Erdős type problems in modules over cyclic rings (Q276068)

The paper transfers Fourier analytic methods for the study of Erdős distance problems from finite fields to modules over cyclic rings. Let \(p\) be an odd prime number, \(q=p^\ell\). For \(x,y\in \mathbb{Z}_q^2\), the distance of these two points is defined as \((x_1-y_1)^2+ (x_2-y_3)^2\), and the area of the triangle spanned by the vertices \(x^1,x^2,x^3\in \mathbb{Z}_q^2\) is defined as \(\det(x^1-x^3, x^2-x^3)\). Two triangles, \(x^1,x^2,x^3\) and \(y^1,y^2,y^3\), are said to be congruent, if there is a \(\theta\in\mathrm{SO}_2(\mathbb{Z}_q)\), such that for all \(i\) and \(j\) the identity \(x^i-x^j=\theta (y^i-y^j)\) holds. \(\mathrm{SO}_2(\mathbb{Z}_q)\) is the set of \(2\times 2\) matrices \(A\) over \(\mathbb{Z}_q\), for which \(\det(A)=1\) and \(AA^T=I\). The main results of the paper are the following: for any \(E\subset \mathbb{Z}_q^2\), (i) if \(|E|>p^{2\ell-1/2}\), then point triplets from \(E\) determine at least \(\frac{q}{4}\frac{1+p}{p}-1 \) different nonzero areas; (ii) if \(p\equiv 3\) mod 4 and \(|E|>3^{1/3}p^{2\ell-1/3}\), then point triplets from \(E\) determine \(\gtrsim q^3\) noncongruent triangles.