Multiple recurrence and convergence for certain averages along shifted primes

Abstract

We show that any subset $A\subset \mathbb{N}$ with positive upper Banach density contains the pattern $\{m,m+[n{\it\alpha}],\dots ,m+k[n{\it\alpha}]\}$, for some $m\in \mathbb{N}$ and $n=p-1$ for some prime $p$, where ${\it\alpha}\in \mathbb{R}\setminus \mathbb{Q}$. Making use of the Furstenberg correspondence principle, we do this by proving an associated recurrence result in ergodic theory along the shifted primes. We also prove the convergence result for the associated averages along primes and indicate other applications of these methods.