Low-degree tests at large distances

We define tests of boolean functions which distinguish between linear (or quadratic) polynomials, and functions which are very far, in an appropriate sense, from these polynomials. The tests have optimal or nearly optimal trade-offs between soundness and the number of queries. In particular, we show that functions with small Gowers uniformity norms behave ``randomly'' with respect to hypergraph linearity tests. A central step in our analysis of quadraticity tests is the proof of an inverse theorem for the third Gowers uniformity norm of boolean functions. The last result has also a coding theory application. It is possible to estimate efficiently the distance from the second-order Reed-Muller code on inputs lying far beyond its list-decoding radius

An inverse theorem for the Gowers U^3 norm

The Gowers U^3 norm is one of a sequence of norms used in the study of arithmetic progressions. If G is an abelian group and A is a subset of G then the U^3(G) of the characteristic function 1_A is useful in the study of progressions of length 4 in A. We give a comprehensive study of the U^3(G) norm, obtaining a reasonably complete description of functions f : G -> C for which ||f||_{U^3} is large and providing links to recent results of Host, Kra and Ziegler in ergodic theory. As an application we generalise a result of Gowers on Szemeredi's theorem. Writing r_4(G) for the size of the largest set A not containing four distinct elements in arithmetic progression, we show that r_4(G) << |G|(loglog|G|)^{-c} for some absolute constant c. In future papers we will develop these ideas further, obtaining an asymptotic for the number of 4-term progressions p_1 < p_2 < p_3 < p_4 < N of primes as well as superior bounds for r_4(G).Comment: 72 pages, some spelling corrections and updated references. To appear in Proc. Edinburgh Math. So

Quantitative bounds for Gowers uniformity of the M\"obius and von Mangoldt functions

We establish quantitative bounds on the $U^k[N]$ Gowers norms of the M\"obius function $\mu$ and the von Mangoldt function $\Lambda$ for all $k$, with error terms of shape $O((\log\log N)^{-c})$. As a consequence, we obtain quantitative bounds for the number of solutions to any linear system of equations of finite complexity in the primes, with the same shape of error terms. We also obtain the first quantitative bounds on the size of sets containing no $k$-term arithmetic progressions with shifted prime difference.Comment: 56 pages; added Corollary 1.5 and Theorem 1.

An equivalence between inverse sumset theorems and inverse conjectures for the U^3 norm

We establish a correspondence between inverse sumset theorems (which can be viewed as classifications of approximate (abelian) groups) and inverse theorems for the Gowers norms (which can be viewed as classifications of approximate polynomials). In particular, we show that the inverse sumset theorems of Freiman type are equivalent to the known inverse results for the Gowers U^3 norms, and moreover that the conjectured polynomial strengthening of the former is also equivalent to the polynomial strengthening of the latter. We establish this equivalence in two model settings, namely that of the finite field vector spaces F_2^n, and of the cyclic groups Z/NZ. In both cases the argument involves clarifying the structure of certain types of approximate homomorphism.Comment: 23 page

Long arithmetic progressions of primes

This is an article for a general mathematical audience on the author's work, joint with Terence Tao, establishing that there are arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions of primes. It is based on several one hour lectures, chiefly given at British universities.Comment: 19 pages, submitted to Proceedings of the Gauss-Dirichlet Conference, Gottingen, June 20-24 200