The additive structure of Cartesian products spanning few distinct distances (Q1715071)

If $\mathcal{P}$ is a set of $N$ points in the plane, let $\Delta (\mathcal{P})$ denote the set of (squared) distances spanned by $\mathcal{P}$. \textit{P. Erdős} [Am. Math. Mon. 53, 248--250 (1946; Zbl 0060.34805)] conjectured that $$\vert \Delta (\mathcal{P})\vert =\Omega(N/\sqrt{\log N}).$$ \textit{P. Erdős} [Discrete Math. 60, 147--153 (1986; Zbl 0595.52013)] conjectured that each extremal configuration has a lattice-like structure. \textit{L. Guth and N. H. Katz} [Ann. Math. (2) 181, 155--190 (2015; Zbl 1310.52019)] proved that $\vert \Delta (\mathcal{P})\vert \gg N/\log N.$ In the paper under review the author proves that, for any finite set $A$ of real numbers, $$\vert A-A\vert \ll \vert \Delta(A\times A)\vert \vert A\vert ^{-1/8}.$$ Consequently, if $\mathcal{P} = A\times A$ determines few distances (near $c\vert A\vert ^2/\log \vert A\vert)$ then $$\vert A-A\vert \ll \vert A\vert ^{2-1/8}.$$