On character sums and the exceptional set of a congruence problem (Q2566190)

Let \(p\) be a prime, \(\chi\) a non-principal character mod \(p\), and set \(S(x) = \sum_{n\leq x} \chi(p).\) The authors prove that \[ S(x) \ll x^{\frac1r}p^{\frac12 -\frac3{4r} +\frac1{4r^2} + \varepsilon}. \tag{1} \] \textit{A. I. Vinogradov} [Izv. Akad. Nauk USSR, Ser. Fiz.-Mat. Nauk 9, No. 1, 21--27 (1965; Zbl 0135.10501)] claimed a proof of (1), but Garaev and Karatsuba state that his proof is unsatisfactory because it rests on the unproved assertion that \[ \sum_{B< n \leq B+A} \chi(n) e\left(nX/p \right) \ll A^{1-\frac 1r} p^{\frac{1}{4r} + \frac{1}{4r^2}+\varepsilon} \tag{2} \] for all integers \(X\). The proof given here uses a modified version of (2) with an extra factor of \(AX/p+1\) on the right-hand side. As an application, the authors prove that almost all residue classes mod \(p\) can be represented in the form \(xy\pmod p\), where \(\max(| x| ,| y| ) \ll p^{5/8+\varepsilon}\).