Fourier uniformity on subspaces

Abstract

Let $\mathbb{F}$ be a fixed finite field, and let $A \subset \mathbb{F}^n$. It is a well-known fact that there is a subspace $V \leq \mathbb{F}^n$, $\mbox{codim} V \ll_δ 1$, and an $x$, such that $A$ is $δ$-uniform when restricted to $x + V$ (that is, all non-trivial Fourier coefficients of $A$ restricted to $x + V$ have magnitude at most $δ$). We show that if $\mathbb{F} = \mathbb{F}_2$ then it is possible to take $x = 0$; that is, $A$ is $δ$-uniform on a subspace $V \leq \mathbb{F}^n$. We give an example to show that this is not necessarily possible when $\mathbb{F} = \mathbb{F}_3$. ADDED July 2016: shortly after this paper appeared on the arxiv, F. Manners showed us a rather short argument he had found in 2013, giving a better bound for our main theorem. We do not, therefore, intend to publish this note. The example over $\mathbb{F}_3$ may still be of interest to some readers and so we will not withdraw the paper from the arxiv.