On character sums over flat numbers (Q971853)

Fix integers \(q \geq 2\) and \(H=H(q) \leq q\), and define the set of \(H\)-flat numbers mod \(q\) by \[ {\mathcal F}(H) = \{n \in {\mathbb Z}: (n,q)=1, \;1 \leq n,\bar{n} \leq q, \;|n-\bar{n}| \leq H\}, \] where \(\bar{n}\) denotes the multiplicative inverse of \(n\) mod \(q\). The authors obtain upper bounds for the sum \[ {\mathcal W}(\chi, H; q) = \sum_{n \in {\mathcal F}(H)} \chi(n), \] where \(\chi\) is a non-principal Dirichlet character mod \(q\). By applying the Weil-Estermann bound for twisted Kloosterman sums [\textit{T. Estermann}, Mathematika 8, 83--86 (1961; Zbl 0114.26302)], the authors deduce the estimate \[ {\mathcal W}(\chi, H; q) \ll q^{1/2} \tau^2(q) \log H, \] where \(\tau\) denotes the divisor function. In the special case where \(q\) is odd and square-free and \(\chi\) is the Jacobi symbol, the authors prove that \[ {\mathcal W}(\chi, H; q) \ll H^{1-1/r} q^{(r+1)/(4r^2)} \tau(q) \log q \] for every integer \(r \geq 1\). This estimate is achieved by inserting the corresponding bound of \textit{D. A. Burgess} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 13, 524--536 (1963; Zbl 0123.04404)] for sums over a complete interval, along with a formula for the evaluation of Salié sums. Finally, the authors remark that the latter argument can be adapted to estimate \({\mathcal W}(\chi, H; q)\) non-trivially for odd \(q\) whose square-full part is small relative to \(q\).