New bounds for Kakeya problems (Q1809914): Difference between revisions

A Besicovitch set (or Kakeya set) \(E\subset \mathbb R^n\) is a set which contains a unit line segment in each direction. The Kakeya conjecture is: a Besicovitch set in \(\mathbb R^n\) must have Hausdorff dimension \(n\)? This has been verified for \(n=2\) but is open otherwise. If \(E\subset \mathbb R^n\), one defines \(\delta\)-entropy \(\mathcal E_\delta(E)\) to be the maximum possible cardinality for a \(\delta\)-separated subset of \(E\), and the Minkowski dimension \(\overline{\dim}E\) is defined as \(\overline{\dim}E=\limsup_{\delta\to 0} \log_{1/\delta}\mathcal E_\delta (E)\). The Kakeya maximal function \(\mathcal{K}_\delta f(\omega)\) is defined by \(\sup |T|^{-1}\int_T |f|\), where \(\delta>0\) is a fixed small number, \(\omega\in S^{n-1}\), and \(T\) ranges over all \(1\times \delta\times\cdots\times \delta\) tubes parallel to \(\omega\). The authors state the following: Any Kakeya set must have Minkowski dimension at least \(n/\alpha+(\alpha-1)/\alpha\), where \(\alpha\) is between \(1\) and \(2\) and satisfies \(\alpha^3-4\alpha+2=0\). Any Kakeya set must have Hausdorff dimension at least \((2-\sqrt 2)(n-4)+3\). The Kakeya maximal function satisfies \(\|\mathcal{K}_\delta f\|_{n+3/4}\leq C_\varepsilon \delta^{-\varepsilon} (\delta^{1-n})^{3/(4n+3)}\|f\|_{(4n+3)/7}\) for any \(\varepsilon>0\) and \(0<\delta< <1\). The Minkowski result is new for \(n\geq 7\). The Hausdorff result is new for \(n\geq 5\). The maximal function result is new for \(n\geq 9\).