Weighted double character sums with Beatty sequences (Q6969894)

The type \(\tau\) of an irrational number \(\alpha\) is defined by\N\[\N\tau=\sup\left\{\vartheta\in\mathbb{R}:\liminf_{\substack{n\to\infty\\\Nn\in\mathbb{Z}^+}}n^\vartheta\|\alpha n\|=0\right\},\N\]\Nwhere \(\|x\|\) denotes the distance to the nearest integer of \(x\). Dirichlet's approximation theorem ensures that \(\tau\geq 1\) for every irrational number \(\alpha\), and it is known that \(\tau = 1\) for almost all real numbers (in the sense of the Lebesgue measure) and for all irrational algebraic numbers. In the paper under review, the authors approximate the sum\N\[\N\mathfrak{S}:=\sum_{u\in\mathcal{U}}\sum_{v\in\mathcal{V}}a_ub_v\chi(\lfloor\alpha(u+v)+\beta\rfloor),\N\]\Nwhere \(\alpha\) a fixed irrational number of finite type, \(\beta\in\mathbb{R}\), \(\mathcal{U},\mathcal{V}\subset\{1,2,\dots,n\}\), \(a_u\) and \(b_v\) with \(u\in\mathcal{U}\) and \(v\in\mathcal{V}\) are complex numbers, and \(\chi\) is a non-trivial multiplicative characters modulo prime \(p\) with \(N\leq p\). More precisely, letting \(U=\#\mathcal{U}\), \(V=\#\mathcal{V}\), \(A=\max_{u\in\mathcal{U}}|a_u|\), and \(B=\max_{v\in\mathcal{V}}|b_v|\), they show that\N\[\N\mathfrak{S}\ll_\alpha AB(UVN)^{1/2}+ABU^{1/2}V(N^{1/4}p^{1/8}+N^{1/2-1/(2\tau)+o(1)}).\N\]\NFurthermore, if for any real number \(\varepsilon\in(0,1/(2\tau))\) we have \(U>N^{1/2}p^{1/4+\varepsilon}\), \(U>N^{1-1/\tau}p^\varepsilon\), and \(UV>Np^\varepsilon\), then\N\[\N\mathfrak{S}\ll_\alpha ABUVp^{-\varepsilon/4}.\N\]\NIn both of the above approximations, the implied constant depends only on \(\alpha\). These approximations confirm a generalization of a conjecture due to Shparlinski, who asked an estimate for the above double character sums over Beatty sequences \(\mathcal{B}_{\alpha,\beta}=(\lfloor\alpha n+\beta\rfloor)_{n\geq 1}\) and with \(a_u=b_v=1\).