Density of rational points on cyclic covers of \(\mathbb{P}^n\) (Q1032646)

For a finite cover \(f: X\to\mathbb{P}^n\) over \(\mathbb{Q}\), let \[ N(f, B):=\#\{P\in X(\mathbb{Q}): H(f(P))\leq B\}, \] where \(H\) is the standard multiplicative height. When \(f\) has degree 2 or more \textit{J.-P. Serre} [Lectures on the Mordell-Weil theorem. Transl. and ed. by Martin Brown from notes by Michel Waldschmidt. Aspects of Mathematics, E 15. Braunschweig etc.: Friedr. Vieweg \& Sohn. x, 218 p. (1989; Zbl 0676.14005)] conjectured that \(N(f,B)\ll_f B^n(\log B)^C\) for a suitable constant \(C= C(f)\), and proved an analogous bound with the exponent n replaced by \(n+{1\over 2}\). For a cover of degree \(d\), \textit{N. Broberg} [J. Number Theory 101, No. 1, 195--207 (2003; Zbl 1054.14024)] gave the upper bounds \(O_{\varepsilon,f}(B^{2/d+ \varepsilon})\) when \(n= 1\); \(O_{\varepsilon,f}(B^{2+\varepsilon})\) for \(n= 2\) and \(d> 2\); and \(O_{\varepsilon,f}(B^{9/4+\varepsilon})\) for \(n= 2\) and \(d= 2\). The present paper is concerned with cyclic covers, given by equations of the form \(y^d= F(x_0,\dots, x+n)\), where \(F\) is a non-singular form whose degree is a multiple of \(d\). For such a cover the bound \[ N(f, B)\ll_f B^{n+1/(n+2)}(\log B)^{(n+1)/(n+2)} \] is obtained. As \(n\) grows the exponent of \(B\) approaches the value \(n\) conjectured by Serre, irrespective of \(d\). It would be nice to remove the condition that \(F\) must be smooth, and indeed to be able to work with non-cyclic covers. The proof is based on an extension of the reviewer's ``square-sieve'' [Math. Ann. 266, 251--259 (1984; Zbl 0514.10038)], in which one sieves for \(d\)th powers. This requires exponential sum estimates for multi-dimensional mixed character sums, for which the author refers principally to work of \textit{N. M. Katz} [Estimates for nonsingular mixed character sums. Int. Math. Res. Not. 2007, No. 19, Article ID rnm069, 19 p. (2007; Zbl 1145.11084)].