Burgess inequality in \(\mathbb F_{p^2}\) (Q2655448)

For a nontrivial character \(\chi\) on \(\mathbb F_p\) and an interval \(I\) of length \(|I|>p^{1/4+\varepsilon}\), Burgess showed \[ \left| \sum_{x\in I} \chi (x)\right| < p^{-\delta}|I|,\qquad \text{for some}\;\delta=\delta (\varepsilon)>0. \] This remains the best inequality, although it is conjectured that the \(1/4\) can be omitted. Typical applications are estimating the least quadratic residue modulo \(p\) and the distribution of primitive elements in a finite field. Here the author proves a two-dimensional version. For intervals \(I\) and \(J\) of length at least \(p^{1/4+\varepsilon}\) and \(\omega\in\mathbb F_{p^2}\setminus \mathbb F_p\), one has: \[ \left|\sum_{x\in I, y\in J} \chi(x+\omega y)\right| < p^{-\delta}|I|\,|J|, \qquad\text{for some}\;\delta=\delta (\varepsilon)>0, \] for any nontrivial character \(\chi\) on \(\mathbb F_{p^2}\). The key is the uniformity in \(\omega\). Both Burgess and Karacuba have similar results without this uniformity. The proof follows Burgess' method but with improved estimates on the multiplicative energy in finite fields.