Vanishing sums of \(m\)th roots of unity in finite fields (Q1383514)

Consider a vanishing sum \(\alpha_1+\cdots+ \alpha_n=0\) of \(m\)th roots of unity and call \(n\) its weight. The weight set \(W(m)\) is the set of all possible weights \(n\). In characteristic zero, the authors show that if \(m\) has the prime factorization \(m= p^{a_1}_1\cdots p^{a_r}_r\), then \(W(m)= \mathbb{N} p_1+\cdots+ \mathbb{N} p_r\). In characteristic \(p\), there is an additional relation \(p\cdot 1=0\), so the corresponding weight set, \(W_p(m)\), say, contains \(\mathbb{N} p+\mathbb{N} p_1+\cdots+ \mathbb{N} p_r\), but equality no longer holds in general. Suppose \(K= \mathbb{F}_{p^k}\) contains the \(m\)th roots of unity so that these roots of unity constitute the group \(K^{'d}\) with \(d= (p^k-1)/m\). A vanishing sum of \(m\)th roots of unity of weight \(n\) corresponds to a solution of the equation \[ x^d_1+\cdots+ x^d_n= 0 \] in \(K\) with all \(x_i\neq 0\). The main result of this paper is that if \(m\neq 1\) and \((m,k)\neq(2,1)\), then the equation has a solution with all \(x_i\neq 0\) whenever \(n>d\), and so \(W_p(m)\) contains all integers \(\geq d+1\). The exceptional cases correspond to those where all \(x^d_i= 1\) or all \(x^d_i= \pm 1\). The case \(m_0= \text{gcd}(p- 1,m)\geq 3\) is the simplest. Put \(d_0= (p-1)/m_0\). The group \(H\) of \(m_0\)th roots of unity in \(\mathbb{F}_p\) is \(\mathbb{F}^{\prime d_0}_p\) with \(m_0\) elements. By the Cauchy-Davenport theorem of additive number theory and induction on \(n\), \(| n* H|\geq nm_0\) for \(n\leq d_0\) and \(| n*H|= p\) for \(n\geq d_0+ 1\). Consequently, \([d_0+ 1,\infty)\subset W_p(m_0)\subset W_p(m)\) which gives the main result in this case. When \(\text{gcd}(p- 1,m)= 2\) or 1, the arguments are interesting and use more involved variations on this theme, yielding somewhat stronger versions of the main result.