

On the historical side, of course Fermat is responsible for the proof of the case $x^2+y^2$. I have references that say that Weber [7] and Schering [8] handled the case of (primitive) binary quadratic forms with nonsquare discriminants, but I haven't read the papers. Motohashi [9] proved that there are $\gg n/\log^2 n$ primes of the form $x^2+y^2+1$ up to $n$, apparently (?) the first such result with a constant. He conjectured that the true number was

$$\frac{n}{(\log n)^{3/2}}\cdot\frac32\prod_{p\equiv3(4)}\left(1-\frac{1}{p^2}\right)^{-1/2}\left(1-\frac{1}{p(p-1)}\right)$$

but as far as I know the constant has not been proved even for this special form.

[6] Friedlander, J. and Iwaniec, H. (1997). Using a parity-sensitive sieve to count prime values of a polynomial. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 94, pp. 1054-1058.

[7] Weber, H. (1882). "Beweis des Satzes, dass, usw". Mathematische Annalen 20, pp. 301-329.

[8] Schering, E. (1909). "Beweis des Dirichletschen Satzes". Gesammelte mathematische Werke, Bd. 2, pp. 357-365.

[9] Motohashi, Y. (1969). On the distribution of prime numbers which are of the form $x^2+y^2+1$. Acta Arithmetica 16, pp. 351-364.

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