Estimates of trigonometric sums modulo \(p^r\) (Q2460484)

Suppose that \(G\) is a subgroup of the multiplicative group \(\mathbb Z_q^*\) of order \(t\), \(a\in \mathbb Z_q\). The author is interested in studying trigonometric sums over the subgroup \(G\) of the form \(S(a,G) := \sum_{x\in G} e_q(ax)\), \(e_q(x):=e^{2\pi ix/q}\). The problem is to estimate \(S(G) := \max_{a\in\mathbb Z_q^*} |S(a,G)|\) in the case where \(q\) is the power of a prime: \(q = p^r\) (\(p\) a prime \(>2\) ). For sufficiently large \(t\), estimates of trigonometric sums over subgroups \(G\subset\mathbb Z_q^*\) are based on the estimate of the quantities \[ T_k(G) := \#\{(x_1,\dots , x_{2k}) : x_1 + \dots + x_k = x_k+1 +\dots + x_{2k} \pmod q,\;x_i \in G\}. \] Then the following assertion is valid. Lemma. For all natural \(k\) and \(l\), \[ S(G) \leq (qT_k(G)T_l(G))^{1/(2kl)}t^{1-1/k-1/l}. \] Estimates of such type were established by Vinogradov (the ``smoothing'' method) for estimates of Weyl trigonometric sums. The inequality in the lemma was proved in the book [Character sums with exponential functions and their applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1999; Zbl 0933.11001)] by \textit{S. V. Konyagin} and \textit{I. E. Shparlinski}. In the present paper, the author obtains estimates for the value of \(S(G_r)\) for all \(r\geq 3\) using the estimates for \(T_k(G_2)\) and \(S(G_2)\). Theorem 1. Suppose that \(T_n(G_2) \leq Ap^{-2}t^{2n}\). Then, for \(r \geq 3\), \[ S(G_r) \leq C(A, r)tp^{-\delta_{r,n}},\quad\text{where}\;\delta_{r,n} =\frac{1}{2n^2(n + 1)^{r-3}}, \] for some function \(C\). The number \(n\) is determined in Theorem 2. Moreover, the following is proved: Corollary. For \((a, p) = 1\), \(r\geq 3\), we have \[ \left|\sum_{x=1}^{p-1}e_{p^r}\left(ax^{p^{r-1}}\right)\right| \leq C(r)p^{1-1/(32\cdot5^{r-3})}. \] The classical case of a prime module, i.e., \(r=1\), has been extensively studied, recently by Konyagin and Heath-Brown, the case \(r=2\) was studied by the author [``Estimates of trigonometric sums modulo \(p^2\),'' (to appear)]. It is further noted that if \(t\) is small, but still \(t \geq p^\varepsilon\), then it follows from results of Bourgain-Konyagin and Bourgain-Chang that there exist numbers \(\delta_1 = \delta_1(\varepsilon) > 0\) and \(\delta_2 = \delta_2(\varepsilon) > 0\) such that \(S(G_1) \leq C_{BK}(\varepsilon)tp^{-\delta_1}\) and \(S(G_2) \leq C_B(\varepsilon)tp^{-\delta_2}\).