A new sum-product estimate in prime fields

In this paper we obtain a new sum-product estimate in prime fields. In particular, we show that if $A\subseteq \mathbb{F}_p$ satisfies $|A|\le p^{64/117}$ then $$\max\{|A\pm A|, |AA|\} \gtrsim |A|^{39/32}.$$ Our argument builds on and improves some recent results of Shakan and Shkredov which use the eigenvalue method to reduce to estimating a fourth moment energy and the additive energy $E^+(P)$ of some subset $P\subseteq A+A$. Our main novelty comes from reducing the estimation of $E^+(P)$ to a point-plane incidence bound of Rudnev rather than a point line incidence bound of Stevens and de Zeeuw as done by Shakan and Shkredov.Comment: 16 page

New sum-product type estimates over finite fields

Let $F$ be a field with positive odd characteristic $p$. We prove a variety of new sum-product type estimates over $F$. They are derived from the theorem that the number of incidences between $m$ points and $n$ planes in the projective three-space $PG(3,F)$, with $m\geq n=O(p^2)$, is $$O( m\sqrt{n} + km ),$$ where $k$ denotes the maximum number of collinear planes. The main result is a significant improvement of the state-of-the-art sum-product inequality over fields with positive characteristic, namely that \begin{equation}\label{mres} |A\pm A|+|A\cdot A| =\Omega \left(|A|^{1+\frac{1}{5}}\right), \end{equation} for any $A$ such that $|A|<p^{\frac{5}{8}}.$Comment: This is a revised version: Theorem 1 was incorrect as stated. We give its correct statement; this does not seriously affect the main arguments throughout the paper. Also added is a seres of remarks, placing the result in the context of the current state of the ar

Direction problems in affine spaces

This paper is a survey paper on old and recent results on direction problems in finite dimensional affine spaces over a finite field.Comment: Academy Contact Forum "Galois geometries and applications", October 5, 2012, Brussels, Belgiu

Four-variable expanders over the prime fields

Let $\mathbb{F}_p$ be a prime field of order $p>2$, and $A$ be a set in $\mathbb{F}_p$ with very small size in terms of $p$. In this note, we show that the number of distinct cubic distances determined by points in $A\times A$ satisfies $$|(A-A)^3+(A-A)^3|\gg |A|^{8/7},$$ which improves a result due to Yazici, Murphy, Rudnev, and Shkredov. In addition, we investigate some new families of expanders in four and five variables. We also give an explicit exponent of a problem of Bukh and Tsimerman, namely, we prove that $$\max \left\lbrace |A+A|, |f(A, A)|\right\rbrace\gg |A|^{6/5},$$ where $f(x, y)$ is a quadratic polynomial in $\mathbb{F}_p[x, y]$ that is not of the form $g(\alpha x+\beta y)$ for some univariate polynomial $g$.Comment: Accepted in PAMS, 201

An Improved Point-Line Incidence Bound Over Arbitrary Fields

We prove a new upper bound for the number of incidences between points and lines in a plane over an arbitrary field $\mathbb{F}$, a problem first considered by Bourgain, Katz and Tao. Specifically, we show that $m$ points and $n$ lines in $\mathbb{F}^2$, with $m^{7/8}<n<m^{8/7}$, determine at most $O(m^{11/15}n^{11/15})$ incidences (where, if $\mathbb{F}$ has positive characteristic $p$, we assume $m^{-2}n^{13}\ll p^{15}$). This improves on the previous best known bound, due to Jones. To obtain our bound, we first prove an optimal point-line incidence bound on Cartesian products, using a reduction to a point-plane incidence bound of Rudnev. We then cover most of the point set with Cartesian products, and we bound the incidences on each product separately, using the bound just mentioned. We give several applications, to sum-product-type problems, an expander problem of Bourgain, the distinct distance problem and Beck's theorem.Comment: 18 pages. To appear in the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Societ