Functions that count the number of numbers containing k factors (with multiplicity, k = 1,2,3,...) on an interval arise in connection with generalizations of the P.N.T. I wonder if someone can provide a reference to work involving the distribution of distances between them? For example (calling these numbers k-primes)
$F_{n,k}(d) :=$ card {k-primes on $[2^n,2^{(n+2)}]$ with $( p_{k,m+1} - p_{k,m} ) = d \}$,
in which $p_{k,m} $ is the $m$th k-prime in the interval.
For many such intervals it appears that for given k the distribution is nearly optimal in the sense of minimizing the variance of the distances. At any rate I imagine it's well-studied.