The flecnode polynomial: a central object in incidence geometry

We give a brief exposition of the proof of the Cayley-Salmon theorem and its recent role in incidence geometry. Even when we don't use the properties of ruled surfaces explicitly, the regime in which we have interesting results in point-line incidence problems often coincides with the regime in which lines are organized into ruled surfaces.Comment: 12 pages. An expository note submitted to ICM proceeding

A Kakeya maximal function estimate in four dimensions using planebrushes

We obtain an improved Kakeya maximal function estimate in $\mathbb{R}^4$ using a new geometric argument called the planebrush. A planebrush is a higher dimensional analogue of Wolff's hairbrush, which gives effective control on the size of Besicovitch sets when the lines through a typical point concentrate into a plane. When Besicovitch sets do not have this property, the existing trilinear estimates of Guth-Zahl can be used to bound the size of a Besicovitch set. In particular, we establish a maximal function estimate in $\mathbb{R}^4$ at dimension $3.059$. As a consequence, every Besicovitch set in $\mathbb{R}^4$ must have Hausdorff dimension at least $3.059$.Comment: 40 pages 2 figures. v2: revised based on referee's comments. In v1, the Nikishin-Pisier-Stein factorization theorem was stated (and used) incorrectly. This version corrects the problem by introducing several new arguments. The new argument leads to a Kakeya maximal function estimate at dimension 3.059, which is slightly worse than the previously claimed exponent 3.085