On an exponential sum (Q5892664)

Let \(p> 2\) be a prime and \(k\geq 2\), \(n\geq 2\). This paper concerns the exponential sum \[ \sum\limits^{p^n}_{x=1} e^{2\pi i (ax^k + bx) p^{-n}} \] where \(a, b\) are integers. This sum occurs in studies of Waring's problem. The author proves for this sum the bound \[ p^{(1-V)/2} p^{n/2} (b, p^n)^{1/2}\quad\text{for}\quad n\equiv 1\pmod k \] and the bound \[ (k-1, p-1) p^{-V/2} p^{\text{min} (1, \alpha)/2}\;p^{\text{min} (\beta, n-2)/2} p^{n/2} (b, p^n)^{1/2}\quad{for}\quad n\not\equiv 1\pmod k. \] Here \(V\) is the integral part of \(\min\left (\dfrac n2, \max \left (0, \dfrac{\theta -\alpha}{k-1}\right ) \right )\) and \(\theta = \text{ord}_p b,\;\alpha = \text{ord}_p a\). This bound improves on previous results and the author shows that it is best possible for the special case \[ \sum\limits^{p^3}_{x=1} e^{2\pi i (x^3 + p^2 x)p^{-3}}, \quad p >3. \]