Spherical maximal estimates via geometry (Q6961652)

In this paper, the authors investigate a simple geometric approach to studying the \(L^p\) boundedness properties of the \(\delta\)-discretised spherical maximal operator, which is defined by \N\[\NM^\delta f(x):=\sup _{1 \leq r \leq 2}\fint_{C^\delta(x, r)}|f|, \quad x \in \mathbb{R}^n, \tag{1}\N\]\Nwhere \(0<\delta<1 / 2\), \(x \in \mathbb{R}^n\), \(C^\delta(x, r)\) denote the annulus with outer radius \(r\) and thickness \(\delta\), formed by the \(\delta\)-neighbourhood of \(C(x, r)\).\N\NTo be more precise, the authors prove \N\NTheorem. For all \(n \geq 2\) and \(p \geq p_n\), there exists a constant \(C_{n, p} \geq 1\) such that the inequality \N\[\N\left\|M^\delta f\right\|_{L^p\left(\mathbb{R}^n\right)} \leq C_{n, p}\left(\log \delta^{-1}\right)^{p_n / p}\|f\|_{L^p\left(\mathbb{R}^n\right)} \N\]\Nholds for all \(f \in L_{\mathrm{loc}}^1\left(\mathbb{R}^n\right)\) and all \(0<\delta<1 / 2\).\N\NThe proof of the spherical maximal theorem relies heavily on the Fourier transform, while the argument in this paper is purely geometric, involving a careful analysis of the intersection properties of spherical annuli. Whilst it may be possible to push the methods further to recover the full strength of the spherical maximal theorem, arguably, there is value in having a short, simple argument at the cost of a slightly weaker estimate.