Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 August 2012
In this paper we generalize and extend work by Languasco, Perreli and Zaccagnini on the Montgomery–Hooley theorem in short intervals. We are thus able to obtain asymptotic formulae for the mean-square error in the distribution of general sequences in arithmetic progressions in short intervals. As applications we consider lower and upper bound approximations to the characteristic function of the primes in a short interval and an average over short intervals for the von Mangoldt function.