An application of exponential sum estimates (Q1780296)

Let \(p\) be an odd prime, \(\delta\) a fixed real with \(0 < \delta < 2\), and \(k, l\) fixed positive integers. Let \(N_{k, l}(p, \delta)\) denote the number of solutions of the inequality \[ \left| \left\{ a^k/p \right\} + \left\{ b^k/p \right\} - \left\{ \bar a^l/p \right\} - \left\{ \bar b^l/p \right\} \right| < \delta \] in \(a, b \in \mathbb F_p^*\); here, \(\{ \theta \}\) is the fractional part of \(\theta\) and \(\bar a\) is the multiplicative inverse of \(a\) in \(\mathbb F_p\). The main result of this paper is the asymptotic formula \[ N_{k, l}(p, \delta) = R(\delta)p^2 + O \big( p^{3/2}\log^5 p \big), \] where \(R(\delta)\) is a piecewise quartic polynomial in \(\delta\) given explicitly in the paper. The proof uses bounds for complete exponential sums over finite fields. In particular, the estimate \[ \sum_{a = 1}^{p - 1} \exp \big( (ma^k + n\bar a^l)/p \big) \ll_{k, l} p^{1/2}(m, n, p)^{1/2} \] plays a prominent role. The authors deduce the latter bound from a result of \textit{J. H. H. Chalk} and \textit{R. A. Smith} [Acta Arith. 18, 191--212 (1971; Zbl 0219.12021)].