Optimal sums of three cubes in \(\mathbb{F}_q[t]\) (Q6974095)

Let \(\mathbb{F}_q\) be a finite field with \(q\) elements, and let \(\mathbb{F}_q[t]\) denote the ring of polynomials of the variable \(t\) over \(\mathbb{F}_q\). We write \(\mathbb{F}_q(t)\) for the field of fractions of \(\mathbb{F}_q[t]\). In this article, the authors apply the circle method to show that a density-(1) subset of elements in \(\mathbb{F}_q[t]\) can be represented as a sum of three cubes of essentially minimal degree, assuming the Ratios Conjecture and \(\mathrm{char}(\mathbb{F}_q) > 3\). The article investigates representations of polynomials in \(\mathbb{F}_q[t]\) as sums of three cubes of essentially minimal degree, providing a natural function-field analog of classical additive problems over integers. Building on their earlier work, the authors employ the full function-field circle method to refine a previously known order-of-magnitude estimate into a precise asymptotic formula. Their main conditional result establishes that, under suitable instances of the Ratios Conjecture and the assumption \(\mathrm{char}(\mathbb{F}_q) > 3\), a density-(1) subset of \(\mathbb{F}_q[t]\) admits such optimal representations. The authors carefully analyze local densities, introduce delicate scaling-invariant weight functions, and conduct a detailed variance analysis. Their treatment of the singular series and singular integrals, together with the handling of linear subspaces on the Fermat cubic, is particularly effective. The conditional asymptotic formula in Theorem 1.3 of the article aligns with the Manin-Peyre Conjecture and represents a significant refinement of earlier results. The article offers a deep and technically sophisticated contribution to additive problems over function fields. The work will be of clear interest to researchers in analytic number theory and arithmetic geometry over function fields.