On ranks of polynomials (Q1792603)

Let \(k\) be a field and let \(V\) be a finite-dimensional vector space over \(k\). Let \(P\) be a homogeneous polynomial of degree \(d \ge 2\) on \(V\). The smallest positive integer \(r = r(P)\) such that \(P\) can be written in the form \[ P = \sum_{i=1}^{r}L_{i}R_{i} \] is called the rank of \(P\), where \(L_{i}\) and \(R_{i}\) are homogeneous polynomials of positive degrees on the dual space of \(V\) over the algebraic closure of \(k\). In this paper the authors prove that there exists a function \(C(r,d)\) such that the rank of any polynomial \(P\) of degree \(d > 0\) on \(V\) with \(r(P(x+t)-P(x)) \le r\), \(r > 0\) for all \(t \in V\) is at most \(C(r,d)\). The proof uses the properties of the Gowers norms for finite fields.