Prime Points in Orbits: Some Instances of the Bourgain-Gamburd-Sarnak Conjecture

We use Vaughan's variation on Vinogradov's three-primes theorem to prove Zariski-density of prime points in several infinite families of hypersurfaces, including level sets of some quadratic forms, the Permanent polynomial, and the defining polynomials of some pre-homogeneous vector spaces. Three of these families are instances of a conjecture by Bourgain, Gamburd and Sarnak regarding prime points in orbits of simple algebraic groups. Our approach is based on the formulation of a general condition on the defining polynomial of a hypersurface, which suffices to guarantee that Zariski-density of prime points is equivalent to the existence of an odd point.