Irreducibility and the distribution of some exponential sums (Q2447746)

Consider the generalized Gauss sum \[ S_a=\sum_{n=1}^p e\left(\frac{aP(n)}{p}\right), \] where \(e(x)=e^{2\pi ix}\), \(p\) is a prime, \(a\in\mathbb Z\) and \(P(x)\in\mathbb Z[x]\). This arises in the study of certain Fourier series. Given \(0<\alpha< \beta< 1\), one would like to have an inequality of the form \(|S_a|\geq C\sqrt{p}\), for all \(a\) in the interval \([p\alpha , p\beta ]\). However, this does not hold in general. For instance, if \(P\) is a permutation polynomial then \(S_a=0\) for \(1\leq a < p\). The authors first reduce the problem to the full interval \([1, p)\) by proving \[ \sum_{p\alpha\leq a\leq p\beta} |S_a|^2=(\beta-\alpha)\sum_{a=1}^{p-1}|S_a|^2+O(p^{3/2}\log p), \] where the \(O\)-constant depends only on \(P\). The main result is: if \(P\) is not a composition of linear and Dickson polynomials (and so not a permutation polynomial for infinitely many primes) then \[ \sum_{a=1}^{p-1} |S_a|^2\geq p^2+O(p^{3/2}). \] The same inequality holds for an arbitrary nonlinear \(P\), but only for a positive portion of the primes.