Chevalley-Warning at the boundary (Q2666928)

Chevalley-Warning theorem is a very popular theorem in number theory, which deals with certain polynomial equations in many variables over finite fields that have solutions. In this article, the authors reformulate those results in terms of fibers of the associated polynomial map. Let \(p\) be a prime number, let \(a \in \mathbb{Z}^{+}\) be a positive integer, and put \(q = p^{a}\). Let \(\mathbb{ F}_q\) be ``the'' (unique, up to isomorphism) finite field of order \(q\). Let \(F_q [t_1, \ldots, t_n]\) be the ring of polynomials in variables \(t_1, \ldots, t_n\) with coefficients in \(\mathbb{F}_q\) : the elements are finite formal \(\mathbb{F}_q\)-linear combinations of monomials \(t_1^{a_1}, t_2^{a_2},\ldots, t_n^{a_n}\). The degree of such monomials is \(a_1 + \ldots + a_n\), and the degree of a nonzero polynomial is the maximum degree of a monomial term that appears with nonzero coefficient. For \(g \in \mathbb{F}_q [t_1, \ldots, t_n]\), let \(E(g)\) denote the induced function from \(\mathbb{F}_q^n \to \mathbb{F}_q\) : \[ E(g) : x = (x_1, \ldots, x_n) \in \mathbb{F}^{n}_{q}\mapsto g(x) \in \mathbb{F}_q. \] Let \(f_1, f_2,\ldots, f_r\) be \(r\) polynomials and let \[E:= \prod_{j=1}^n E(f_j): \mathbb{F}_q^n\rightarrow \mathbb{F}_q,\ x \mapsto (f_1(x), f_2(x),\ldots, f_r(x)).\] Let \( Z = Z( f_1, \ldots, f_r) := \{x = (x_1, \ldots, x_n) \in \mathbb{F}^n_q \mid f_1(x) = \ldots = f_r(x) = 0\}\) be the solution set of the polynomial system. The \textit{fiber} of \(E\) over \(0 \in \mathbb{F}^r_q\) is \(Z = Z( f_1, \ldots, f_r)\), and for any \(b = (b_1, \ldots, b_r) \in \mathbb{F}^r_q\), the \textit{fiber} of \(E\) over \(b\) is \(Z( f_1 - b_1,\ldots, f_r -b_r)\). The following is the main result: Theorem (Chevalley-Warning Restated): Let \(f_1, \ldots, f_r \in\mathbb{F}_q [t_1, \ldots, t_n]\) be polynomials of degrees \(d_1, \ldots, d_r \in \mathbb{Z}^+\), and suppose that \(d := \sum^r_{j=1} d_j < n\). Then every fiber of \(E: \mathbb{F}^n_q \rightarrow \mathbb{F}^r_q, x \mapsto ( f_1(x), \ldots, f_r(x))\) has cardinality divisible by \(p\). The article provides some new questions for further research and a good number of examples. Also, provided an appendix for further study of homogeneous ternary cubic forms.