Pinned distance sets, \(k\)-simplices, Wolff's exponent in finite fields and sum-product estimates (Q431261)

Fix a finite field \(\mathbb{F}_q\) with \(q\) elements (not necessarily prime), and with associated \(d\)-dimensional vector space \(\mathbb{F}_q^d\). Given a set \(E \subset \mathbb{F}_q^d\), let \(\Delta(E) = \{ (x_1-y_1)^2 + \cdots + (x_d - y_d)^2 : x,y \in E \}\). A finite field analogue of the Falconer distance problem asks for a threshold \(\alpha>0\) such that \(|\Delta (D)| \gtrsim q\) whenever \(E \subset \mathbb{F}_q^d\) satisfies \(|E| \gtrsim q^\alpha\). In this finite field setting, \textit{A. Iosevich} and \textit{M. Rudnev} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 359, No. 12, 6127--6142 (2007; Zbl 1145.11083)] proved that \(\alpha\) may be taken to be \(\frac{d+1}{2}\), and \textit{D. Hart} et al., [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 363, No. 6, 3255--3275 (2011; Zbl 1244.11013)] showed that this exponent is best possible, for odd dimensions \(d\). It remains open whether \(d/2\) is the true exponent in even dimensions, in analogy with the Euclidean case; in this direction, the present paper proves that in two dimensions, the exponent may be improved to \(4/3\). This is consistent with \textit{T. Wolff}'s result [Int. Math. Res. Not. 1999, No. 10, 547--567 (1999); addendum ibid. 88, No. 1, 35--39 (2002; Zbl 0930.42006)] for the analogous phenomenon in Euclidean space: the Lebesgue measure of the set of distances determined by a subset of the plane of Hausdorff dimension greater than \(4/3\) is positive. Fixing a pin \(y \in E\), define the pinned distance set \(\Delta_y(E) = \{ (x_1-y_1)^2 + \cdots + (x_d - y_d)^2 : x\in E \}\). In the Euclidean setting, \textit{Y. Peres} and \textit{W. Schlag} [Duke Math. J. 102, No. 2, 193--251 (2000; Zbl 0961.42007)] showed that for a set \(E \subset \mathbb{R}^n\) of Hausdorff dimension greater than \(\frac{d+1}{2}\), the Lebesgue measure of \(\Delta_y(E)\) is positive for almost every pin \(y \in E\). In the present paper, the analogous result is proved in the finite field setting. Moreover, the authors show that this same result continues to hold for the pinned dot product set \(\Pi_y(E) = \{ x \cdot y : x \in E \}\). Under the additional assumption that the set \(E\) has Cartesian product structure, the authors improve the pinned threshold for both distances and dot products to \(\frac{d^2}{2d-1}\). The pinned dot product result for Cartesian products has additional implications for sum-product results. Fix a set \(A \subset \mathbb{F}_q\) and a point \(z \in \mathbb{F}_q^*\). The present paper proves that if \(|A| \geq q^{\frac{d}{2d-1}}\), then there exists a subset \(E' \subset A \times \cdots \times A = A^{d-1}\) with \(|E'| \gtrsim |A|^{d-1}\) such that for any \((a_1,\ldots, a_{d-1}) \in E',\) \[ |a_1A + a_2 A + \cdots + a_{d-1}A + zA | > \frac{q}{2}, \] where for each \(j=1,\ldots, d-1\), \(a_jA = \{ a_ja : a \in A \}\). Finally, the present paper improves on known results for a generalization of the Falconer distance problem: determine the minimal \(\alpha>0\) such that \(E\) contains a congruent copy of a positive proportion of \(k\)-simplices whenever \(|E| \gtrsim q^\alpha\). The authors use Fourier analytic methods to prove that \(\alpha\) may be taken to be \(\frac{d+k}{2}\), which improves on known results for \(k >3\).