Damping oscillatory integrals (Q809303)

The authors prove decay estimates for the Fourier transform of \(u\mu\) where u is a nonnegative real valued function defined on a smooth compact convex hypersurface S of finite type in \(R^{n+1}\) with surface measure \(\mu\). By taking a partition of unity and using suitable coordinate systems, the question is reduced to the behavior of the oscillatory integral I of the form \[ I(\lambda)=\int_{R^ n}v(x)\exp (i\phi (x))dx,\quad \forall \lambda \in R, \] where the phase function \(\phi\) : \(R^ n\to [0,+\infty)\) is convex, smooth, and has a single critical point in the support of the compactly supported smooth function \(v: R^ n\to [0,+\infty);\) the critical point may be taken to be a minimum at 0 with value 0, of finite type. In this form the question becomes conditions on v to assure that I(\(\lambda\)) decays like \(| \lambda |^{-n/2}\) as \(\lambda\) tends to infinity. I(\(\lambda\)) is controlled by the volume integral V \[ V(h)=\int_{\phi (x)\leq h}v(x)dx,\quad \forall h\in R, \] since \[ I(\lambda)=\int_{R}\exp (i\lambda h)dV(h),\quad \forall \lambda \in R. \] The stationary phase method can be generalized to show that if the critical point of \(\phi\) is nondegenerate and v(0) is nonzero, then \(V(h)\sim Cv(0)\kappa^{- 1/2}h^{n/2}\) for small positive h, and hence \(I(\lambda)\sim C'v(0)\kappa^{-1/2}| \lambda |^{n/2},\) where \(\kappa\) is the curvature of the graph of the function \(\phi\) at 0. The authors prove three main theorems. They show that if V and \(\Phi\) are suitable compact sets of functions like v and \(\phi\) above, then there exists a constant C such that \[ | I(\lambda)| \leq CV(| 1/\lambda |),\quad \forall \lambda \in R, \] for all v in V and all \(\phi\) in \(\Phi\). Next they suppose that \(v(\cdot)=w(\cdot)\det \phi ''(\cdot)\) for some smooth compactly supported w and prove that \(V(h)\leq Ch^{n/2}\) for all positive h. It follows from this that if S is a smooth compact convex hypersurface of finite type in \(R^{n+1}\), with Gaussian curvature \(\kappa\) and surface measure \(\mu\), then \[ | (\kappa \mu)^{{\hat{\;}}}(\xi)| \leq C| \xi |^{-n/2},\quad \forall \xi \in R^{n+1}. \] Finally they suppose that \(v(\cdot)=w(\cdot)\det \phi ''(\cdot)^{1/2}\) for some continuous compactly supported w and prove again that \(V(h)\leq Ch^{n/2}\) for all positive h. This allows them to conclude that if u is smooth and satisfies \(0\leq u\leq \kappa^{1/2},\) then the Fourier transform of \(u\mu\) decays like \(| \xi |^{- n/2}\) for all \(\xi\). This result follows from the second result, but it depends heavily on the convexity of \(\phi\). The authors express some hope that they will eventually be able to extend the first two results to the nonconvex case, but do not expect the same for the third result. Their technique involves developing ideas of \textit{J. Bruna}, \textit{A. Nagel}, and \textit{S. Wainger} [Ann. Math., II. Ser. 127, No.2, 333-365 (1988; Zbl 0666.42010)], who essentially considered the results for v nonvanishing. They first prove results for convex functions of one variable derived from polynomial approximation and apply those to study one dimensional oscillatory integrals. They discuss the parameterization of the hypersurface S. They give an interesting geometric inequality for polynomials in \(R^ n\) of degree at most \(q+1,\) \[ \int_{\Omega}| \det H\pi (\xi)|^{1/2} d\xi \leq C_{n,q}\sup_{\xi \in \Omega}| \pi (\xi)|^{n/2}, \] where \(\Omega\) is any compact convex subset of \(R^ n\) and \(H\pi\) is the Hessian matrix of \(\pi\). The fact that S is of finite type means that the coordinate functions are in a class that can be approximated by such polynomials.