Exponential sums on \((\mathbb{G}_ m)^ n\) (Q1813552)

The authors deal with exponential sums on a torus and with the associated \(L\)-functions. For a function \(f\in\mathbb{F}_ q[x_ 1,\dots,x_ n,(x_ 1\dots x_ n)^{-1}]\) and a non-trivial additive character \(\Psi\) of \(\mathbb{F}_ q\), \(q=p^ a\), \(p=\text{char }\mathbb{F}_ q\), they consider the sums \[ S_ m=\sum_{x\in(\mathbb{F}_{q^ m})^{\otimes n}}\Psi\circ\text{Tr }_{\mathbb{F}_{q^ m}/\mathbb{F}_ q}(f(x)) \] and the corresponding \(L\)-function: \[ L(t)=L(f,t)=\exp\left(\sum_{m=1}^ \infty S_ m t^ m /m\right). \] In previous articles the authors had proven that if the Newton polyhedron \(\Delta(f)\) of \(f\) is of maximal dimension \(n\) (and volume \(V(f)\)) and \(f\) is non-degenerate with respect to \(\Delta(f)\), then \(L(t)^{(-1)^{n-1}}\) is a polynomial of degree \(n! V(f)\). For sufficiently large \(p\), the roots \(\rho_ i\) of \(L(t)^{(-1)^{n-1}}\) are then known to be algebraic integers pure of weight \(w(\rho_ i)\), for some integer \(w(\rho_ i)\), \(0\leq w(\rho_ i)\leq n\). The purpose of the present paper is the explicit (combinatorial) determination of the number \(w_ k\) of roots of weight \(k\), for each \(0\leq k\leq n\). This aim is achieved when \(\Delta(f)\) is ``simplicial with respect to the origin''. The method of proof is via a decomposition of the \(p\)-adic Koszul complex already used by the authors, according to the codimension-one faces of \(\Delta(f)\). The authors formulate a general conjecture on the formula giving \(w_ k\), but this conjecture was later disproved by \textit{J. Denef} and \textit{F. Loeser}, who also provided an \(\ell\)-adic proof of the results in this paper [see \(p\)-adic analysis, Proc. Conf., Trento/Italy 1989, Lect. Notes Math. 1454, 217-222 (1990; Zbl 0764.11048)].