: We consider what one can prove about the distribution of prime numbers in arithmetic progressions, using only Selberg's formula. In particular, for any given positive integer q, we prove that either the Prime Number Theorem for arithmetic progressions, modulo q, does hold, or that there exists a subgroup H of the reduced residue system, modulo q, which contains the squares, such that `(x; q; a) ¸ 2x=OE(q) for each a 62 H and `(x; q; a) = o(x=OE(q)), otherwise. From here, we deduce that if the second case holds at all, then it holds only for the multiples of some fixed integer q 0 ? 1. Actually, even if the Prime Number Theorem for arithmetic progressions, modulo q, does hold, these methods allow us to deduce the behaviour of a possible `Siegel zero' from Selberg's formula. We also propose a new method for determining explicit upper and lower bounds on `(x; q; a), which uses only elementary number theoretic computations. 1. Introduction. Define `(x) = P px log p, where p only denot...

The key result needed in almost all elementary proofs of the Prime Number Theorem is a prime number lemma proved by Atle Selberg in 1948. Without restricting ourselves to purely elementary techniques we show how the error term in Selberg’s fundamental lemma relates to the error term in the Prime Number Theorem. In spite of all the interest in this topic over the last sixty years this particular question seems to have been overlooked in the past.