Restrictions of Fourier transforms to flat curves in \({\mathbb{R}}^ 2\) (Q1328087)

Let \(\widehat f|_ S\) denote the restriction of the Fourier transform of a function \(f\) to a submanifold \(S\) of \({\mathbf R}^ n\) and let \(\sigma\) be a smooth compactly supported measure on \(S\). An estimate of the form \(\|\widehat f|_ S\|_{L^ q(\sigma)}\leq C_{p,q}\| f\|_{L^ p({\mathbf R}^ n)}\) is called on \(L^ p- L^ q\) restriction theorem. It is known that if the curvature of \(S\) vanishes to at most finite order at every point, then a nontrivial restriction theorem holds, namely there exists some number \(p_ 0> 1\) such that the above estimate holds for \(p= p_ 0\) (with \(q=2\)). On the other hand, it is easy to show that the \(L^ p- L^ q\) restriction estimate may fail for every \(p> 1\) if \(S\) is (infinitely) flat, that is, the curvature of \(S\) vanishes to infinite order at some point. An example of a flat curve in \({\mathbf R}^ 2\) is the graph of the function \(\gamma(t)= e^{-1/t^ 2}\). In this note it is proved that under certain hypotheses an analogous result of the form \(\| \widehat f|_ S\|_{L^ q(\sigma)}\leq C\| f\|_{L^ \Phi({\mathbf R}^ 2)}\) holds for flat curves in \({\mathbf R}^ 2\), where \(L^ \Phi\) is the Orlicz space given by some Young's function \(\Phi\) with \(\lim_{t\to 0}\Phi(t)/t= 0\). More explicitly, our result may be stated as follows: Assume that \(\gamma: [0,\infty)\to [0,\infty)\) is a twice-differentiable, strictly convex function such that \(\gamma(0)= \gamma'(0)= 0\) and \(\gamma(t)/t^ 3\) is increasing for \(t>0\). Also assume that \(\gamma''(t)/t\) is increasing on \((0,\delta)\) for some \(\delta>0\). For every \(q\in [1,\infty)\) and \(d\in (0,1)\) there exists a constant \(C\) such that for all \(f\in {\mathcal S}({\mathbf R}^ 2)\) (the Schwartz class), \[ \left(\int^ \delta_ 0 |\widehat f(t,\gamma(t))|^ q dt\right)^{1/q}\leq C+ C\int_{{\mathbf R}^ 2} | f|\cdot [\gamma^{-1}_ q(| f|)]^ d dx, \] where \(\gamma_ q(t)= t^{q-1}\gamma(t^ q)\). Moreover, this estimate fails for all \(q\) if \(d>1\). Examples include nonflat curves as well as flat curves. We also obtain some positive results in the end point case \(d=1\).