We investigate analogues for curves of the Kakeya problem for straight lines.
These arise from H"ormander-type oscillatory integrals in the same way as the
straight line case comes from the restriction and Bochner-Riesz problems. Using
some of the geometric and arithmetic techniques developed for the straight line
case by Bourgain, Wolff, Katz and Tao, we are able to prove positive results
for families of parabolas whose coefficients satisfy certain algebraic
conditions.Comment: 32 pages. To appear in GAF